Orson Welles....A 20th Century Icon.

"THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANYONE...EVER...AS INTERESTING, BROADLY KNOWLEDGABLE,
MYSTERIOUS, RIVETING AND TALENTED AS ORSON WELLES."   (Jupiter Le Grand)

"WHY CAN'T AMERICANS HAVE TALK SHOWS LIKE THIS AGAIN."  (Ariadita Pramestu)

"WATCHING THIS I REALIZE HOW FAR WE HAVE FALLEN."   (Phillipe Cook)

"CANT HELP BUT ADMIRE THE PACE. NO RUSHING... JUST A SMOOTH FLOW OF CONVERSATION."
( Scram004)        Youtube comments.



Well I've often asked myself the same question. Why can't late night
chat shows be like they used to be instead of the tv output we get
today where they bring them on like cattle while we watch and wait
to see which so called celebrity can get the most laughs with
some smutty episode from their time on a film set.

With the general decline in films today, Hollywood moguls must be
quaking in their boots after Korea's victory for the top prize at this
year's Oscars.
The fact is that today's actors don't seem to have the gravitas and
intellect that many of yesterday's actors had.
Just watching many of the re-runs of The Parkinson Shows are a joy
to watch, with actors like Peter Ustinov, Rex Harrison, Fred Astaire,
Richard Burton, John Betjeman, James Cagney, Spike Milligan,
Shelley Winters, David Niven, Lauren Bacall, Peter O'Toole,
Richard Harris, Peter Sellers, Dirk Bogarde, Shirley MacClaine,
Jack Lemmon Bing Crosby, Bob Hope as well as
Dick Cavett, and the great man himself,  Orson Welles.
The list was endless.


And that one man who had a lifetime battle with Hollywood was the great
Orson Welles, a giant of the 20th century who was also an incredible
witness to history.
Here we see him from a 1970 recording of The Dick Cavett Show
in which he reminisced of his meetings with such historical figures
like Adolph Hitler, General George Marshall and Winston Churchill.
Of course many would be surprised to hear about his dining at the
same table as Adolph Hitler back in his early days when Hitler
had only just formed the Nazi Party.
Welles recalled to Dick Cavett that he could remember nothing about
Hitler, saying that there was nothing there, no personality whatsoever.
And towards the end of the video Welles recalls the times he met up
with Winston Churchill, probably the most amusing part of the whole video.

If I was ever to refresh and update a list of all my top favourite classic
movies, then at least five of Orson Welles's movies would easily be
in the top 15. Those being.........

1.  CITIZEN KANE
2.  A TOUCH OF EVIL
3.  THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI
4.  CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT
5.  F FOR FAKE

We sometimes think of 'THE THIRD MAN' (1949) directed by
Carol Reed as being a Welles film when in fact he only had a cameo role
in it. But even in that brief role he stole the show and is credited for spouting
one of cinema's greatest lines in a movie.........


"YOU KNOW WHAT THE FELLOW SAID - IN ITALY, FOR
THIRTY YEARS UNDER THE BORGIAS, THEY HAD WARFARE,
TERROR, MURDER AND BLOODSHED, BUT THEY
PRODUCED MICHELANGELO, LEONARDO DA VINCI
AND THE RENAISSANCE.
IN SWITZERLAND, THEY HAD BROTHERLY LOVE, AND
HAD FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OF DEMOCRACY AND
PEACE - AND WHAT DID THAT PRODUCE? THE CUCKOO CLOCK."


ABOVE VIDEO KINDLY UPLOADED BY THE DICK CAVETT CHANNEL

221b BAKER STREET..... HOME OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Last week I paid a visit to 221b Baker Street, the home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous
fictional Detective Sherlock Holmes. And I was pleasantly surprised by the rooms in what is now
a museum, which first opened in 1990.
The house is actually sandwiched in between numbers 237 to 247 Baker Street and so it
required special permission by Westminster Council to be numbered 221b.

The house was first built in 1815 and for many years it was a Boarding house right up to 1936.
And it's creaky wooden floors can testify to it's age. But the museum is incredibly popular particularly
among foreign tourists and has quite a following among Japanese followers of Sherlock Holmes.
And although I didn't have long to wait to get in after buying my ticket from the splendid souvenir
shop, I then waited briefly in a small queue. And if you've ever passed the museum in
Baker Street in the high Summer you'll often see a queue stretching right down to the end of the
block.
I did want to take some photos of the souvenir shop but was told that I couldn't but that it would
be okay to take pictures in the museum. Well I was pleased the assistant told me that before I splashed
out £15 to visit the museum. Photography rules in London House tourist hotspots do seem to
fluctuate.
But once in, a pleasant young girl decked out in Victorian costume took us around the rooms very
briefly while giving us a bit of history on the culture of the world's greatest Detective. Then we were
free to meander around.
The main rooms are the Study and living room of Dr Watson and Mr Holmes as well as their
bedrooms. We also had a wander around Mrs Hudson's room, their well known Landlady.
And on the top floors we saw the wax model displays, a sort of who's who in the novels
rogue gallery.

For more information on the museum visit their official website.

THE SHERLOCK HOLMES MUSEUM BAKER STREET

Above is the main Study Room, the focal point of the museum.
It actually reminded me of a cluttered old antique shop in
Portobello Road. But it still had that olde worlde charm.

Below is Doctor Watson's desk with his many books, a copy of
The Times newspaper as well as some medical paraphernalia.

Below left is a rather stern looking Policemen all decked out
in a vintage Policeman's uniform from the Victorian period.
His main job is to listen out for a bell which then tells him to let
new visitors in the queue to enter the house. And he's always
the first person to ask about purchasing a museum ticket.


And below right is our very enthusiastic museum guide who gave
us an introduction to the rooms before we freely explored the house.

Above on a table in the study is Mr Holme's distinctive deerstalker hat,
a magnifying glass and that famous pipe. And could that bowler hat
belong to Doctor Watson?

Below is an interesting video of the house that was sanctioned
by the museum's official website.
I see that Doctor Watson makes an appearance. 

Above and below is Sherlock Holmes's bedroom.

Our ever helpful guide informed us that all these pictures on Mr Holmes's
bedroom wall were all murderers and serial killers from
those great novels.

Above and below is Doctor Watson's Room. 

Below is Mrs Hudson's Room

The top floor of the house has two rooms that feature wax models.

Above left is Mr Holmes's nemesis the evil Professor Moriarty.
A man that was once a mathematics professor but turned
into a master criminal.

And above right is King of the blackmailers Charles Augustus
Milverton getting his comeuppance after one blackmail too many.
His story featured in the Arthur Conan Doyle book The Adventures
of Charles Augustus Milverton.

I like the odd expression of the wax dummy on the right (below).
It reminds me of my own expression of disbelief when watching
the News on the BBC.

Above; A few shots taken at the front of the house while visitors
waited to enter the museum.

Above is the statue of Sherlock Holmes that is situated right outside
Baker Street Underground Station. The green dome of
Madam Tussauds can be seen in the distance.