Actually, these are parts three and four to the interview with the great god Welles, as the second part is on the DVD box set of Merv's Greatest Guests, or whatever it's called. This chat with Orson was conducted literally the eve of his death — he returned home from the Griffin show and never woke up the next morning.
Part two has him talking with Merv about his recently passed 70th birthday, old age (he quotes DeGaulle, "old age is a shipwreck"), and reflections on Rita Hayworth. In the third part, they are joined by Barbara Leaming, whose bio of Orson had just come out. The chat is very amiable, almost silly, but it's interesting to see Orson "protesting" Merv and the giggly Ms. Leaming gossiping about him, when you know he's really eating it up (if there was anything he knew well, it was self-promotion).
The visual quality isn't terrific, but this was taken off of rabbit-ears television the first (and, to my knowledge, only) time it aired. Gotta be thankful to my mother for taping this one while I was off at college. Thanks, Ma.
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In this final portion, Orson is maneuvered into talking about Kane, Chimes at Midnight and The Third Man.
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4 comments:
Ed, thanks for producing Media Funhouse. I found out about it by accident today watching a 7Up ad I hadn't seen in ages. Also congratulations on doing your show on cable access. My show is on cable access too (it's also keyed to retro), and I'm thinking cable access DIY broadcasting may well be the Gen X wave of the future. MF is bookmarked and I'm going be visiting you guys a lot for my analog TV fix.
really interesting - and so WEIRD having his biographer sitting right next to him, and Merv occasionally referring to him 3rd person! thnx for the post
Thanks much. I've got to take the time to add links very soon, and I will try to give both your blogs a healthy plug.
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