Play review - "Red Peppers" by Noel Coward

 Fun. Silly. Would've been great to see with Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence. The story is about a squabbling pair of vaudevillians. They bicker, patter and sing songs. Argue with management and a comic. That's about it. Not story heavy. A star vehicle, which is why the star-free film version flopped.

Book review - "Young Orson" by Patrick McGilligan (2015)

Another biography on Orson Welles? One that focuses on his life before Citizen Kane, just like Simon Callow's? I mainly gave this a go because it was written by Patrick McGilligan whose books are always worth reading and it was worth it. It's a fantastic book - most of the books I've read on Welles have been great.

It plays to McGilligan's strengths - he's done sturdy work on Welles' family tree, as per usual. He also spends a lot of time de-bunking myths about Welles, proving a counter balance (just as he did in his books on Hitchcock and Clint Eastwood): his supposedly distant parents, the role of John Houseman, the paternity of Michael Lindsay Hogg, his supposed womanising (there seems to have been a lot of it but much was seemingly emotional), his supposed nothing marriage to Virginia Welles, the enigma of his elder brother, the mystery of Dadda Bernstein, the personal touches in Kane.

The book got a little less special as it went on, mainly because the ground it covered was more familiar. McGilligan isn't as good on theatre as Simon Callow but is more thorough when it comes to facts. It was always worth reading though. The epilogue on Welles' last day was really moving.

I felt McGilligan was a bit harsh on Houseman at times - so he blew his own trumpet, that's not a massive crime, and I think having to deal with the legend of Welles would be hard.

Radio review – CP#49 – “Mr Deeds Goes to Town” (1940) **

The lead roles are utterly miscast –Orson Welles standing in for Gary Cooper, and Gertrude Lawrence subbing for Jean Arthur. Stars whose personas fit with sophistication, culture trying to pass off as a gee, aw shucks, Americana innocent and wisecracking reporter respectively. It doesn’t work – it might have, had the script be reworked to accommodate them, but it doesn’t. Welles and Lawrence were stars rather than actors – versatile, but within their range.

Radio review – CP#45 – “Theodora Goes Wild” (1940) **

Years before Loretta Young and Orson Welles teamed on The Stranger they played together in this radio version of the 1936 screwball comedy. Young stars as the quiet small town girl who has secretly written a racy best-seller and Welles is the cover artist who falls for her. He tries to bring her into honesty but then when he starts getting somewhere she backs off – it turns out he’s secretly married and can’t get divorced because the fear would upset his politician dad. Which means they’re not really using the premise, and it also doesn’t make sense – would Welles’ character go to all this trouble when he himself is hiding such a big secret. 

It is interesting to hear an old style Hollywood film about sexual hypocrisy and with a male hero who gets divorced. 

Welles wasn’t always comfortable in screwball comedy and that proves to be the case here; he’s outshone by Young comfortably (the role has resonance with her, the good Catholic girl who raised Clark Gable’s love child).

NB at the end Welles refers to this being Young’s fifth appearance on the show, the first back in 1934 – well before Welles became involved in Campbell’s Playhouse.

Radio review – CP#52 – “Rabble in Arms” (1940) **1/2

Based on a novel by Kenneth Roberts, author of Northwest Passage – this is another historical piece centering around a flawed figure in American revolutionary history, in this case Benedict Arnold. The novel – along with many of Roberts’ works – was edited by Booth Tarkington, who wrote Magnificent Ambersons. 

It’s all fairly restrained and sober, with Welles underplaying as Benedict Arnold; it’s also a bit dull, to be honest, although it’s interesting to hear Welles take on history (he often played historical figures when working in an actor-only capacity, but it never seemed to interest him that much as a director). Frances Dee plays the female lead.

The story is concerned with Arnold's actions at the beginning of the war, i.e. his heroism at the Battle of Saratoga before he turned traitor. He's not even that big a character though - the guts of the story concerns two brothers who fight in the Revolution. Its interesting rather than engrossing; Welles isn't in it that much, a kind of fore-runner to the cameo performances as Famous Man In History he would later become known for in the 50s and 60s.

Radio review – CP#54 – “Huckleberry Finn” (1940) ***

Charming version of the classic tale, with Orson Welles thankfully not playing the title role – that’s given to Jackie Cooper – although he does narrate some of it as Huck (they make a joke out of it, Welles joking: “see, I’m aware I have an ego but I'm pulling back - see, I can make fun of myself - see, see!”). He also pops up as a pompous actor, an entertaining section perhaps given a bit too much time in this adaptation in order to accomodate the star. It's still a fairly lively adaptation, another example of Welles' interest in Americana. Clarence Muse plays Jim.

Radio – CP#51 – “Only Angels Have Wings” (1939) **1/2

The story works well on radio, because most of it is set in a bar and in cockpits – you have the wind and rain, and lots of tough-talking American pilots working in South America. It’s fun listening to Orson Welles play a Hawksian hero – he’s not the first actor you think of for such parts, and doesn’t quite work a hundred percent here, but he could have been effective with a bit more reworking. Welles liked to crack wise, talking fast with overlapping dialogue, etc – he just had a different tone to the world of Hawks. Joan Blondell steps into the Jean Arthur role very well.

Radio review – CP#56 – “Jane Eyre” (1940) ****

The last production done by Orson Welles for the Campbell Playhouse - although the series would continue on for another season, done by John Houseman. The part of Rochester was one of Welles’ best known – he did is several times on radio, and of course on film. It always suited him like a glove (at least, during this stage of his career before he ate himself out of romantic leads). He is much better here than he would be in the movie – a lot more subtle and sensitive. Maybe this was because he directed. The production is full of atmosphere and romance; Madeleine Carroll is adept as Jane.

