Imperial Valley Press

Paul Harrison's Notes
On Hollywood's Foibles and Fads
By PAUL HARRISON
NEA Service Staff Correspondent

HOLLYWOOD, July 18. - When Orson Welles came here a year ago with a contract of greater liberality and latitude than ever had been written in movie history, he felt that he was merely fulfilling his destiny. For at least a decade it had been assumed both by the prodigy and his admirers that eventually he would do something about the movies.

Knowing absolutely nothing about picture making, he admitted a few misgivings at first. But he soon lost them under the tutelage of some of the town's finest technicians. Welles is a respectful and intelligent listener, and he won the regard of cutters, cameramen, and designers by going directly to them for his information.

But if he was pleased by the attitude of craftsmen, he was dismayed by the antagonism of Hollywood in general. He had figured that this must be one place where a youngster 6 feet 3 inches tall, weighing more than 200 pounds, and wearing a black beard could be inconspicuous. He had seen pictures of long-haired actors in sweatshirts at night clubs. And he probably had heard that intellectuals were regarded here with awe.

Another thing: People who know him agree that Welles has a completely charming personality. And he is by no means the sort of insufferable egoist whom you could hit by swinging a dead cat anywhere west of Vine street.

HOLLYWOOD LESS
THAN CORDIAL

Yet he has been jibed, insulted, slandered, and libeled ever since he came here. Hollywood assumed that he must be a presumptuous upstart and decided that his elegant whiskers grown for his stage role in "Five Kings" and retained for his part in the intended filming of "Heart of Darkness"—were an outrageous affectation. Many stories both funny and malicious, were invented about him.

Every time he delayed production or changed his plans, the news was hailed as proof of incompetence. For the last six months gossip writers have been offering exclusive tips that Welles had abandoned his movie plans.

Many a Hollywood man has dabbled around for a year in highly paid idleness without arousing even mild comment. Welles, however, has not been idle, nor has he been paid one dime by RKO up to this time. He has written, directed, and taken part in his radio program, usually commuting by plane to New York for it. He has written and illustrated another of his widely used textbooks on Shakespearean drama and has made recordings to accompany it. He has held his Mercury Theatre company together pretty well, and during the idle year paid a dividend out of his own pocket to stockholders. He has organized United Productions for a west coast stage tour this fall. He has delivered numerous lectures. Besides making all sorts of production plans and tests, he has written three movie scripts. And that latter job alone is more than most topnotch writers can do in 12 months.

HE'S USED TO THE
JEERING NOW

Now that he's about to begin filming "Citizen Kane," the jeers at Welles are subsiding. He said, "It seems I'm still funny but no longer a menace. I've become an old, standing joke like the Malapropian producer or the dumb chorus girl."