Me and Orson Welles (Film Tie in)
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One of the best depictions of male adolescent yearning ever to hit the page Kirkus Reviews Sleekly groomed, diverting, unpretentious...Orson Welles bestrides this narrative like a colossus...you feel the horror of a gifted artist metastasizing into that most twisted and unnatural of beings: a Star Washington Post Inventive...in the span of 269 breezy pages, [Richard] falls in love, has his heart broken, sees his showbiz dreams crushed, and--beautifully, almost imperceptibly--becomes a man Entertainment Weekly Bright, enthusiastic...entertaining Publishers Weekly
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"One of the best depictions of male adolescent yearning ever to hit the page"
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A bright breezy joyous treat. From the first chapter the grin on my face grew and grew, this is a book passionately in love with life.
We meet Richard Samuels at the start of the greatest week of his life and as I started to read I have to admit to a certain wariness. The copy on the back cover describes our protagonist as having `an eye for the ladies'. A book about a smug git getting laid? No thanks. Things didn't bode any better on the front either. The copy I'd bought was a film tie in and the actors grinned manically from the cover. Now maybe it's just me but I hate that, I want my mind's eye to decide what the characters look like thank you very much. On to the first page. `It was one of those weeks when the phone doesn't stop ringing, it was always for me' Alright Richard don't rub it in! Finally the ultimate harbinger of mediocrity. I bought the book in Tesco's, from the reduced section no less... I was desperate Ok. Don't judge me.
I mention all of this to illustrate how completely wrong I was (well maybe not the Tesco's thing), and to implore anybody with similar doubts to put them aside an give this wonderful book a chance.
Richard does indeed have an eye for the ladies but smugness doesn't come into it. He's the Fast talking Jewish boy who's every girls best friend. The closest he gets to any action is a head crying on his shoulder. His eye celebrating their beauty, longing to be part of their world. The phone's ringing too, but not because of his irresistible popularity. More because he's managed to worm his way into the cool crowd and is functioning more as their receptionist than a real member of the group.
To escape this world of mediocrity Richard heads for a day in the big city and a runs head long into every hopeful young actors dream. Passing the Mercury theatre he confronted by the colossus of talent and ego that is the young Orson Welles, `Hey kid can you play a drum roll?', `Yes sir', `Can you sing?' Richard breaks in to the theme from a Wheaties commercial. `Your hired!' From here Richard is on a Roller Coaster ride. Blagging and bluffing his way through an extraordinary week. He really does grab his opportunity with both hands, lying through his teeth to his parents and friends, drinking in the experience of a lifetime, cheeky one-liners trailing in his wake.
If Richard is the heartbeat of the Book then Orson Welles is the charismatic star. He jumps off the page larger than life, dominating every scene, characters drawn irresistibly to his talent. Orson himself would have been proud. Then of course there is the love interest, fun, ambitious, delightfully teasing Richard in a way that's never less than charming. This, I think, is the major triumph of this book, characters who could have been arrogant and annoying are charismatic and endlessly entertaining. Trying to criticise it seems like missing the point, this isn't great, worthy literature. It's a fun adventure, gregarious characters taking life by the scruff of the neck. It's the perfect length too. Coming in at just a couple of hundred pages, it doesn't drop the pace for a second. A little treat which breezes into your life, throws open the curtains and brightens your world, staying only for a second and then it's over, leaving you with nothing more than a big grin on your face.
We meet Richard Samuels at the start of the greatest week of his life and as I started to read I have to admit to a certain wariness. The copy on the back cover describes our protagonist as having `an eye for the ladies'. A book about a smug git getting laid? No thanks. Things didn't bode any better on the front either. The copy I'd bought was a film tie in and the actors grinned manically from the cover. Now maybe it's just me but I hate that, I want my mind's eye to decide what the characters look like thank you very much. On to the first page. `It was one of those weeks when the phone doesn't stop ringing, it was always for me' Alright Richard don't rub it in! Finally the ultimate harbinger of mediocrity. I bought the book in Tesco's, from the reduced section no less... I was desperate Ok. Don't judge me.
I mention all of this to illustrate how completely wrong I was (well maybe not the Tesco's thing), and to implore anybody with similar doubts to put them aside an give this wonderful book a chance.
Richard does indeed have an eye for the ladies but smugness doesn't come into it. He's the Fast talking Jewish boy who's every girls best friend. The closest he gets to any action is a head crying on his shoulder. His eye celebrating their beauty, longing to be part of their world. The phone's ringing too, but not because of his irresistible popularity. More because he's managed to worm his way into the cool crowd and is functioning more as their receptionist than a real member of the group.
