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007 - The March Toward Marching Song (1932)
33 Plays8 months ago
“My happiness and self-respect seem founded only on an admiration and confidence in that, our play.”
This week, we're talking all about Orson's return to the States following his triumphs on the Irish stage. We'll discuss the vindication of his Todd School production of Twelfth Night and his collaboration with Roger ‘Skipper’ Hill that would become the biography play on the life of John Brown - Marching Song!
Footage from the Todd School production of Twelfth Night: https://youtu.be/fadbbEi_7OE
Homework for next class - Marching Song: https://archive.org/details/marching-song-a-play-by-orson-welles-roger-hill-z-lib.org/mode/2up
Follow us on our (admittedly limited) socials to keep up with assignments and other exciting Welles-related news:
- @wellesupod on Bluesky and YouTube
- Email us at wellesupod@gmail.com to let us know how we’re doing!
- Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
- Read Hope’s blog at highimhope.com
- Listen to Hope’s other podcasts - High on Cartoons Presents DuckTakes!, The Matrix Reclamations, and The Lanes Between
- Follow Stephen at @chewywalrus on Bluesky and Letterboxd
- Listen to Stephen’s other podcasts - Disenfranchised Podcast and The Pod and the Pendulum
- Check out Stephen’s novel - Check In, Check Out - on Amazon, now available in paperback or ebook: https://amzn.to/44idk8y
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Transcript
Introduction to Orson Welles and Mercury Theater
00:00:01
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, by way of introduction... I don't think any words can explain a man's life. The broadcasting system and its affiliated station presents... Columbia Network takes pride in presenting... Rogue Spud.
00:00:12
Speaker
We take you now to Grover Mills, New Jersey. Ladies and gentlemen, the director of the Mercury Theater and star of these broadcasts... There's a voice. Just a voice. I never really saw him.
00:00:26
Speaker
He was only the hero, horsesonwell a great lover, horsesonwell and a dirty dog. Good morning, this is Orson Welles speaking. How do you do, ladies and gentlemen? This is Orson Welles. This Orson Welles, ladies and gentlemen. This is Orson Welles speaking.
00:00:39
Speaker
A unicorn. Well, here it is, anybody wants to see it. All right, everyone, come in take your seats. move Move into the front.
00:00:51
Speaker
Bell rang. Guys, all right. Come file in. File in. Fill in the front row. Please and thank you. The front row. Not the... Our front. Look, there seats right here.
00:01:04
Speaker
that yeah and there are there are people in the back. Just come fill in these seats. Everyone, please and thank you.
Podcasting Challenges During the 2024 Presidential Election
00:01:11
Speaker
um Welcome back to another episode. Well, at Wells University, ah i am one of your TAs. My name is Stephen Foxworthy. Pronouns he, him. Hopes now, she, her. And we are your TAs for this course and have been for the past several weeks and will continue to be for years into the future.
00:01:34
Speaker
I haven't even been trying and I have already broken hopes. I almost reflexively went into the high on cartoons thing that I would do with Bex. um I have apparently been trained ah Pavlovian style. That's exciting to realize about me on microphone. going say live on mic. Yeah, great.
00:01:55
Speaker
could it's always great when you have those kind of rev and you've you you let's let's let's be very honest you are one who is uh not who has had her fair share let's say of revelations on mic so it's it's it's it's like my psychology has a really good sense of uh timing um so yeah like yeah no let's let's preserve the moment um
00:02:24
Speaker
I mean, we're living in it. We might as well. Dumb as hell. This coming, of course, from two people who decided to record a podcast the week of the 2024 presidential election.
00:02:38
Speaker
So, you know, we're not always great at picking the right moments to capture.
Barrel-Aged Malort and AI-Generated Images
00:02:45
Speaker
Hey, you know what the best time in history to relive right now is?
00:02:49
Speaker
The nineteen thirty s Stephen, where's Orson Welles? And more importantly, when is Orson Welles? Oh, shit. I get to ask that all the time now. Hell yeah. You do. Well, first, before we get too deep into it, I did pour myself a a tasty beverage before we began.
00:03:08
Speaker
Yes. Describe this beverage. I've been teasing it. Stephen been teasing this beverage. for for we were we Are we starting recording an hour late? Yes, we are. Have I been teasing Hope about this beverage the entire time?
00:03:19
Speaker
Yes, I have. Oh, Hope, there is there is one beverage that has, I know, been an object of fascination for you ah since since I've moved to this this area ah here in northeastern Illinois.
00:03:37
Speaker
um And i know that is a a beverage known as Malort, a thing I have attempted to describe to you many Oh, no. I'm terrified. I'm terrified.
00:03:47
Speaker
Here's a thing, hope that I realized, that I found. um They make a barrel-aged malort. No, they do not. They absolutely do. Read the one backwards, but read the That you are using an AI-generated camera image to project that onto my screen.
00:04:08
Speaker
That is not real. First of all, how dare you? I would never. Barrel-aged.
00:04:13
Speaker
Barrel-aged Malort. Barrel-aged Malort. This is a not... what Believe it or not, this is not the first bottle of this that I have purchased. um but's and And you'll notice, you'll notice, it is almost gone. Oh, no, like even an optimist who would would struggle to describe that bottle there. Uh-oh. Right. that is That is how low I am. In fact, I am... I found out that the liquor store within ah five miles of my apartment...
00:04:42
Speaker
sells it regularly and so i have now a source for it oh my friend it will be a part of my regular rotation oh why because because hope i am one of those fucked up weirdos that actually likes this stuff well i like the matrix reloaded so yeah no i get it i get it i mean you know some sometimes you just you your Your tastes are your tastes, right? And i i like bitter, and this is certainly bitter. Like, it's a Wormwood liqueur. Like, it's got that bitterness. And it was an episode of High on Cartoons, i feel or was it a disenfranchised recording? I remember it was you and Bex and I. no. And yeah we were just we went deep on Malort for some reason. I don't know why we did it, but we went deep on Malort.
00:05:32
Speaker
I everything has blended together at this point. um that's fair I know I was living in my apartment in Evanston. So I know we were i know we were recording together and I know it went on for too long. And that's all the times we record together. Right.
00:05:48
Speaker
I was going honestly, I feel like these recordings that we've done for this podcast have probably been some of our shortest recordings ever. Yeah, because we actually have a script to go off of and we're not freewheeling about the Muppets for two hours and 45 minutes. Well, about the script, I'll just...
00:06:09
Speaker
I'll come clean on this one. um i I got busy. It's been ah few weeks, several weeks, actually, since our last recording. For you guys, it was just a couple weeks ago that you heard us talking about ah Wells' is time in Ireland. But for us, it's been, oh gosh, probably about a month or so, month and a half, two months, somewhere in that region.
00:06:28
Speaker
And that's just because I've been busy as hell. I was in a play. I've closed the play. And I've been trying to find my footing in in real life after the play. So that's kind of where I'm. So the I and when I sat down to do the reading, I just got so engrossed in the reading that I forgot to take notes. So an hour and a half before we're supposed to start recording this podcast, I am scrambling to write down many notes as I could. And I only made it.
00:06:56
Speaker
About 15, less than 15 pages through the book ah with the notes that I have. So I'm sitting at a handsome one and a half pages of notes today. And at some point, it's just going to be me flipping through the book going, oh, yeah. Oh, oh right. Yeah. OK. So, yeah, this happened. Good. Oh, that's I'm going to get out.
00:07:14
Speaker
I'm going to get to get out my legal pad and set it up right next to my computer right now so I can note as to where the awkward pauses are for Tucker.
Appreciation for Tucker, the Editor
00:07:25
Speaker
Tucker, who is our, not only wrote our outro music that you hear every week here on Wells University, but is also our editor and producer. So big ups and thanks to Tucker. We have, we've not really mentioned him the past several, or I guess the first several episodes, because we didn't know he was doing that until like within the last two or three episodes.
