Orson Wells...gotta love the big guy...lol...

[Hector]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvxwf1jxdaM

[HardyGirl]

I've seen that one before. How many glasses of the stuff did he drink, anyway?

[saildog]

Is there anything more entertaining than the downfall of those who have achieved?

My first exposure to Orson Wells was trying to make sense of the jokes behind what had become his persona.

When I discovered the buffoon had once been "genius", I learned a little about the progression, and eventuality, of popular culture.

[huedell]

Is there anything more entertaining than the downfall of those who have achieved?

My first exposure to Orson Wells was trying to make sense of the jokes behind what had become his persona.

When I discovered the buffoon had once been "genius", I learned a little about the progression, and eventuality, of popular culture.

Sounds pretty cynical. Personally, I see it on a case by case basis...
some creative people can sustain their work and some not so much.

I just look at it as a guy who had made a fortune/name for himself at an early age and was lucky to still be reaping the benefits of it.

Pop culture was gonna make "fat jokes" regardless.. Mama Cass or whoever.

[Meule]

This never gets old

[Brazoo]

Ahhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!


Yeah - that clip is hilarious.

Welles did some great quality work in that period that was not as appreciated as it should have been - admirably all the commercial work he did was to get money to pay for his movie projects, but he was always a notorious pain to work with on those jobs.

I don't think he stopped being a genius. Some things outside his control contributed to his downfall - but some things were his fault too. Overall he was a very interesting guy, I think.

[Mikey]

The real stars is the 2 actors on the left.

Even though they must know each take wont be used they still keep a straight face and play it out.

[palitoy]

There is nothing funnier than that sound he makes. The guy was everywhere in the 70s it seemed.

[Goblin19]

That clip is classic. I think I prefer the one where he rants about peas and doing Shkaespeare.

[hobub]

That is hilarious, well, everyone's entitled to slip up once... Here's a remarkably early clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUdgh...eature=related

He's good to search on Youtube. Did a nice serious tribute to Jimmy Stewart on none other than the Dean Martin Comedy Roast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMKxT...eature=related

But if you think these guys die, you don't watch cartoons!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl_TFyk2GJo

[Werewolf]

Mmmwhaaaaaaa...the French champagne... That never gets old.

[vintage spideyfan]

The real deal...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUk_l...eature=related

A great impression...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70kjGav5BkE

[Sandman9580]

Is there anything more entertaining than the downfall of those who have achieved?

My first exposure to Orson Wells was trying to make sense of the jokes behind what had become his persona.

When I discovered the buffoon had once been "genius", I learned a little about the progression, and eventuality, of popular culture.

Orson Welles, buffoon? No way. Welles was the man.

The tragedy of him was that the cultural establishment couldn't keep pace with his genius. He started at a point that was artistically much higher than that of his peers. He first gained acclaim in 1936 directing an all-black version of Macbeth in New York... when he was 20 years old. When the production went on the road and his lead actor fell ill, he flew to the location and filled in for him wearing blackface make-up. When he was 20! (When I was 20, I flipped burgers for minimum wage and barely spoke to people.) He then went on to do ground-breaking work in radio, then did ground-breaking work in film - he was pushing the envelope from the word go. He directed one of the best movies ever made (and just because you get sick of hearing it called that doesn't mean it isn't), and hands-down the most influential movie ever made, when he was only 24. I always tell people to remember that fact when they watch Citizen Kane, and see him playing a middle-aged man with a booming, middle-aged voice. It's hard to believe.

And he kept pushing the envelope. As Brazoo said, he was doing that crap to earn money to complete his own films - the studios had long kept him at arm's length... don't even get me started on the tragedy that befell The Magnificent Ambersons. I get really, really sad when I think about that.

I look at it this way. When you quickly hit your world's ceiling, and you want to break through it and keep going because you can, and the world says to you, "Sorry, you hit the ceiling. We're not letting you go any higher," then you have a perfect right to get fat and tell the world to go **** itself.

[Brazoo]

Totally! Welles vs. RKO is a fascinating story of art vs. commerce.

As artistically unfair as it is that Welles' next two RKO films were never released the way Welles had planned them - the truth is Welles didn't really have any sense of financial responsibility - and he seemed to get off a bit on rubbing it in RKO's faces.

All three of Welles' RKO films went over budget, and didn't find audiences. Instead of staying in Hollywood to complete editing and fighting for his version of "The Magnificent Ambersons" he took off to Brazil to start filming "It's All True", which the studio hated, was extremely experimental, cost a fortune and was never completed. It's hard to say for sure, but if he took on a safer film after two financial disaster he might have been able to make more films.

Welles was a work and party machine - it seems like he never slept. He'd be spending a fortune in South America on "It's All True" while complaining to the press that RKO ruined his masterpiece "Ambersons" (which they did). Then to add insult to injury they'd get all these press pieces back from Brazil with Welles wildly living it up at Carnaval, engaging in interracial relations (not great for PR in 1941), and in the middle of producing a segment of the film one of his stars was killed.

It's a shame he struggled so much after that, because we really lost out on some great movies, I think, but RKO's fears weren't unfounded. Management and ownership of RKO floundered - and the financial failures of his films contributed to the studio's demise.

On a humorous note, after the plug was pulled on "It's All True" RKO used a new slogan "Showmanship Instead of Genius". Welles always claimed they came up with it to just to announce the fact that he was gone.

[Brazoo]

Any of you guys seen "F is for Fake"? I think it's pretty incredible.