thetennesseestar--2020-08-01--John Fredericks Commentary: Dr. Birx Goes on Self-Serving CYA Tour – Throws Trump Under the Bus

In a bizarre and brazen attempt at long-term self-preservation at the expense of her boss , President Trump , GA Governor Brian Kemp and business owners struggling for survival , Dr. Deborah Birx donned her scarf and embarked on a 14-state blatant CYA tour to revive her sagging reputation .
To small business owners struggling for economic salvation and unemployed hard-working Americans with rent and mortgage payments due , Dr. Birx has a simple message : let them eat cake .
If things so south with Covid-19 , she can say “ I told you so , ” and court @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the New York Times .
Facts , of course , matter very little to deep-state elites like Birx .
It ’ s all about the next gig .
In the D.C. swamp , everyone searches desperately for their next K-Street trough .
Reputation and street cred with the Left in a potential Biden Administration becomes omnipotent .
While President Trump , Vice President Pence , Mark Meadows , Peter Navarro , Kellyanne Conway and many other Administration officials are encouraging governors to open businesses and open schools safely , Birx told governors to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In her recent Virginia visit with Gov .
Ralph Northam ( D ) , one source present at the meeting who requested anonymity to speak freely , said Birx was jawboning Northam to retreat the Commonwealth back to phase two .
“ Dr .
Birx was imploring the governor to roll out more restrictions statewide , and not regionally , as Gov .
Northam has done , ” the official said .
“ While the governor gave clear evidence that a regional approach was more prudent , Birx called for a statewide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Virginia ’ s bars , restrict all restaurants to 50 percent capacity and limit gatherings to 10 people across the entire state .
The governor , while respectful , rejected her advice and took a more measured , targeted approach focused on Hampton Roads , where the outbreak is.
” Even more frightening , Birx told the governor and those present at the meeting that Chesapeake , VA was a vacation destination worthy of severe restrictions to “ stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
” Seriously ?
I live in Chesapeake .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ on vacation .
What would someone do on vacation in Chesapeake ?
Ride a bike on the I-264 shoulder ?
Take pictures of snakes in the Dismal Swamp ?
Virginia ’ s last seven-day Covid-19 death rate average is 6.5 per day .
That puts the average Virginia Covid-19 related death rate at .00000075 percent of the general population .
In other states visited by Birks , the spike that was raging earlier in July has apparently abated , and in some states dropped off the cliff completely .
According the Virginia Health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , there are 7,342 potential Covid-19 beds still available .
1,350 beds are currently in use , just over 15 percent of capacity .
That means 85 percent of the beds remain available .
And for this , Birx demanded Northam shutter Virginia ’ s economy – again .
According to sources at the meeting , Birx said a surge was imminent , coming up from southern states who resisted her draconian Nurse Ratched-like advice .
Maybe Birx , in her quest to become the darling of the Washington Post editorial board , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recent data that showed the “ imminent disaster ” predicted for Texas and Florida was a media mirage that never materialized .
Hospital rates and deaths have fallen dramatically in both states .
While I have had my differences of late with Ralph Northam , I applaud him for resisting the pathway to further economic calamity for the Commonwealth .
He has resisted calls from all sides to further shutter Virginians livelihoods and businesses .