00:07:46
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. He's been a godsend. So i yeah. yeah in In so many ways. So, and he's, he's the one, if you, if you're hearing this right now, thank Tucker. um go he's uh on instagram at ice nine zero nine that's ic n-i-n-e the number zero and the number nine uh and just just let him know you appreciate all the work he does on wells you pod um so um yeah there we go anything that gives me less work to do on i have too many fucking podcasts what is wrong with me it's psychological it's psychological at this point
00:08:18
Speaker
You know, I look, I've been offered other podcasts to like, I have a very dear friend who's con who has been wanting to get a podcast off the ground with me for years. And I'm just at this point, I'm just like, dude, I've got I've got three podcasts like i can't ah can't do another podcast, buddy. I'm sorry. Oh,
00:08:36
Speaker
ah Like if you do all the all the research and all the work and I just show up and like just kind of riff off of what you're doing, then I i might be able to fit in a fourth. But like particularly if you're wanting to do like a weekly thing, like I'm involved in two weeks podcasts right now.
00:08:52
Speaker
So that's true. i was like, i don't know if I could do another podcast. And you're like every other week. And I'm like... Bitch, I'm in. Sustainability. We're going for sustainability here. And again, when it and there will come a time, I'm sure, because we're we're at at the time of this recording, we're running low on on backlog.
00:09:13
Speaker
um But, you know, at some point, we'll probably run out of backlog. Need to take a few weeks off. um But as it stands, you know, we're going to keep doing this for as long as it's fun. Right. Exactly. We should also mention um we were talking a little bit pre-record, but ah ah um we're going to be finally getting into what the intended meat of this podcast ah macro series is supposed to be about, which is the creative works of Orson Welles.
00:09:40
Speaker
We've been mired in his... pre-creative works biography up until this point which is fascinating fascinating context um and i now know more about orson wells than i ever thought i would care to know um more than i'd still care to know i would say at this point but considering what we're about to do and just take like each individual project blow by blow right um over you know Over the next 10 years.
00:10:10
Speaker
ah Yeah. but The context is important. Yeah. If we went weekly, we'd only go for five. And we we want this experience to last for you, the people. Right.
00:10:21
Speaker
Yeah. A snapshot in history. And also, as previously mentioned, we have other projects that we are constantly working with. Christ alive. You're telling me. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. we' were We're busy people. And this, again, this is this is fun. This is our attempt at, I don't know, this is our opportunity. Immortality. This is us going for immortality.
00:10:43
Speaker
But it's also a it's a chance for us to reckon with a a figure whose work we we do admire for yeah for various reasons. And we became friends over.
00:10:55
Speaker
Exactly. See our first episode about that. Yeah. I mean, I think it's safe to say, Hope, that you are one of my best friends. And it is because Orson of my best friends, too, man. Aw.
00:11:06
Speaker
I love bro. I love you, too. And again, it's because it's because I had an Orson Welles avatar, and Hope was like, this guy seems like my kind of weird. And hey, she was right that's what my Karen hyperfocus is right now.
00:11:25
Speaker
And we have become... Wonderful friends as a result. Yes, very much so. And we get to do this together, which, again, is i do, even though I am, like like today, i am woefully underprepared. i was still very excited because I knew...
00:11:40
Speaker
I was going to get a chance to shoot the shit with you. And that is yeah always a highlight. when i'm kind of and I'm kind of excited to see ah Underprepared Steven. It'll be a nice contrast to every other time I've spoken to you. i Well, Underprepared Steven is kind of a shit show.
00:11:56
Speaker
So buckle up. Cool. Because that's where we are. And I'm also, I've just finished my first glass of Malort for the night. And I'm popping the cork to pour another. so And I've also... also... mean, we can...
00:12:10
Speaker
i've also you mean we can can You can go fill your water if you need Now, I might i might i might take a quick pause before we actually get into ah the notes. um But would you like to start off with orienting ourselves in history?
00:12:26
Speaker
Yes, let's absolutely create a larger context for this conversation. Hope, what is going
Historical Events of 1932: Amelia Earhart and BBC Broadcasting
00:12:31
Speaker
on? So we're picking it up when Orson arrives back from Ireland in spring of 1932. Hope, what is happening in the world around that time?
00:12:40
Speaker
So first off, I discovered a a horrible truth. I've been using the mobile ah website on this day dot com for this information. And I'm going to open. There we go.
00:12:52
Speaker
Yeah. And we're starting in 1932. And I realized the mobile version gives you just kind of the basics. It's the Cliff Notes edition. If you go to the desktop browser version, it gives you every single thing that happened on every single day. So when I open up on my desktop and it says January first Himmler defines that you have to prove your Aryan ancestry in order to have children in in Germany. I'm like, okay, we're going back to the mobile page.
00:13:24
Speaker
I can't deal with that right now. Because again, if there's ah if there's a a period in history where it's just so much fun to escape to right now, it's the 1930s. oh Oh, God, it hurts.
00:13:37
Speaker
Anyway, but in ah ah in terms of major events... ah We've got May 21st. After flying for 17 hours from Newfoundland, Amelia Earhart lands near Londonderry, Northern Ireland, completing the first solo transatlantic flight by a woman.
00:13:55
Speaker
That's pretty fucking badass. Hell yeah, Amelia Earhart. December nineteenth I guess nothing else happened in 1932. We're going right from March to December.
00:14:08
Speaker
British Broadcasting Corporation begins transmitting overseas. So that's exciting. The empire is dying, but the ah domination of the airwaves is just beginning.
00:14:19
Speaker
Long live the BBC. 31 years until doctor who uh in film and tv
00:14:29
Speaker
who who has that sort of information just in their back pocket at all times and one one of the many many reasons i love you girl oh christ i have not kept up with the new shit uh-oh i i saw the first couple. i saw the first Judy got was special and I really enjoyed it.
00:14:47
Speaker
Yeah, same. And then i started seeing everything about the rest of the season. And then this past season, I'm like, oh no. Oh, no. Yeah. oh no. I just did not engage with the Doctor Who fandom.
00:15:01
Speaker
On April 12th, Grand Hotel, directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Greta Garbo and John Barrymore. I'm sure Orson Welles has nothing to say about any of these people.
00:15:12
Speaker
Well, let's. Premiers in New York includes the line, I want to be alone. Best picture production, 1932. I know he actually took, well, he was, that movie came out. He was actually staying ah with some friends in Wisconsin. We'll talk about that momentarily, but he does treat them all to a movie called Grand Hotel because Orson is a big Barrymore fan. Apparently his father and Barrymore were friends.
00:15:38
Speaker
He does have a couple things to say about Greta Garbo. Let me see if I can track those down. And I'm looking at Peter Bogdanovich's This is Orson Welles, the series of interviews Bogdanovich and Welles did together.
00:15:52
Speaker
Looking for where is she? Greta Garbo. Tucker can edit all this out, I'm sure. Or maybe he'll just leave it in despite me. 15. Okay. um Yeah, he doesn't really have much to say about her there. Let me try the other page.
00:16:07
Speaker
ah No, nothing really to say. Oh, oh he he has only things to say about Garbo in connection with other people. And basically, he wanted to make a movie with Charlie Chaplin and Greta Garbo um and thinks that Garbo had a um had a g knack for comedy that she never really got to tap.
00:16:33
Speaker
Basically, he wanted to put her in a farce. With opposite Chaplin. But Chaplin, of course, notoriously could only direct himself. So he would never work for another director that wasn't himself. We'll get into that in the 40s when we finally talk about Monsieur Vadu.
00:16:49
Speaker
Which we absolutely love. Well, there's that. And then up next, let's see. ah The Music Box is released on April 16th, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, a 1932 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Did he have anything to say about Laurel and Hardy?
00:17:09
Speaker
Not that I can see here. ah wait, Stan Laurel, page 130, was just on that page. Okay, okay. Uh, but again, we'll see if it's actually, you know, any deeper than just a mention. Cause again, any, any mentions of people will be indexed here.
00:17:24
Speaker
So one of these days I'm going to need you to, I was going to say one of these days, I need you to give me a list of these so I can actually find the poll. I apologize. No, no, no You're fine. This is, this has kind of been the thing that we've done.
00:17:37
Speaker
uh, here we go. Wells and Bogdanovich are talking about, Comedy comedians. ah Well says, I have an admiration rather than affection for most comedians.
00:17:51
Speaker
I liked the low comedies better than the high comedies. Bogdanovich says, but you liked Gregory LaCava. Well says very, very much, but not, you know, the same feeling I have for Bill Fields or for Laurel and Hardy.
00:18:03
Speaker
Great comedic performances like those much must be greater than any comedic director. ah So great admiration for Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, for sure.
00:18:14
Speaker
Hmm. Interesting. Interesting. Well, ah let's see. April 29th, the first broadcast of One Man's Family on NBC radio, the longest running dramatic serial on U.S. radio.
