"We're gonna be a great TV star."
May 6, 2015 11:46 PM   Subscribe

In the pilot episode... Welles goes beard to mustache with Burt Reynolds on the Constipation School of Acting, does magic tricks with Angie Dickinson and discusses the cosmic importance of puppetry with Jim Henson. It’s all coated with Welles’ eccentricities and indecipherable profundity. Once again, it’s impossible to know whether he’s genuinely bizarre or wholly self-aware of the display he’s putting on. My money is always on the latter.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth, please enjoy the bizarre and wonderful never-aired 1979 pilot of The Orson Welles Show. (Via)
posted by Atom Eyes (11 comments total) 33 users marked this as a favorite
 
That's the voice of Unicron right there, kids!

I'm just skipping through this (because.... the 1970s) and some lady asks "why aren't there more female stars?".

A:They're not making women pictures.
posted by Mezentian at 2:43 AM on May 7, 2015


A: Because Angie Dickinson IS ALL THE WOMAN YOU NEED.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 4:45 AM on May 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Direction notes:

ZOOM, PAN, ZOOM, ZOOM, PAN, can we get a star filter on that?
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 4:59 AM on May 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


The glimpses of audience members are pretty interesting, too. Check out the guy at 14:33, for instance.
posted by msbrauer at 5:32 AM on May 7, 2015


Now I'm kind of wondering what a Russ Meyer talk show would look like.
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:34 AM on May 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


I think I just watched Welles interview himself. It's like a kid asking you a riddle.

"What do you get when you cross an elephant with Darth Vader?"
"I-"
"An elevator!" [*insert canned laughter*]
posted by dances with hamsters at 5:49 AM on May 7, 2015


If we're making requests, I want to see a John Waters talk show.
DISH, GIRL, DISH.

A John Carpenter talk show?
DIE, GIRL, DIE.

Tim Burton?
DREAM, GIRL, DREAM.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 6:12 AM on May 7, 2015




"Once again, it’s impossible to know whether he’s genuinely bizarre or wholly self-aware of the display he’s putting on."

He was genuinely bizarre. A freaking genius, a master at the art of cinema, and genuinely bizarre.
posted by blucevalo at 1:51 PM on May 7, 2015 [2 favorites]




Simon Callow on this part of Welles' life.

(Third volume of Callow's biography of Welles is finally coming out this year.)
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 5:49 AM on May 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


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