Radio review – CP#44 - ”Vanity Fair” (1940) ***

A very fun version of Thackeray’s satire, fast and rompy. Helen Hayes is actually enjoyable as opposed to simpering (which she usually was when acting for Campbell Playhouse) and Orson Welles was a lot more at home with this sort of comedy than wisecracking stuff.

Radio review – CP#47 - “It Happened One Night” (1939) **1/2

William Powell and Miriam Hopkins were screwball experts and so easily slot into this Campbell version of the most famous screwball comedy of them all; they are more happily cast than Orson, who plays Hopkins’ father far too broadly.

Radio review – CP#42 - “A Christmas Carol” (1939) ***

Orson Welles announces this as the fifth time this tale had been done at Christmas time - was it the last? Lionel Barrymore is excellent in a role he was born to play and the whole thing is done with heart and good humour. It's a shame Welles never tackled Dickens on screen, he had the bigness for it.

Radio review - CP#46 – “The Citadel” (1940) **

Based on a famous book, but it’s boring – Orson Welles as a doctor in a mining town who marries a decent woman (Geraldine Fitzgerald – thank goodness it isn’t Helen Hayes), goes off the tracks but gets back on again. In the 1930s there were lots of these sort of films about tormented medicos (eg Green Light, Men in White) - actually they still make them today, only on TV. Fitzgerald had acted with Welles on stage at the Mercury; apparently the two of them had an affair. During the late 30s it seemed she might become a major star, but it never quite happened for her - although she did go on to have a very distinguished career.

Radio review – CP#41 – “There’s Always a Woman” (1939) **

Orson Welles tries to spread his wings playing the male lead in this wisecracking husband-and-wife detective tale; he isn’t very suited to this sort of humour, despite being well matched by Marie Wilson, who plays a ditz (she sends herself up as a ditz in real life at the end). Welles tries to modify his delivery for wise-cracking but it doesn’t really work; he was a different sort of comedian to Melvyn Douglas, who played the role on film (this was confirmed later when Welles took over another role originated by Douglas in Theodora Goes Wild).

Radio review – CP#50 - “Dinner at Eight” (1940) ***

It's striking just how bleak this is… it starts with a dithering society matron trying to organise a dinner, unaware her ship owning husband is going broke, being raided by a tycoon unaware his trashy wife is cheating on her with a doctor, the husband is unaware his daughter although engaged to a nice man is having an affair with an actor although unaware how deep his self-loathing goes. Suicide, bankruptcy, adultery – it’s all the stuff of comedy of manners, and it’s done with accomplishment by Welles. Hedda Hopper is surprisingly good; Lucille Ball is also good, though less surprisingly, in the Jean Harlow part. Welles plays two roles – Wallace Beery and John Barrymore in the movie. The ending here is downbeat - it has the play's finish rather than the film's.

Radio review – CP#48 – “Broome Stages” (1939) ***

Orson Welles had a fondness for old actors so its no surprise to see him adapt a saga about an acting dynasty along the line of the Barrymores or the Redgraves. This gives him an excuse to recite some Shakespeare in character and play multiple roles. His co star is yet again Helen Hayes. It's quite entertaining; taken from a book by Clemence Dane

Radio review – CP#40 - “Vanessa” (1939) **

Wafty romance with Helen Hayes in the lead opposite Orson Welles. (Hayes was the most common co-star of Welles in Campbell Playhouse, you get sick of her.) It touches on insanity – a woman enters a loveless marriage with a bloke who goes bonkers – but the tone isn’t gothic, more… wet. Falls into the “sap” sub-genre of Campbell Playhouse, like The Apple Tree.

Radio review – CP#39 – “Lost Horizon” (1939) ***

Strong version of the classic tale with Orson Welles surprisingly not taking the Ronald Colman role, but the lama. It’s atmospheric and expertly produced; like all versions of this story there’s a dodgy undercurrent – the other two members of the expedition are determined to dig for gold and spread Christianity, why is the girl so keen to leave Shangri-La? That doesn’t bode well for them. The “star” is Sigrid Gurie, who specialised in playing oriental types around this time; she’s the female lead.

Radio review – CP#37 – Garden of Allah (1939) **

Orson Welles as another romantic lover – this time a former monk who runs off to the desert where he romances Madeleine Carroll. But he’s got some secret recipe so eventually he has to go back. What the…? This sort of stuff was popular in the 30s, I guess – Orson suits his part and it is enjoyable in a junky desert romance sort of way, with the foreign legion hanging around.

Radio review – CP#38 - “Dodsworth” (1939) **1/2

Sometimes you wish Orson Welles didn’t insist on acting in every production in his radio show. He’s ok as Dodsworth but not really up to the role; if Walter Huston couldn’t do it then Joe Cotten would have made a better fist. That aside this is a sensitive adaptation; the story works well on radio because it’s intimate drama. It’s also clear that the wife character has a good case – why shouldn’t she have some fun after being stuck in a dreary mid-western town with a husband who keeps referring to himself as a hick? She’s a little silly sure but she’s understandable; and also that divorcee woman could easily be a gold digger. Fay Bainter is very good as the wife – a lot better than Orson. This is yet another tale about mid-Westerners from him but at least this one isn’t nostalgic.

Radio review - CP#36 – “The Murder of Roger Ayckroyd” (1939) **

Welles clearly couldn’t make up his mind whether to plat the narrator of Poirot so he plays both. I would have thought Welles might have made a decent Poirot but he hams it up mercilessly (the detective talks even during the intro and outro and “talks” to Welles himself); he is however pretty good as the narrator. To be honest I found the story a bit confusing at times but the basic concept - told by a narrator - adapts well to radio.