00:18:28
Speaker
It ends in 1959. Holy shit. ah July 28th, White Zombie, the first feature length zombie film directed by Victor Halperin. how Perrin starring Bela Lugosi is released. Yeah. Yeah. There you fucking go.
00:18:43
Speaker
i was going to say, I just did a, a podcast. It'll, it'll have been out probably for ah at least a few weeks by the time this comes out, um, uh, on the pod and the pendulum on the original, uh, night of the living dead. And we absolutely shout out white zombie in that episode for sure.
00:18:58
Speaker
Talking about the history of, of zombie, uh, comedy or zombie movies. And kind of how that led up to Romero and how Romero kind of shifted the game there. but Nice. Very nice.
00:19:10
Speaker
August 22nd, the BBC begins experimental regular television broadcasts. November 7th, this is fun.
BBC's Experimental TV Broadcasts and Buck Rogers
00:19:18
Speaker
The first broadcast of Buck Rogers in the 25th century airs on CBS radio.
00:19:23
Speaker
And I just pulled it up. There are a shitload of episodes of the radio program on YouTube. If you search specifically for Buck Rogers in the 25th century radio show, I know what I'm listening to ah the rest of this week.
00:19:41
Speaker
There you go. ah Fuck yes. um December 22nd, The Mummy, directed by ah Carl Freund? Freund. frowned friend thank you starring boris karloff is released in the u.s the first mummy horror film later the medium would be pitch ah perfected ah directed by uh steven summers and starring brendan frazier and uh rachel weiss rachel and yes yeah yes
00:20:14
Speaker
1932, December 27th, Radio City Music Hall, designed by Edward Durrell Stone and Donald Deske opens at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York City.
00:20:25
Speaker
It's a lovely place. ah No, I'm going to be real. Let's see any names I recognize in historical people. Burn in 32. I recognize Sylvia Plath. Don't know why I recognize Sylvia Plath, but another name's catching my eye. Actors, quote unquote, born in 1932.
00:20:41
Speaker
John Williams on February 8th. Elizabeth Taylor, February 27th. Anthony Perkins, April 4th. Joel Gray, April 11th. Casey Kasem, April 27th. I fucking love Joel Gray.
00:20:55
Speaker
Oh, God. Cabaret is one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time. Oh, okay. Yeah, there you go. There you Love Joel Grey. ah Interesting. All right. ah Musicians. We got Johnny Cash on February 26th.
00:21:08
Speaker
Patsy Cline, September 8th. And Little Richard on December 5th. Okay. Yeah. Pretty fucking cool. Just coming out of Pride Month. You got gay icon Little Richard. Love to see that. Fuck yeah. Fuck yeah.
00:21:24
Speaker
And musicians who died in 1932. Here's a name. ah John Philip Sousa. ah I was going to say just finished up Pride, but coming up on July 4th. So that's that's so the time right there. Yeah. Nothing really to celebrate this year.
Orson Welles in America: Todd School Drama Coach
00:21:40
Speaker
No, ah but yes, there you have the cultural placement and historical placement of 1932. So there. so Now that we have established our global history, let us, our our global context, rather, let's get into ah the Orson Welles of it all. And again, this will not be a super long episode because, again, ah came in woefully unprepared. However, as we kind of alluded to earlier in this episode, we are building, and as the title of this episode suggests, we are building toward finally being what this podcast was meant to be about, which is
00:22:15
Speaker
really diving into the creative work. So this is all leading up to next episode, which is going to be about ah the first, I suppose, published piece of, of Wells's work, um which we are both very excited. to I am so excited about it. ah Bex and I have been doing a watch through teen comedies based on literature.
00:22:41
Speaker
And next up is She's the Man, which is, of course, based on Twelfth Night. I am very excited for it. So, yeah, clay we are getting ready to talk about. ah Yeah, exactly. Oh, I'm going to get this story in many different contexts.
00:22:56
Speaker
I'm going know this shit. Damn it. So and and again, Twelfth Night is one of those. i have never done Twelfth Night. I've done i think I've mentioned this last week or the week before. I think I've only done two, three, three Shakespearean plays in my life.
00:23:11
Speaker
I don't know. I don't actually now. I don't know if I brought this up on the podcast or if this was just in conversation with people in the play, but I have done i as an actor. And again, I am an amateur actor. I am very much an amateur. I am in no way a professional. No one has ever paid me to act since college when I was a part of a murder mystery dinner theater in Grant Park, Illinois at a little place called the Bennett Curtis House. And we were all paid under the table as a tax write off.
00:23:38
Speaker
And by write off, I mean, mean, plausible deniability so he didn't have to actually like list us as employees on his... I'm probably blowing up that guy's spot and i don't really fucking... yeah tucker I'll mark that off in the notes.
00:23:54
Speaker
Tucker, bleep what you deem necessary there. um But Orson Welles, as we mentioned last week, or last episode, last class... There it is. there it is mean As we mentioned last class...
00:24:10
Speaker
this is The illusion is real. Yeah, this is a classroom, not a Zoom call. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Uh-oh. Orson returns to America March 1932.
00:24:24
Speaker
and after you know a string of triumphant performances in in Dublin, and basically falls into a role handcrafted for him by Skipper Hill himself, ah that of second semester drama coach at the Todd School.
00:24:42
Speaker
ah Basically, Roger Skipper Hill has Orson um taken care of. And that's, again, kind of one of those things like, we'll get into some struggles, uh, that he has a little later in this episode, but generally speaking, ah this is not a kid who's ever really struggled.
00:24:59
Speaker
Um, and that, that plays out, I think when he grows up, uh, and I think his real struggles come as a result of not being able to make the art he really wants to make. Like that's when the struggles start for Orson, but, um, but yeah, uh, he basically gets a job handed to him, which,
00:25:17
Speaker
ah I mean, it in the throes of the Great Depression, must be nice. I mean, this is 1932. Must be nice. Yeah. Yeah. It must be nice. It must be nice. um And so Wells is, or Todd is ah basically prepping a production of Twelfth Night.
00:25:36
Speaker
um Much as Orson had done three years previous with Julius Caesar, ah taking it to the drama the Chicago Drama League contest, annual contest, ah Todd was planning on doing the same thing with Twelfth Night. And Orson basically kind of takes over as he had when he was a student at Todd.
00:25:55
Speaker
Orson Welles immediately invoked creative control. What? Surely not. No. A thing that got him in immense trouble and when he was in Ireland, like painting sets and whatnot? No, of course not. Why would he? Oh my god.
00:26:11
Speaker
Except, unlike the the people he was working with in Ireland, ah Skipper Hill basically led him to ah he wanted so yeah he had basically the boy never learns a lesson he he says and i'm i'm pretty sure i've mentioned this before and i will probably misquote this again but basically ah one of my favorite wells quotes is i was told so often that i was a genius growing up that by the time i realized that i might not be i had no idea what to do with myself oh buddy
00:26:42
Speaker
Like he's just, he's starting, i mean, cause, cause again, when we've been over this, right. Like starting with his mother who was constantly like feeding him art and, and literature, like his Midsummer Night's dream was his like childhood primer.
00:26:57
Speaker
Like that was like the first thing he read as a kid was a Midsummer Night's dream, which is why he hated that play. Um, because it's like, like that's kid stuff. That's what I was reading. That's the first thing I learned how to read was a Midsummer Night's dream. So like this, this guy is raised on Shakespeare, something that will become ah more apparent in, in the weeks to come. But so he, he gets into 12th night. And again, this is a story that he probably already knows fairly well.
00:27:24
Speaker
So he jumps right into it. The, the, Production itself had been modeled after a relatively acclaimed production ah staged by June Cowell at the Harris Theater in Chicago that todd the Todd Troopers had seen ah earlier that year, or maybe even the previous semester.
00:27:42
Speaker
And a lot was borrowed from that production. ah Because this was going into the Drama League ah contest, Wells had a lot to prove. He had... basically lost first prize, ah three years ago.
00:27:57
Speaker
um they said it was good. Like they got like a kind of a special commendation. ah but that like wasn't first prize and that's what really what he wanted. So our boy had shit to prove. and yeah So he pours a lot into it. One of the big things he steals from the cow production was the set design.
00:28:17
Speaker
Uh, her production had right at its center, a giant book. um and the pages would variously be turned throughout the production. and In the cow production, it was a clown would come out and turn the pages.
