Customer Reviews

The Medium and the Magician: Orson Welles, the Radio Years, 1934-1952 (Critical Media Studies: Institutions, Politics, and Culture)

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There is so much about Orson Welles that continues to astound us, not the least of which was his precocious, almost manic production in radio, that this book is rather pale. The sheer zest and joie de vivre you hear almost every moment in Welles' (almost totally preserved) radio work doesn't shine through in this book, which is a great pity. There were times I wasn't sure whether the author had listened to the radio shows at all, and if so, whether we heard the same thing. We certainly didn't interpret the work or the implication of it similarly. why people insist on pigeonholing Welles as the creator of the War of the Worlds and Citizen Kane and nothing else is the biggest fallacy going. He produced, wrote, directed, acted in so much, (and so much simultaneously), that the whole corpus of the radio plays needs to have a better treatment than this.

I have always been a fan of Orson Welles on radio and television. Having collected a ton of radio broadcasts on CD and audio cassette and having watched most of his movies, I appreciate the genius of his work. I picked up a copy of this book recently and am amazed at the amount of research put into it. An aspect of Welles rarely discussed is his magic career. At the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention this September in Aberdeen, Maryland, I plan to attend the presentation about Orson Welles and his magic career so I can watch rare footage and films with Welles, and get an even deeper insight to his trickery. Book comes recommended.