To escape this world of mediocrity Richard heads for a day in the big city and a runs head long into every hopeful young actors dream. Passing the Mercury theatre he confronted by the colossus of talent and ego that is the young Orson Welles, `Hey kid can you play a drum roll?', `Yes sir', `Can you sing?' Richard breaks in to the theme from a Wheaties commercial. `Your hired!' From here Richard is on a Roller Coaster ride. Blagging and bluffing his way through an extraordinary week. He really does grab his opportunity with both hands, lying through his teeth to his parents and friends, drinking in the experience of a lifetime, cheeky one-liners trailing in his wake.
If Richard is the heartbeat of the Book then Orson Welles is the charismatic star. He jumps off the page larger than life, dominating every scene, characters drawn irresistibly to his talent. Orson himself would have been proud. Then of course there is the love interest, fun, ambitious, delightfully teasing Richard in a way that's never less than charming. This, I think, is the major triumph of this book, characters who could have been arrogant and annoying are charismatic and endlessly entertaining. Trying to criticise it seems like missing the point, this isn't great, worthy literature. It's a fun adventure, gregarious characters taking life by the scruff of the neck. It's the perfect length too. Coming in at just a couple of hundred pages, it doesn't drop the pace for a second. A little treat which breezes into your life, throws open the curtains and brightens your world, staying only for a second and then it's over, leaving you with nothing more than a big grin on your face.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
35 reviews
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Life, Love and Youth...Who Could Ask For More?
4 Dec 2003
Format:Hardcover
I've read a lot of books recently, but I don't think there's one that can top "Me and Orson Welles" for the sheer pleasure it provided. This is a classic, wonderful, coming-of-age story, set in the New York City of 1937. Richard Samuels is a 17-year-old high school student with a big heart and big dreams. Through lucky happenstance, he lands a small part in "Julius Caesar," the opening Broadway production for the Mercury Theatre and its star, 22-year-old Orson Welles.
I'm not a Welles scholar by any means, but have read several biographies of the man, and would say the outsized figure who strides through these pages rings true. Yet for all his manic genius, Welles never steals center stage from our hero, Richard, who we quickly learn has a greater soul, if perhaps a lesser talent. Joseph Cotten, John Houseman, Norman Lloyd and the other famous Mercury names come to life in the story as well. You will feel yourself in their midst, feel the great tensions leading up to that all-so-important opening night, revel in their triumphs, share in their disappointments.
This will sound like a cliché, I know...but I laughed out loud (a lot); I came close to crying a couple of times; and I closed the book with a real sense of disappointment that it was over, but grateful to have recaptured a wonderful feel for that time in life when everything seems magical and new and anything seems to be possible.--William C. Hall
I'm not a Welles scholar by any means, but have read several biographies of the man, and would say the outsized figure who strides through these pages rings true. Yet for all his manic genius, Welles never steals center stage from our hero, Richard, who we quickly learn has a greater soul, if perhaps a lesser talent. Joseph Cotten, John Houseman, Norman Lloyd and the other famous Mercury names come to life in the story as well. You will feel yourself in their midst, feel the great tensions leading up to that all-so-important opening night, revel in their triumphs, share in their disappointments.
This will sound like a cliché, I know...but I laughed out loud (a lot); I came close to crying a couple of times; and I closed the book with a real sense of disappointment that it was over, but grateful to have recaptured a wonderful feel for that time in life when everything seems magical and new and anything seems to be possible.--William C. Hall
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
An A- from Entertainment Weekly!
25 Oct 2003
Format:Hardcover
I bought this novel after reading the excellent review in Entertainment Weekly last week. It really deserves it. The book is quirky, absorbing, and totally original. It puts you right into the heart of a moment in history. That whole world of New York in the 1930's comes alive: the neon signs, the slang, the tempo. And by the time the story's done, you feel as if you've lived through it all yourself. The feeling is exhilarating and terrifying and hilarious.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Very Entertaining Oddity
16 Oct 2003
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
A coming of age tale is a coming of age tale and there are certain basic steps in the formula that must be adhered to (the fascinating "older" woman; the "exotic" experience outside of the hero's family's ken, etc.), and Kaplow adheres to them. However, and this is a big however, this book's exotic experience is the staging of Orson Welles' 1938 production of "Julius Caesar" and Kaplow's evocation of that time and place, while not always completely historically accurate is always completely fascinating, funny, suspenseful, and enthralling.
One minor carp to the author; Les Tremayne, one of the great radio actors of the time, was not "short and dumpy". While I can't attest to his height, his appearence in over 50 films and innumerable TV shows will attest to his slim, elegant look complete with dapper mustache.
A minor, but peerhaps telling point considering that the book reads like a memoir and was written by someone obviously to young to be its protagonist.
One minor carp to the author; Les Tremayne, one of the great radio actors of the time, was not "short and dumpy". While I can't attest to his height, his appearence in over 50 films and innumerable TV shows will attest to his slim, elegant look complete with dapper mustache.
A minor, but peerhaps telling point considering that the book reads like a memoir and was written by someone obviously to young to be its protagonist.
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