00:28:30
Speaker
ah In the Todd production, it was ah the boys would come out and they would turn the pages. And every time they would turn the page, it would basically be a scene change. They would turn the page and the scenery would be painted on the pages, essentially.
00:28:44
Speaker
That explains a lot about that video you sent me that watched. Excellent. and And speaking of the video, Wells had a, I think it was a, oh gosh, I want to say maybe a 16 millimeter camera.
00:28:58
Speaker
And he would go around and shoot footage of the boys ah performing their various roles and would show it to them as ways of like critiquing their performance, showing what they should and should not be doing throughout dress rehearsal.
00:29:12
Speaker
And that was eventually taken and turned into like a short little film um that I think was used at the Todd school to drum up interest in their drama program.
00:29:24
Speaker
um And that that video exists on YouTube as a, it was handed over by, I think Todd Tarbox, who is the son of a Haskey Tarbox or Harsey Tarbod.
00:29:36
Speaker
I've seen it spelled a couple of different ways, but we've commented on the young man's name before. Yeah. Um, But, um and there is a picture of him ah somewhere, and I will try to find it for this episode for to post on the socials, of him ah holding the, spoilers, Loving Cup that they win at the Drama League for this production of Twelfth Night.
00:29:57
Speaker
Yeah. But some of that footage of the Twelfth Night production actually has survived and exists on YouTube. i'm going to link it in the show notes for this episode so that you can see it. um And that has been preserved as many aspects. And and ah one we'll talk about here in ah and a few classes, Hearts of Age, the first film that Wells ever made, a very short, very short film.
00:30:22
Speaker
And I'll tell all about my story of that. I'm trying to get ah guest for that episode. So I'm trying to get our very first guest. Hell yeah. That episode. Um, one of the, one of the people at my, uh, at my fabled bachelor party.
00:30:35
Speaker
Um, so I'm trying to trying to see if he would be interested in, in coming on that episode. Um, but we had, um, Like Wells net is, is the, the, the person who's kind of has a lot of those, um a lot of that Wells ephemera up on their channel. It is an invaluable resource. Honestly, I cannot say enough good about it because it is just, he, he does a great job. I'm i'm actually opening the page right now so I can credit him directly.
00:31:07
Speaker
um But Wells net is the, is the YouTube channel. You can find it. Ray Kelly. is the is the person who who keeps that. So shout out to Ray Kelly. WellsNet is an incredible resource for Wells scholars or people like us who are wannabe Wells scholars, or I guess enthusiasts is the word that I think we've used in the past.
00:31:33
Speaker
um but yeah ray kelly over at wells net uh thank you for your work in uh in wells preservation thank you i will absolutely be linking that video in the show notes because it is it's it's too good not to frankly um and uh so yeah three years as i as i alluded to earlier three years after julius caesar failed to wow the judges there at the um drama league contest. Todd school wins the top prize, a two and a half foot loving cup, silver loving cup, uh, which is kind of one of those like stereotypical, like trophy cups that you might see.
00:32:13
Speaker
um ah they ah is is handed over to them for 12th night. ah They went in over several larger and, and honestly, probably wealthier schools that were up for contention.
00:32:24
Speaker
ah hell yeah. Nice. So it's, it's kind of a David and Goliath kind of story. Like this tiny little school from Woodstock, Illinois comes into Chicago and kind of demolishes like these bigger, wealthier schools in the process. So we love to see it.
00:32:38
Speaker
Then in May, of that year.
History Trip and the Creation of 'Marching Song'
00:32:41
Speaker
Wells begs for, and ultimately receives, because he's got Skipper wrapped around his little finger, ah spot on a as a chaperone on a two-week eighth-grade history and civics trip, ah bus trip, to see various Civil War sites. Kentucky, like Lexington, Appomattox Courthouse, Harper's Ferry, Washington, D.C.
00:33:02
Speaker
ah Basically, this trek through like Kentucky and Virginia to see a lot of these kind of World War II battle sites. um wait so Hang on. Okay. World War II battle sites.
00:33:15
Speaker
Fuck. yeah Okay. You said civil the first time, and I got real confused. Yep. Nope. yeah Nope. Sorry. Have I mentioned Malort's? Yeah.
00:33:27
Speaker
No, you're just like, you're speaking my language because like I, you know, I've lived in the eastern Philly region of Pennsylvania my whole life, but I frequently take trips out to like Gettysburg and stuff like that. So there are a lot of Civil War battlefields in this area, but I i don't think I've been to any of those specific ones.
00:33:47
Speaker
I guess Washington, D.C. and Arlington's are well, Arlington National Cemetery Count is one great big one at this point. But today yeah, yeah.
00:33:58
Speaker
uh still that's cool as hell yeah uh yeah can i go on that trip that sounds fascinating i'm i'm sure if you wanted to make that road trip you absolutely could might be a little risky these days but yeah yeah and touche i imagine it's probably not terribly easy for you to to travel our sheets sheets are probably safe places for me right The place that makes those delicious fries wouldn't wouldn't hate crime me, would they?
00:34:26
Speaker
i i would hope not. God. Probably they'd hate crime me just for criticizing the fact that they spell fries with a Z. Like, come on, man. oh Silly. ah Look, i know i know I know our governor has declared our state a safe haven. so Good.
00:34:41
Speaker
Good. We got that going for us. ah But I love this next paragraph. Wells, not one for wasted time, was hoping to use this trip as an opportunity to cajole Skipper into helping him write a new play, a biography on the life of abolitionist John Brown.
00:34:56
Speaker
John fucking Brown. Hell yeah. is Hell yeah. John Brown's body lies a-moldering-in-the-grave, but its soul goes marching on. And, and so that is, that is ultimately the the goal to which we are marching in this episode is is that play. And that is the play that we will be discussing next week. It is called ultimately called marching song.
00:35:18
Speaker
And we'll, we'll get into it. We're going to kind of talk about the buildup to its writing today and how, um, Yeah, so that that's kind of what this episode is is is based around, is the build-up to Marching Song. And then we'll discuss Marching Song in its entirety next week.
00:35:35
Speaker
Because we found a copy on archive.org, and we will actually yeah include that in the show notes as well for your homework for the week. um So if you guys want to keep up with us as as we're kind of going on this journey and kind of watch and look at and read what we're doing, um then that I think is is going to be an invaluable resource for you. So I will try to link that in the show notes as well for this episode.
00:36:00
Speaker
Um, Wells was too young to drive and honestly had no interest in driving. So as an excuse to bring him on the trip, Skipper called him the quote, chief of crew, which basically meant he was in charge of the boys, um, and making sure they were doing what they were supposed to be doing, uh, added to his responsibility. He was, uh, to, he was tasked with checking the journals,
00:36:23
Speaker
that they were supposed to be writing on the trip to make sure that they were doing what they were, again, doing what they were supposed to be doing. The irony of Orson Welles being in charge of anyone following instructions is not lost on me. Hope I hope it's also not lost on you.
00:36:43
Speaker
It's the contradictory nature of the man that just really sells me. it it And that that is, I think, what makes him such a fascinating figure, is the contradiction. And most of the time it's his own contradiction.
00:36:55
Speaker
Oh, cellar of his own snake oil. It's, it's amazing. And, and it, and chief, chief consumer thereof, honestly. Yeah.
00:37:06
Speaker
Yeah. Like I, I feel like he says these things not to convince someone else otherwise, because he legitimately does believe this stuff that he says about himself. Like,
00:37:17
Speaker
and And we've we've come across several even already just within these past seven episodes ah come across several things that he has said that um we're kind of like really or something like but really though.
00:37:29
Speaker
And yeah, ah there's going to be a lot more of that. the Oh, this this this podcast will be full of those things. Absolutely. Yeah. But yeah, Wells had hoped to take this trip as a way of ah kind of breathing the same air, walking the same places where John Brown had walked, and hoping to kind of soak up the atmosphere for the setting of the trip. they even went kind of out of their way to the the childhood home of John Brown, ah just to kind of, again, get that kind of atmosphere there.
00:38:02
Speaker
um And then ended or up and around Niagara Falls ah before heading back to a Woodstock, Illinois, which is, again, a place I hope to make ah a bit of a pilgrimage to myself as because of this podcast.
00:38:14
Speaker
We are doing here what Orson Welles hoped to do with John Brown and his play. This is our marching song, if you will.
