he came to the town of magic and dreams a flashing star blazing through the firmament of illusion. and he promised to devour the world in a single gulp. he was 24 years old and his name was george orson welles. sound the trumpets! unfurl the banners, hollywood! the boy wonder has arrived!
he made his debut on the world stage in kenosha, wisconsin, on the 6th of may, 1915. and on the 7th of may he spoke his first words, and unlike other children who say commonplace things like "momma" and "poppa", he proclaimed "i am a genius!"
so how could the magic of the stage not call to this adventurous lad? unstoppable and resolute, the boy wonder journeyed into the world of the legit theater. after a peripatetic beginning he found himself at last in new york where he joined forces with theatrical producer john houseman under the august auspices of the wpa federal theater.
like hannibal over the alps, the boy genius invaded the great white way. he stunned the sedate elite of new york theatre with production after production. from macbeth with an entirely colored cast to a mussolini-inspired julius caesar!
though he wowed the critics with his spectaculars the ticket sales left something to be desired. so, after founding the mercury players with houseman, young mr. welles quickly set his sights on the airwaves. he quickly became the sonorous -' voice of "the shadow." ''
with lament cranston in one pocket and his own radio show. the mercury theater of the air, our boy wonder filled the night with his resounding tones. and on october 30th of 1938, he became what he felt destined to be: a household name.
the war of the worlds sent this nation spinning into a frenzy. nine million listeners clasped their loved ones close and looked to the skies with horror. unlucky listeners near the epicenter of the "invasion" -- rural new jersey -- ran screaming into the night, sure a monstrous alien and a fiery death awaited them around every corner! the mischievous boy wonder had fooled us all!
how long, oh how long could it possibly be before the sunny land of dreams tried to harness the combustible power of this showman, this impresario, this best of all possible boy wonders?!
the winner in the welles derby was george schaefer, the head of rko pictures. with a contract unimaginable before the days of orson, mr. schaefer captured the whirlwind snared the beast, roped the tyrant!
eyebrows raised and jaws dropped all over hollywoodland when the terms of the deal that lured the great orson came forth: the boy wonder could produce, write, direct and star in his own projects with budgets up to $500,000 a picture! he would have total control over the shooting of the picture and the finished product. the studio, well, they just paid the bills. meanwhile, the insiders of filmland were skeptical.
so cometh orson! he toured the rko studio and met with the biggest of the big! he charmed his way through the town from the brown derby to the copacabana, from the pacific palisades to the hollywood hills!
yes, the boy wonder had arrived! he even charmed those rival maidens of hollywood gossip, those well- coiffured chroniclers of the dream factory: hedda hopper and louella parsons.
so today, almost a year after his arrival in hollywood, we leave the boy wonder still hard at work developing his much-anticipated first feature, preparing to dazzle us all again. we're waiting, orson!