by John Fredericks
In a bizarre and brazen attempt at long-term self-preservation at the expense of her boss, President Trump, GA Governor Brian Kemp and business owners struggling for survival, Dr. Deborah Birx donned her scarf and embarked on a 14-state blatant CYA tour to revive her sagging reputation.
To small business owners struggling for economic salvation and unemployed hard-working Americans with rent and mortgage payments due, Dr. Birx has a simple message: let them eat cake.
If things so south with Covid-19, she can say “I told you so,” and court the Democrats while getting glowing write-ups in the New York Times.
Facts, of course, matter very little to deep-state elites like Birx. It’s all about the next gig.
In the D.C. swamp, everyone searches desperately for their next K-Street trough. Reputation and street cred with the Left in a potential Biden Administration becomes omnipotent.
While President Trump, Vice President Pence, Mark Meadows, Peter Navarro, Kellyanne Conway and many other Administration officials are encouraging governors to open businesses and open schools safely, Birx told governors to ramp up more restrictions and go backwards.
Exhibit #A: Virginia
In her recent Virginia visit with Gov. Ralph Northam (D), one source present at the meeting who requested anonymity to speak freely, said Birx was jawboning Northam to retreat the Commonwealth back to phase two.
“Dr. Birx was imploring the governor to roll out more restrictions statewide, and not regionally, as Gov. Northam has done,” the official said.
“While the governor gave clear evidence that a regional approach was more prudent, Birx called for a statewide mandate. She wanted to roll back Virginia’s bars, restrict all restaurants to 50 percent capacity and limit gatherings to 10 people across the entire state. The governor, while respectful, rejected her advice and took a more measured, targeted approach focused on Hampton Roads, where the outbreak is.”
News To Me?
Even more frightening, Birx told the governor and those present at the meeting that Chesapeake, VA was a vacation destination worthy of severe restrictions to “stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.”
Seriously? I live in Chesapeake. We all leave the city to go on vacation. What would someone do on vacation in Chesapeake? Ride a bike on the I-264 shoulder? Take pictures of snakes in the Dismal Swamp?
Facts Matter
Virginia’s last seven-day Covid-19 death rate average is 6.5 per day.
There are 8,626,210 current Virginia residents.
That puts the average Virginia Covid-19 related death rate at .00000075 percent of the general population.
In other states visited by Birks, the spike that was raging earlier in July has apparently abated, and in some states dropped off the cliff completely.
According the Virginia Health and Hospital Association (VHHA) dashboard, there are 7,342 potential Covid-19 beds still available. 1,350 beds are currently in use, just over 15 percent of capacity. That means 85 percent of the beds remain available.
And for this, Birx demanded Northam shutter Virginia’s economy – again.
According to sources at the meeting, Birx said a surge was imminent, coming up from southern states who resisted her draconian Nurse Ratched-like advice.
Maybe Birx, in her quest to become the darling of the Washington Post editorial board, didn’t bother to review the recent data that showed the “imminent disaster” predicted for Texas and Florida was a media mirage that never materialized. Hospital rates and deaths have fallen dramatically in both states.
While I have had my differences of late with Ralph Northam, I applaud him for resisting the pathway to further economic calamity for the Commonwealth.
He has resisted calls from all sides to further shutter Virginians livelihoods and businesses.
President Trump puts America first.
Apparantly, Birx puts Birx first.


thetennesseestar--2020-08-01--‘Constant’ Orgies, ‘Beautiful, Tall’ European Models: Accuser Describes Epstein’s Pedophile Island i

‘Constant’ Orgies, ‘Beautiful, Tall’ European Models: Accuser Describes Epstein’s Pedophile Island in Unsealed Docs

Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his cohort and ex-over Ghislaine Maxwell hosted “ constant ” orgies on Epstein ’ s private Caribbean island , accuser Virginia Giuffre says in newly released court documents .
The documents are transcripts of depositions from Giuffre ’ s previously settled 2016 civil lawsuit against Maxwell , whom Giuffre says sexually abused her along with Epstein , attorney Alan Dershowitz , and the U.K. ’ s Prince Andrew .
The documents were made public for the first time Thursday evening , according to the New York Post .
The accuser testified that Maxwell engaged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ girls and women in front of Giuffre , incidents which took place “ 100 percent ” of the time in the U.S. Virgin Islands , according to Giuffre .
Some of these girls were as young as 15 , Giuffre said , according to the New York Post .
Sex with a person who has not reached the age of consent is classified as statutory rape , regardless of whether the person consented .
“ The island was a place where orgies were a constant thing that took place .
And again , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many , ” Giuffre said .
“ There ’ s just a blur of so many girls , ” the accuser told Maxwell ’ s attorneys when they asked her to name those with whom she saw Maxwell have sex , the Post reported .
“ There were blondes , there were brunettes , there were redheads , ” she said .
“ They were all beautiful girls .
I would say the ages ranged between 15 and 21.
” Giuffre described seeing Maxwell having sex with women all over Little St. James @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cabana , in small huts , near the beach , and by a pool , according to the Post .
She also detailed an incident wherein a group of foreign models were allegedly flown in and orgies were held by the pool .
“ One occasion stands out , ” she said .
“ Models were — I think they were models — were flown in .
There were orgies held outside by the pool.
” The models were “ beautiful , tall , some were blonde , some were sandy brown , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a foreign language she believes was Russian or Czechoslovakian , the Post reported .
“ Ghislaine , myself , Jeffrey , another girl in this blue , outdoor — I don ’ t know what you want to call it .
Cabana , that … just a bed could fit in , ” she added .
The accuser also said that she traveled to Europe with Maxwell and Epstein on a number of occasions , the Post reported .
During these trips , she says she was trafficked to high profile men @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She testified that Maxwell and Epstein would tell her that she should not cross them , reminding her of their powerful connections : “ Jeffrey did a lot more of that than she did , ” she said .
“ But she definitely made it aware that we shouldn ’ t cross boundaries with them.
” Mary Margaret Olohan is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation .
Photo “ Jeffrey Epstein Private Island ” by Navin75 .
CC BY-SA 2.0 .

