I'm finally managing to read Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu, one of the books I meant to read this summer, and I'm finding it totally engrossing. Going into it, I had the question, "How did Welles become so accomplished at such a young age?" and it turns out that, in large part, the answer to that is "because he was a self-promoting, workaholic, egotistical jerk." So, fortunately, rather than filling me with envy and resentment of Welles' success, this book is making me feel better about the choices I have made and am continuing to make.
More of my thoughts about this book and about the young Welles are in my latest column over at SF Theater Pub.
See also: my review of Me and Orson Welles, the 2009 film about Welles' 1937 Julius Caesar production with the Mercury Theatre.
I think "The Road to Xanadu" is one of the half-dozen best theatrical biographies ever written. (The second volume is almost as good.)
ReplyDeleteOh, it's so good, and I definitely have to read Volume 2 now. Last night I watched "The Lady from Shanghai," which as you know is an incredibly weird movie, and the whole time I was thinking "I have to find out what Simon Callow says about this!"
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