An Orson Welles archive of photographs, contracts, pressbooks, and ephemera
Comprising an Autograph Document Signed ('Orson Welles,' 'John Houseman'), 1 p, May 21, 1938, regarding his position in the Mercury Theatre; an Autograph Document Signed ('Orson Welles,' 'John Houseman'), 3 pp, January 27, 1939, concerning the Mercury Theatre production of Five Kings; an original passport photo; 52 silver gelatin photographs (some feature H.G. Wells with and without Orson Welles), 8 x 10 in.; 2 theater programs for Five Kings at the Colonial Theatre in Boston featuring Welles and Burgess Meredith; a Mercury Productions program, Jan 31, 1938, for The Tragedy of Julius Caesar; a program for the 1956 Broadway revival of King Lear; a 4 x 5 in. negative of Welles; a reproduction of a childhood photo; a pamphlet relating to Les Bravades, the book based on his illustrations for daughter Rebecca Welles; a Citizen Kane (1941) pressbook, 16 pp complete, 12 x 18 in.; a different Citizen Kane pressbook, 24 pp complete, 12 x 18 in.; a pressbook for The Lady From Shanghai (1948), 16 pp complete, 11 x 17 in., with taped spine. Wunderkind Orson Welles made a splash with his The War of the Worlds 1938 radio program that shocked America, as well as with his masterpiece film, Citizen Kane (1941). He spent the rest of his career chasing the high experienced from those two productions, overspending and overfilming, and often without funds. Still, he is without parallel in the annals of film and is responsible for such classics as The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Jane Eyre (1943), and Touch of Evil (1958), among many others.
Largest pressbook: 12 x 18 in.