00:38:25
Speaker
Well, my Niners have seen the coming of the glory of the Orson. so he's he's He's trampling out something. I'm not sure if it's vintage where the Graves of Wrath are stored, but he's he's trampling out something for sure. Definitely a vintage.
00:38:39
Speaker
God, I love it. I love it so much. I did just literally while you were speaking, i just searched archive.org marching song Orson Welles and I found the PDF. So that's on my phone now.
00:38:55
Speaker
I was going to say, I thought I sent you that link earlier, but pretty sure you did. I'm thinking like this is the screen I am looking at right now. Sure. Going to focus on that.
00:39:07
Speaker
understood all right or more the audience can play along at home doesn't you know it is it is available though that is that is again it was something we were able to find on the internet in its entirety which is like yeah not easy to do it's gonna be a little rare for these first couple episodes yeah correct yeah we're and honestly we're gonna we're gonna find what we can where we can how we can And honestly, even some of the later stuff, we're going to have a tough time finding like some of some stuff we're going to find in dribs and drabs.
00:39:36
Speaker
um It's not going to be full stuff. We're going be commenting on pieces. Yeah. whole Rather than the whole thing, ah particularly when we get into that, like late stage. Well, stuff like Don Quixote or the deep or um the the name of it just. Oh, um Merchant of Venice.
00:39:57
Speaker
Like he had, he had several projects he was working on at the time of his death. And as of now in the year of our Lord, 2025, only one of them has ever seen release. And that is the other side of the wind.
00:40:11
Speaker
um
00:40:13
Speaker
So do you know what I feel like, I feel like, final Miyazaki, uh, animated movie, uh, first Disney, uh, gay character and, uh, final unpublished work of Orson Welles are all just jockeying constantly to be increasingly inaccurate.
00:40:35
Speaker
Yes. Um, a hundred percent. It's like how Douglas Adams called the five book series of hitchhikers guide, a trilogy. So yeah. Yeah. and And again, but and I think that's Adams leaning into the absurdity because that is the kind of writer that Adams was.
00:40:55
Speaker
ah Whereas all these others. He was comedian. Exactly. And a damn good one at that. yeah like Damn fine. Yeah. but Lest we forget. ah The man. Very good at what he does. um did i Did I see Hitchhiker's Guide for the to the Galaxy, the film, the day it came out, ah which was the day of my my college finals, like the last day of my college finals?
00:41:20
Speaker
Did my friends and I are all bring our towels? the answer to all of these questions dear listener is yes these are all things that we did very nice very nice i bought the soundtrack opening day along with seeing the movie so right there with you my friend and at one of the other uh one of the other podcasts i do disenfranchised we recorded a whole episode on hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy so go listen to that go listen to that if you're after this episode if you're I tried to rewatch it recently. The Martin Freeman of it all just gets to me.
00:41:52
Speaker
I am ah kind of love him in that role, though. And I here's the thing, though. Mo's death, though. Mo's death as Ford Prefect. Holy shit. That is like that that is something like that is the casting choice in that film that grows on me. The more I watch it. Sam Rauchel gets a lot lot of attention.
00:42:11
Speaker
yeah samcordo Sam Rockwell gets a lot of attention deservedly so it's a great big flashy fun yelly screamy funny part but most death is so fucking understated and is barely the focus of of where the camera's pointing but just you watch that movie movie and you watch him specifically you're going to have a good time it's yeah hes he is always on in that movie it's so good It's like he decided to go method in the character of Ford Prefect. And it's beautiful. It is. It is a thing of beauty. It legitimately is. I love it.
00:42:49
Speaker
I love it so much. ah Speaking of things I love so much. e Orson Welles. Orson Welles. One of my favorite historic. In fact, my very favorite historical figure, if I'm being very honest.
00:43:01
Speaker
Yeah. they They returned to Todd, Woodstock, Illinois, just in time for the closing day ceremonies, which include, among other things, a ah a reprise, let's say, of Twelfth Night, um the award-winning Twelfth Night production. ah after After the school year is over, Orson returns to Highland Park in Chicago to stay with his guardian, Dr. Maurice, Cookmaster General, burns skis.
00:43:30
Speaker
um the ah The family that um that they often ah connected with out in Highland Park, the Moors, Hazel Moore is the wife. And Orson said he was always kind of curious about the relationship between Bernstein and Hazel Moore because apparently um the two would bicker like an old married couple, ah despite the fact that she was married to someone else.
00:43:59
Speaker
And again, this need the the consistency with which we see Bernstein involved with married women is let's just say the man who had a kink. um What? dude I feel like it's safe to say.
00:44:15
Speaker
Set him up and knock him down. Jesus Christ. This this dude is just moving through ah married women like I'm moving through a box of ah Little Debbie Swiss cake rolls.
00:44:27
Speaker
It's rough going. Yes. Swiss. They are my favorite cake roll. Or snack cake. I guess I should broaden my definition. of ah of all the Of all the cake rolls that exist. all Of all the Swiss cake rolls. Swiss cake rolls are are absolutely my go-to.
00:44:47
Speaker
Fuck you, jelly rolls. Swiss cake all the way. yeah actually, fuck jelly rolls. Chocolate. um Jesus Christ. ah ah So we're talking about Dr. Maurice Bernstein.
00:45:03
Speaker
Him and Hill arranged for Orson to spend the summer at a Wisconsin cottage owned by a colleague. But Orson... Never to do what he was told. I'm terrified as to where the sentence is about to go.
00:45:15
Speaker
Decided mid-voyage to accept an invitation from the father of one of his Todd classmates, James Meigs? Meigs is how i I pronounce it. I could be very wrong.
00:45:27
Speaker
And I'm sure if I am someone will let me know. James Meigs and decided to summer with them instead. So they are in basically the woods of Wisconsin.
00:45:38
Speaker
Okay. as you know as one as one does. um Again, Wisconsin, the the state that Wells was born in, ah the place he calls home, ah they're in ah the wooded area outside of Again, I didn't write this down, so my apologies.
00:45:58
Speaker
um How dare you. i know. i am I am actually the worst. I don't know if this has actually come out on the podcast yet or not, but I am actually the worst. A million Hitlers.
00:46:10
Speaker
I should be so lucky. Um, I don't remember, but yeah, uh, in Wisconsin, I can't fucking find it. I'm not, it's fine. I'm not that concerned.
00:46:23
Speaker
Um, but basically he spends the summer up there with them. Uh, this is the family that he takes to see the Barrymore film grand hotel that I mentioned earlier in the episode. Um, But he he decides to stay with them and said he said he got a look at the the driver that the friend of Bernstein's had sent to pick him up from the air or from the train station and called him.
00:46:44
Speaker
God, I can't believe I'm about to say this. A cross eyed half breed. ah Ah, come on. Right. That like. Dog. I hated fucking reading that. And then I had to say it.
00:46:58
Speaker
oh Fuck. God damn it. But yeah, so he decided at that point, literally when he sees the driver that was sent for him decides, you know what? Fuck this guy. Fuck Dr. B. I'm going with my buddy and his friends.
00:47:12
Speaker
um The oldest son had just been a part of the Twelfth Night production that Orson had directed over at Todd. He had just, in fact, graduated from Todd. ah The younger brother actually would go on to become ah something of a singer in his own right and would actually be in a lot of films, mostly Westerns.
00:47:28
Speaker
um But yeah which I which I found kind of cool. The Walter Meigs, I think, was that kid's name. um I'm just making note to put a trigger warning on this episode.
00:47:40
Speaker
hico Historical context quoted archaic hate speech. Good. Good. yep Sorry. Sorry, listener. um ah Orson, once he gets to the place with with the Meigs' builds a wigwam, which is what he calls it, out in the backyard, basically, which looks like a upside down salad bowl.
00:48:08
Speaker
And that's where he spends most of the summer. Puts all of his art supplies out there. Of course, he brings his paint set, his typewriter, a number of other things, and basically spends the summer out there working on his artistic endeavors.
00:48:21
Speaker
um It's slow going, but he gets a draft of a the first scene of the John Brown play from Hill. Hill manages to scrape together like just kind of a draft of ah of ah of a scene and sends it to Orson.
00:48:37
Speaker
And that is all Orson needs. He basically begins working heavily on the script. ah That is the inspiration that he requires. i And at this point, the script is called Kansas Days.
