“Forgotten Hollywood”- Illinois Festival Honors Orson Welles!

Posted on April 1, 2014 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…

   The 80th anniversary celebration of the 1934 Todd Theatre Festival at the Woodstock Opera House that 19-year-old Orson Welles orchestrated. With the production of Trilby in which he portrayed Svengali, Welles made his debut as an American theater director. At the Woodstock, Welles co-directed his first film, The Hearts of Age.

woodstock-todd

   Celebration plans are already coming together. On May 17th, two panels of internationally known experts will speak on the early life and career of the celebrated actor and director with moderator Robert K. Elder. That evening, RG Productions will present live old-time radio classic vignettes of Dracula, The Shadow, and Sherlock Holmes, followed by a recreation of Welles’ radio broadcast, War of the Worlds. For a complete schedule of events, click on the link below:

http://www.wellesnet.com/?page_id=5387

   In a 1960 interview , Orson Welles commented that Woodstock is where he attended a residential school for boys, Todd School, from 1926 to 1931 and where he met his mentor, Roger Hill — who involved Welles in school dramatic productions and became headmaster in 1930. Welles underscored his debt to both Todd School and Roger Hill when he told Peter Bogdanovich in This is Orson Welles that, despite separation and a passage of many years, Hill remained a daily influence in his later life.

   Woodstock Celebrates, Inc. is a 501 (c)(3) organization. Donations may be mailed to: Woodstock Celebrates Inc., P.O.Box 342, Woodstock, IL 60098.

——————————————————– Orson Welles Auction

   The youngest daughter of director and writer Orson Welles is giving film buffs a chance to own some of his personal possessions. Beatrice Welles is handing 70 items over to Heritage Auctions, which will put them up for bidding April 26th. Among the treasures — a camera, a typewriter, scripts, letters, and photos from the set of Citizen Kane.

   Margaret Barrett, director of the entertainment-related auctions, declined to speculate on any possible bidding amounts, but said she expects all the lots to fetch decent bids.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2014 at 12:24 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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