Orson Welles: the Medium and the Magician

Paul Heyer. The Medium and the Magician: The Radio Legacy of Orson Welles, 1934-1952. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005. 256 pp $101.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-7425-3796-5. Reviewed by Anne Leighton Published on Jhistory (January, 2009) Commissioned by Donna Harrington-Lueker (Salve Regina University) As a young man, Orson Welles avoided col‐ Jack Benny, plus then-newcomer Agnes Moore‐ lege and decided to travel in Europe. He acted in head. the British Isles, then came to New York City, and Heyer’s brilliance in developing this book is wrote and produced a play, called Marching Song, based on formidable research into Welles’s cre‐ about the abolitionist John Brown. The play didn’t ative output, interviews, books, papers, studies, make it to Broadway, but Welles's perseverance and transcripts of every aspect or person that en‐ found him a radio job in Irving Reis's Columbia tered Welles’s career. He also surfaces Welles’s so‐ Broadcasting Systems workshop in 1936. There he phisticated standards for producing plays and worked on a production of Hamlet with composer how he went about his craft. Bernard Herrmann and producer/writer John Heyer discusses, for example, Welles’s ap‐ Houseman. A year later, Welles ran the workshop, proach to adapting Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. and produced his famous production of Macbeth. Welles was attracted frst to the book’s compelling Radio was a lucrative profession for Welles, and subject and Heyer notes that the subject--poverty-- in The Medium and the Magician, author Paul was a theme in a number of Welles’s choices of Heyer shows how Welles combined leadership plays. Welles’s standards were that a script not be and artistry in the radio work that preceded his a word-for-word copy of a stage play or book, but involvement in the film world. its own entity. In scripting Welles used the narra‐ In 1938, Welles was hired to create weekly ra‐ tor (generally himself) to perform the important dio dramas for CBS radio. First known as The Mer‐ role of bridging book segments that were impossi‐ cury Theatre in the summer of 1938, it became ble or difficult to dramatize because of time re‐ The Campbell Playhouse by the end of the year. strictions. John Houseman and later Howard Koch Herrmann and Houseman were part of his team, had less than a week to write a frst draft. Welles and an array of actors appeared as guest stars, in‐ gave input, and then the team’s frst rehearsal fo‐ cluding the already established Helen Hayes and cused on how the show would sound with basic H-Net Reviews sound effects but no music. Over the next day or director/actor did not give enough credit to his two, Welles revised the script, and then held an‐ colleagues. When his career segued into flms, he other rehearsal. There would be more revisions hired an executive liaison to act as his go-between and then Sunday rehearsal. The following day with the radio sponsor and network, so Welles was show day, in which the ensemble “dress re‐ could focus on both his radio and flm produc‐ hearsed” with music and sound effects. Welles tions. then revised the script until the 9 p.m. show time, Welles’s deal with WRKO was unprecedented, paying attention to integrating audio elements. It as most 1930s radio stars signing with the motion was at that point and through deadline, Heyer picture houses focused solely on acting. Despite says, that Welles showed his famous signs of his lack of flmmaking experience, he demanded stress, throwing tantrums and hurling insults. the whole enchilada--directing, writing, and pro‐ Welles never allowed a studio audience on duction--and got it. the premises; radio held a mystique as a “conjur‐ Heyer also emphasizes the sonic beauty of the ing act” or “a magic act.” His approach also al‐ 1941 flm Citizen Kane. In addition to making mu‐ lowed his actors to be expressive in moving and sic a part of the story, Heyer says Welles contin‐ dressing as comfortably as possible so they could ued to rely on Bernard Herrmann for flm scoring be effective in their parts. and also worked with sound technician James G. I found The Medium and the Magician im‐ Stewart, who had a radio background. Welles pressive because of the way Heyer shows the en‐ gave Stewart the idea and effect he wanted for a terprising ways Welles used to grow his career. segment, and Stewart worked on the idea, which Within three years of high-school graduation, The he shared with Welles, who then offered sugges‐ Todd Press published a book of plays for which tions for improvement. The two talked back and Welles wrote new stage directions. Five years lat‐ forth, sometimes experimenting, until it was time er, after his success in radio, he compiled The to produce a scene. Mercury Shakespeare of radio dramas that he had At times, Heyer places Welles on a pedestal. produced for CBS. Overall, though, he traces Welles’s innovations in Professionalism came into play in Welles's audio, both in radio and in flm. That contribution handling of controversy, as shown in his response deserves recovering. to the hullabaloo surrounding the broadcast of The War of the Worlds in 1939. Media historians, with his famous emotions of course, are familiar with the story: Many listen‐ ers tuned in to the radio play after it had already ed begun, and because of its dramatized newscasts the most and remotes, believed earth was under attack. Af‐ ter the authorities showed up at CBS studios and e the show ended, Welles took responsibility and way answered their questions until their investigation ed was satisfied. Welles then avoided the press, and left the station via the back door. The following with how Welles dealt with day he held a press conference, thus prolonging the combination of success and scrutiny he media attention to his work. dealt with on Halloween, 1939, with Professionally, Welles was dependant on a behind the broadcast team, though author Heyer notes that the writer/ 2 H-Net Reviews on started thee thought E thus— the amount of on took on work between him and w only iconic on just full to improve the segment If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/jhistory Citation: Anne Leighton. Review of Heyer, Paul. The Medium and the Magician: The Radio Legacy of Orson Welles, 1934-1952. Jhistory, H-Net Reviews. January, 2009. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=23372 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.

Load more