00:48:50
Speaker
Hmm. McGilligan's song is a little peppier. yeah It is. And I yeah will will, by the time, by the time we get to the autumn, ah that's where I think the so the play marching song or the the title marching song finally connects.
00:49:05
Speaker
um McGilligan says Hill understood his role. Once he fired the starter pistol, he would step back and watch Orson run the race. So basically like Orson, if if you look at the, the, the script that's on archive.org,
00:49:21
Speaker
Orson's name is huge. And then underneath in very small script, and hope you can probably confirm this, in very small script with Roger Hill, um like very small underneath. And it more or less is Orson's script.
00:49:35
Speaker
Like Hill kind of contributes a little bit here and there, but Orson really takes over and it becomes kind of his thing. However, Orson is not someone who can funnel all of his creative energy into one single endeavor.
00:49:50
Speaker
So as such, he starts to divide his attention among other projects. He starts writing a mystery play called The Dark Room. um as As to paraphrase David Sims from the Blank Check podcast, what if there was a dark room?
00:50:04
Speaker
um And then he also begins to work on another play called Bright Lucifer. which is on the list, but I don't think it's one that we'll end up covering because it's one of those that like he eventually kind of puts aside, kind of finishes someone somewhere, eventually stages it.
00:50:20
Speaker
Fair enough. Yeah. Can confirm Orson Welles gets a type 40 font and Roger Hill gets a type 12. So woof.
00:50:31
Speaker
Right. His is is is also also at that point, the more recognizable name. by the By the time this thing probably actually gets published.
Shopping 'Marching Song' in NYC
00:50:40
Speaker
Which brings us into the autumn of 1932.
00:50:45
Speaker
ah By the end of September, Orson's back in Highland Park, which is a northern suburb of Chicago. Weird Al actually just played out there this weekend.
00:50:57
Speaker
And got rained out. Apparently there was a monsoon Highland Park. So, yeah. Oh, no. I was actually thinking about going to that show at one point, and but i I've just been way too busy with other things, so I did not. And my partner also hates Weird Al, so I'd be going by myself.
00:51:16
Speaker
um What? Okay, we don't have time to get into that. We're going to talk about that later. um but it um But yeah, it apparently got like rained out like people were like filming tick tocks from the venue and then like, like walking through like feet of water to get back to their cars to get home like it was ridiculous. It's just funny that you happen to mention that ah today as we're recording this, our fifth episode of the Todd years, part two dropped in the feed.
00:51:46
Speaker
And you mentioned how weird Al Yankovic is coming to town to that venue. So this is a, this is a weird thread that we're picking up on several episodes later.
00:51:57
Speaker
Yes. If, if anybody out there knows or cares about, um So I know we'll get something from Tucker ah Probably mentioning once again his favorite polka When he gets to this point in the editing so i was going to say Tucker is actually going to see Weird Al ah Again weeks ago by the time this episode drops But this coming weekend as of the time we're recording this um As he will be in Indianapolis on July 3rd Yes we will we will hear from Tucker in a few weeks Your time as to how that concert went
00:52:31
Speaker
Yeah. So, yeah. And in fact, Tucker, if you just want to put like a couple minutes about weird, about your weird Al experience here in the edit, feel free. Yeah. Just freestyle for a few minutes. I'll mark it off. 52, 55 in the record.
00:52:42
Speaker
fifty five in the record weird al interlude and cut. Hi, it's me, Tucker. I saw Weird Al and it was really cool and you should go see him if that's your sort of thing. Okay, I love you. Bye. And we're back.
00:52:59
Speaker
All right. Thanks, Tucker. That was great. Yeah, thanks, Tucker. That was really insightful. I had no you idea you had felt that way about white and nerdy. So, yeah. um i'm i'm glad I'm glad you enjoyed it.
00:53:13
Speaker
I also have extensive thoughts about I'm the Pac-Man. But yeah, it's sad that that one never got released. Good stuff. Well, you know what did get released, but will never get performed live, hope is.
00:53:30
Speaker
Your muting actually worked a little too well there. I didn't even hear what you just said. Hardware store. There we go. Okay. It helps if you pull your hand towards the microphone. Yeah.
00:53:46
Speaker
Listener, also, I am using a weird fucked up system because my computer had last weekend. So I'm right. Isn't it just? Well, it's that's hardly your fault. Sublime hardware store. It's it's one of those tracks.
00:53:59
Speaker
Oh, God. I can't even get into it right now. We should get back on the notes because it is 1030 at night. I have to be up in six hours. Okay. We honestly, we do not need to do that much more.
00:54:12
Speaker
but We don't. We have three paragraphs. We have three paragraphs. And I mean, there's some more stuff in the notes, but ah I think I can summarize or more stuff in the text that I didn't put in the notes that I can basically summarize. um Fair enough.
00:54:26
Speaker
Wells, uh, basically goes to New York, uh, to try to sell the script, uh, as he's working on revising it through September. The plan is to go to New York, find a producer, someone who's willing to produce the show for Broadway.
00:54:42
Speaker
He's going to make it big in a big city. Yeah. Yeah. Big city dream for a small town boy. Uh, just a small town boy, um born and raised in,
00:54:55
Speaker
Chicago, Illinois. um or Orson, however, is nervous when his brother, Richard Ives Wells, who as eagle-eared listeners will remember, has been institutionalized in Kankakee, Illinois, the place where I went to college,
00:55:10
Speaker
um is um ah wants to come and visit Orson for Richard's birthday. um He's getting ready to celebrate a birthday. He's been institutionalized.
00:55:23
Speaker
He does get occasional trips outside of the institution in order to visit friends and family. And he wants to visit his little brother. Orson is very, very nervous about this meeting, ah potentially. And there's a quote here um from Orson that I want to read that kind of...
00:55:47
Speaker
lets us into his psyche a little bit from taken from a letter to Roger Hill. ah Frankly, I have no desire to see him for another three years. He's so upsetting to one's equilibrium, but something has got to be done, I suppose.
00:56:00
Speaker
And I do want to be as nice as possible, but what the hell do I seem callous? Really? Richard is a tremendous strain, always making off with himself or your silverware and unbearably overbearing.
00:56:13
Speaker
But I do love him and sympathize. And I will try just this once to be a little unselfish. Incidentally, you must meet him. I'll never fail you quite know me till you know my family.
00:56:27
Speaker
However, ultimately, Richard never comes. Another quote from Orson ah from another letter to Skipper. After all my worry, after all that worry over Richard and all that heroic self-sacrifice, the weekend is not to be.
00:56:43
Speaker
Dada, who is, which is again Orson's nickname for Dr. Bernstein, forgot to perform certain Kankakee rights. He's so busy these days. So brother Dick must languish in the institution over his birthday.
00:56:55
Speaker
Which, again, given what we've kind of covered about Richard and his issues over the past few episodes is honestly really kind of fucked up.
00:57:09
Speaker
Yeah, I'll say. yeah So, ah gosh, it's a good thing that the the mental institution and the the mental health institution in America just got better over time. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.
00:57:25
Speaker
I mean, better compared to 1932. Yes. Yeah. Unfortunately, yeah thing it's that it's that kind of like, yeah, it's i you think me callous. Yes, we think you callous. Like, yeah.
00:57:39
Speaker
Yeah. It's your fucking brother, dude. You treat people with love and compassion and you figure out why they are the way they are and you don't just shove them off to the side.
00:57:51
Speaker
It's almost like some sort of elected official, unelected official in charge of the health institution of this country. ah Wasn't his aunt fucking lobotomized? Historically, like famously.
00:58:03
Speaker
I'm not telling tells out of school. Like that's been documented. Like disgusting behavior. I'm just going to get more mad if we dwell on this for much longer. so yeah let Then let's not dwell. Let's yeah move on. We hope we mustn't dwell.
00:58:15
Speaker
Not today. not Not on Rex Manning Day. oh wait it's not fucking rex manning day sorry no no it's it's it's the day after the end of pride therefore nobody's gay anymore um again again it's a spectrum hope everyone's gay it's just i the degrees to which they are gay did i break you again I have no response for that. I'm not even going to mark that down in the notes as a place to pause.
00:58:43
Speaker
Did I say something horribly offensive again? No, you didn't say anything horribly offensive. I'm just... it's My brain is oscillating wildly back and forth between ah despair whenever I see the news and ah humanity is good, actually.
00:59:00
Speaker
um And there's there's not much middle ground there any of these days. It's just that constant tick tock metronome. yeah going back and forth it's the fucking teeter-totter of it all that is so funny i just jesus christ i'm so fucking tired but that doesn't stop us from saying that the hills drove wells to new york city uh did you read this paragraph i did not no i did not do it as i choke on nothing
00:59:29
Speaker
ah The Hills drove Wells to New York City where he was tasked with shopping the drown John Brown play now titled Marching Song to various producers in an attempt to find someone willing to mount the show.
Welles' Script Struggles and Resulting Depression
00:59:42
Speaker
it It's... we're just getting into like classic. Yeah. We're going to make it in the big city. Hey, yeah I've got a show I wrote. Can you help me put it all on? Mister we'll do the show right here.
00:59:54
Speaker
Yeah. yeah but I mean, from this point, you, you know, this it's, it's every story ever like, well, shops that around, no one's fucking interested. Like um Hill has a connection, like a former Todd student who is,
01:00:09
Speaker
a producer, but he's out in Hollywood writing scripts out there. So he's not even in New York for Wells to visit. ah but well shops set around to a lot of big names. Um, a lot of, uh, if you're familiar with theater in the 1930s, these are names you probably know. One name I know any actor will know is Samuel French, uh, who is the guy whose name is on like half the scripts you get.
01:00:35
Speaker
um Like, like Samuel French is like a, a big, like script publisher. um okay. It's the name of a big script publisher. So yeah, a lot of scripts that I have owned have been Samuel French scripts um from various plays that I've done over the years.
01:00:51
Speaker
i got around having to read scripts by doing improv comedy. Hell yeah. I mean, I did, I, i did my fair share of that too which is why i well i have never been word perfect on a script a day in my life because i am prone to uh ad lib and embellishment something every director i've ever worked for has hated me for oh no not every director i will say there have been a couple of directors who have been very supportive of my ad like At one point in one of the last shows I did in Indianapolis before I moved out to to Illinois, ah there was a line that I had added to the script, just like thrown in there just for fun. And the director liked it, so he kept it in.
01:01:33
Speaker
But the the producer of the show was sitting, like watching the the performance, and he looks over at the director goes, is that in the script? He goes, no, that's what you that's the magic of Stephen Fox. LAUGHTER
01:01:47
Speaker
The magic of Stephen Foxworthy Yeah not every director has appreciated That about me but he was One who did which is why I love Working with Brent Woldridge Hell yeah Brent I will shout him out by name ah Brent you are an incredible Director I have always Loved working with you ah you're the man ah Keep doing what you do You are one of the best you are the best director I've ever worked for Yeah fuck yeah let Stephen Off the off the leash let's fucking go um um
01:02:18
Speaker
But yeah, no, he shops the script around. no one really shows any interest. And Wells gets incredibly discouraged, especially in October when he reads a review in the New York Times for a biography of John Brown that's getting ready to come out.
01:02:34
Speaker
And he's like, well, this sounds a lot better than what I wrote. ah Shit. i Plummets into despair. Hill is kind of the optimistic buoy. This is a role he performs a lot for Wells. Like, Wells will get really discouraged and depressed, and Hill will be kind of the shot of optimism that Orson needs to kind of weather the storm that he's going through.
01:02:57
Speaker
he... and so he He actually ends up staying in New York for quite a while, eventually tries to use his stage experience from his i from his Dublin days to parlay his way into an acting career.
01:03:14
Speaker
ah But it's, let me check my notes here, The Great Depression. ah oh that depression. Right. not Not just any depression, The Great Depression. Although I have a feeling here in a few months we'll be giving that depression a run for its money.
01:03:28
Speaker
um I'm going to lay it down right now. We should just call it the big sad. I like that. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Great. Big sad. We're not depressed. I'm just kind of feeling the big sad right now.
01:03:41
Speaker
The big damn sad. um And and so he he tries to make it as an actor. The great depression is going on. He can't find work anywhere like his. He learns basically his his doubling credits are fucking worthless. Yeah.
01:03:57
Speaker
um And so he he ends up, um as as you might imagine, ends up going back to – and this is the part where the notes are done.
01:04:10
Speaker
And so I have to check the book to make sure that what I remember reading is in fact a thing I did read. but he doesn't get a lot of interest in marching song.
01:04:22
Speaker
ah want to say eventually someone shows interest, but it's very short lived. And so eventually he kind of finds himself. He writes a letter to to Roger Hill.
01:04:36
Speaker
i am now firmly convinced that marching song, despite its merits will never be produced. At least not this year. I'm aware that disappointments, It matters not how many should in no way affect my confidence, but they do.
01:04:53
Speaker
And eventually the book version of marching song is in fact, what we end up with. ah The show is not produced at least professionally until i think several years later. I want check.
01:05:08
Speaker
If you'll permit me this indulgence, I want to check the, because I think I made a note about it in the spreadsheet. but The first production, it's unproduced it's unproduced in full. The first production of it is a student production in 1950.
01:05:25
Speaker
So we're still about almost 20 years away from an actual production of it, and it's a student production that time. So it never gets performed in its entirety. but But, Hope, I will mention at this point, that is what we're covering next week.
01:05:41
Speaker
So we will be talking about marching song in its entirety next week. We will be and in two weeks. Next class. Next class, right. Next class. We will be talking about marching song in its entirety.
01:05:54
Speaker
We're going to read the play and we're going to discuss it and some of the context around it. ah Probably reiterate some of the stuff we mentioned in this episode just as kind of a refresher. ah But yeah, that that's where we're headed. Hope that is next. We finally hope we're finally going to talk about the work.
01:06:12
Speaker
Fuck yeah. Fuck yeah. We're finally getting into it. Oh my God. I'm so excited. It only took us eight episodes. But we're there. But we're there. We're there.
01:06:23
Speaker
I also have to admit, ah just doing like some cursory searches ah besides finding the script to marching song very easily. I found ah a YouTube channel. Always a risky sentence to say.
01:06:41
Speaker
ah But if you would like to ah immerse yourself in ah the upcoming radio that we will be covering, found a ah a YouTube channel. the classic archives, old time radio channel.
01:06:53
Speaker
And my God, they have more radio programs from, from back in the day. Then you could begin to imagine you got Martin and Lewis, you got a red skeleton, you got Groucho marks.
01:07:08
Speaker
You've got, you've got different recordings of different presidents doing different speeches. You've got, uh, uh, The shows I've never even heard of on here.
01:07:19
Speaker
Big John and Sparkle. Sorry, Big John and Sparky. ah Ripley's Believe It or Not. Whole shitload episodes that. The original Superman radio series is on here. yeah Buck Rogers.
01:07:34
Speaker
Um... A lot of audio books, it looks like, are just performances of stuff like that. I am a slut for things like this. Hey, the Green Hornet. Check that out.
01:07:46
Speaker
ah My God. Yeah. Gunsmoke. Roy Rogers. Dick Tracy. Hey, here's the shadow. Fuck yeah. View full playlist. Literally at the end of the page. The shadow. Nice.
01:08:01
Speaker
ah But yeah, so like i am going to be taking a huge dive into that ah and it should be ah pretty good time.
01:08:14
Speaker
ah death stalks the shadow. a Nice. Going to download that. ah But yes. And once we get into the radio, once we get into the radio portion of this podcast, Hope is going to be taking ah more of a more of a driving role.
01:08:31
Speaker
I, yeah, I will not be taking as a, I, I, well, experts, my dark secret is that ah I'm a Jack of all trades. Uh, so, uh, I'll be, I'll be be becoming an expert during the course of this program.
01:08:45
Speaker
Um, but really I'm just an enthusiast. I think the James bonding boys say, uh, lovers, not experts. Um, ah there show There are 249 videos in this playlist.
01:08:58
Speaker
I'm not sure if Orson is the shadow in all of them. I doubt he's the shadow in all of them. I don't ah but don't think he is. that is a whole As far as takes from someone else.
01:09:10
Speaker
ah Yeah, as far as The Shadow goes, so i have a couple of episodes that I will be recommending to give yourself the full Shadow experience. While we also talk about things like the greater context of The Shadow in general, maybe some sort of tie-in with another podcast that focuses on film franchises that never got franchised.
01:09:34
Speaker
I'm sure there's a word for it. I'm sure there's a word for it. It's, it's, ah it's, it's not called, uh, colossal fuck ups of motion pictures. Right. That's what it's called. There it is. That's, that is actually a very good, or all they just all collectively called leagues of extraordinary gentlemen's. Um, yeah, it's one of those narratives.
01:09:52
Speaker
There is. of those.
01:09:56
Speaker
Uh, yeah, we like yeah. Hmm. Uh, do we have anything else we wanted to talk about? that is, I think where we're going to take a pause for the cause. think we're going to pick it up next class with, uh, with marching song. We're going to, we're going to talk about it. going to read the play. We're going talk about it.
01:10:13
Speaker
we're going to do probably ah maybe a little biographical research on the person of John Brown. And, I don't know. We're going to, we're going We're going to have a little discussion about marching song, all the the good, the ill and everything in between. So I'm i'm very much looking forward to that conversation.
01:10:29
Speaker
And I hope you are as well. Listener should be should be hope. Why don't you. so your homework for next week. And again, we'll leave it in the show notes.
01:10:40
Speaker
If you are wanting to catch it, keep up with us again, you are under no obligation to do so. This is strictly extracurricular, but if you would like to ah read the script for ah marching song, I will put the link in the show notes so that you can read and engage with it on your time.
01:10:58
Speaker
That is what plan we're going to be doing to prep for next week. Yeah, the play itself is 144 pages long. i don't I'm not going to commit anybody to reading that besides myself. Here's the thing.
01:11:08
Speaker
the The script as it is is not all the play. The play is actually just part of that. So I think it's less than 100, just the play itself. they're like Oh, no, that's what I had to scroll back up through the index and the afterwards. But, yeah, there's – oh, wait, no, look at that. Acknowledgements start on page – but My God. Yeah. Very little of this book is actually play. Nevermind. I rescind my former statement.
01:11:36
Speaker
ah Whoops. Most of it is play, but um yeah, there, there's a lot of ephemera there as well, which we will probably read, but we are not obligating you to do so.
01:11:49
Speaker
ah But yes, otherwise um we were getting into plugs at this point. Yeah, let's do it. right well on What do you got going on right now? Uh, inactive. I've got high on cartoons with Bex, uh, uh, and, uh, matrix, ah reclamations with, Ella Cesare, uh, depending on what your flavor of info dump is active right now, besides this, um, the lanes between the, radio fanfic, uh, or fanfic radio podcast. I've been doing with a bunch of, uh, very, uh,
01:12:23
Speaker
Interesting. The international coalition of lesbians that I've joined, ah we've been putting out our episodes now. And they've called them that. That is a speaking of my love of old time radio. I feel like I'm doing something about that myself these days ah because I have narrated the past two episodes.
01:12:41
Speaker
And I was also the editor of the episode that's dropping this Friday as of the time of record. And that was a special kind of hell. ah But they're turning out amazingly. i couldn't be more excited to work with these people.
01:12:53
Speaker
um They are a delightful and insane bunch and they keep my Discord notifications going constantly. So if fan fiction about ah two specific lesbians from the TV show Arcane are your thing,
01:13:09
Speaker
look up the lanes between. Otherwise, i don't know how much of a crossover there's going to be with the Orson Welles audience. I was going to say, I listened to the first episode. I had no idea do what the fuck was going on, but yeah you were great. Yeah.
01:13:25
Speaker
So I may say, thank you. appreciate that. ah Love, love and continue to love and appreciate you. you were actually you were you were everyone was very good.
01:13:36
Speaker
But of course, should send you my outtake sometime because they are a tragedy. ah that Sounds delightful is what that sounds like. Thank you. Stephen, what do you got?
01:13:47
Speaker
i have a few podcasts. Of course, I am ah the host of a podcast called the Disenfranchised Podcast. where our editor and producer of this show, Tucker, and occasionally my good friend Brett Wright, the three of us talk about ah movies that were intended to be the Kickstarter of long-running Hollywood franchises but ultimately failed to do so.
01:14:10
Speaker
um That show drops every week on Thursdays, wherever you get your podcasts. And then, of course, I am a frequent collaborator and contributor to the Pod and the Pendulum podcast,
01:14:21
Speaker
a movie or a podcast that covers all the horror movie franchises one episode at a time. ah one movie, one episode at a time. i just, as I mentioned earlier, was on the episode talking about Night of the Living Dead. I'm hoping to be on the episodes for Dawn and Day as well, as I find both, and Diary also.
01:14:40
Speaker
ah Dawn and Day I find very interesting. Diary was one of the first Romero movies I ever saw, so it kind of holds a weird place in my heart, even though I don't think um But it's the summer of George is what we're calling it. George, of course, being Romero.
01:14:56
Speaker
um But that is going on over at the pod and the pendulum. ah You can find me at Chewy Walrus on Blue Sky and Letterboxd.
01:15:07
Speaker
ah The Disenfranchised Podcast at Disenfranch Pod on Blue Sky and YouTube and Letterboxd. um The pod and the pendulum is They're they've not cut back on social media to the extent that I have. But this, the Wells U podcast, you can find on Blue Sky and YouTube at Wells U pod.
01:15:27
Speaker
Please follow us on those platforms. ah Hit us up on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. A five star rating and review goes a long way to helping us find as plays like you. We're fairly new. So any.
01:15:41
Speaker
ah Any positive feedback you can provide in the pod sphere is so greatly appreciated. We really want to try to find as many listeners as possible. We know we're not everybody's flavor, but we want to find the people whose flavor we are.
01:15:54
Speaker
Yeah, please, please help us actually get this podcast to 10 years. So, yeah, please justify this. We'll probably do it regardless of whether or not we have listeners, but having listeners will definitely help.
01:16:06
Speaker
Very much so. And if you want to like reach out to us directly, wellsyupod at gmail.com. Let us know what you're thinking. Let us know what you're excited for. Whatever feedback you have, let us know.
01:16:18
Speaker
We would be delighted to hear from you. And who knows? We may even read what you have to say here on the podcast as well. um We are eternally grateful that you have decided to listen to to us proddle on about one of our favorite historical figures.
01:16:37
Speaker
We know you have your choice in Orson Welles podcast ah biographies. And we're yeah grateful you've chosen us. Yes, thank you. Thank you. very one of these very One of these days we're going to bank up some some bonus episodes. So we've got those in the tank just just just for a rainy day.
01:16:56
Speaker
I'm very excited to get drunk and watch along with movies with you. That's going to be fun. That's going to be fun. That's going to be a lot of fun. Do I do the, the drunken commentary tracks where we, where we get drunk on Paul Misson brandy and yeah Carlsberg Pilsner.
01:17:12
Speaker
um Love that for us. Love that for us. um In the meantime, this has been yucky face. Yeah, you are. Yeah. You're not a fan of this idea.
01:17:24
Speaker
um we're We're going to get to the Orson most pitch man episode at some point. ah Terrifying. which will not be quite as fun as a worse and most fuck boy, but we'll get there too.
01:17:34
Speaker
Um, at any rates, um, this has been Wells U podcast. Uh, I remain, ah your TA Stephen Foxworthy. Um, and of course that over there, that, that beautiful specimen is, uh, go host hope. So I try you succeed.
01:17:55
Speaker
Um, Inside and out, my dear. Oh, thank you. I look like my mom and I sound like my dad. It's the worst of both worlds.
Playful Blame on Genetics
01:18:04
Speaker
Yeah. Take that, parents.
01:18:08
Speaker
It's your fault. It's your fault. Because it's genetics. Yeah.
Homework Assignment: Reading 'Marching Song'
01:18:15
Speaker
we So again, next week, just just to recap your homework assignment for next week, is Marching Song, if you so choose to to to read it. If not, we'll look forward to seeing you next
Conclusion and Thanks to the Audience
01:18:25
Speaker
week. At any rate, ah thank you for joining us here at Wells U, and until next time, class
Alternative Homework: Listening to 'Battle Hymn of the Republic'
01:18:32
Speaker
dismissed. Yes, or you can just listen to Battle Hymn of the Republic over and over again.
01:18:39
Speaker
on repeat for however long that episode will be, I'm estimating at least 90 minutes, maybe two hours. But his soul goes marching on. His soul goes marching
Closing with 'Glory, glory, hallelujah'
01:18:53
Speaker
on.
01:18:53
Speaker
Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory. We can cut it off there.