by Mary Margaret Olohan
Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his cohort and ex-over Ghislaine Maxwell hosted “constant” orgies on Epstein’s private Caribbean island, accuser Virginia Giuffre says in newly released court documents.
The documents are transcripts of depositions from Giuffre’s previously settled 2016 civil lawsuit against Maxwell, whom Giuffre says sexually abused her along with Epstein, attorney Alan Dershowitz, and the U.K.’s Prince Andrew. The documents were made public for the first time Thursday evening, according to the New York Post.
The accuser testified that Maxwell engaged in “continuous” sex with both girls and women in front of Giuffre, incidents which took place “100 percent” of the time in the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to Giuffre.
Some of these girls were as young as 15, Giuffre said, according to the New York Post. Sex with a person who has not reached the age of consent is classified as statutory rape, regardless of whether the person consented.
“The island was a place where orgies were a constant thing that took place. And again, it’s impossible to know how many,” Giuffre said.
“There’s just a blur of so many girls,” the accuser told Maxwell’s attorneys when they asked her to name those with whom she saw Maxwell have sex, the Post reported.
“There were blondes, there were brunettes, there were redheads,” she said. “They were all beautiful girls. I would say the ages ranged between 15 and 21.”
Giuffre described seeing Maxwell having sex with women all over Little St. James, such as in Epstein’s cabana, in small huts, near the beach, and by a pool, according to the Post. She also detailed an incident wherein a group of foreign models were allegedly flown in and orgies were held by the pool.
“One occasion stands out,” she said. “Models were — I think they were models — were flown in. There were orgies held outside by the pool.”
The models were “beautiful, tall, some were blonde, some were sandy brown,” she said, and they spoke in a foreign language she believes was Russian or Czechoslovakian, the Post reported.
“Ghislaine, myself, Jeffrey, another girl in this blue, outdoor — I don’t know what you want to call it. Cabana, that … just a bed could fit in,” she added.
The accuser also said that she traveled to Europe with Maxwell and Epstein on a number of occasions, the Post reported. During these trips, she says she was trafficked to high profile men such as Prince Andrew and Dershowitz.
She testified that Maxwell and Epstein would tell her that she should not cross them, reminding her of their powerful connections: “Jeffrey did a lot more of that than she did,” she said. “But she definitely made it aware that we shouldn’t cross boundaries with them.”
– – –
Mary Margaret Olohan is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Jeffrey Epstein Private Island” by Navin75. CC BY-SA 2.0.


thetennesseestar--2020-08-01--Portland Police Got More Than $5 Million in Overtime as Protests Continue to Rage

Portland Police have earned almost $ 5.4 million in overtime during the weeks-long protests and riots in the city .
Overtime earnings through July 22 have reached $ 5,351,383 , police told Fox 12 Oregon .
Officers have also raked in an additional $ 1.2 million in accrued time compensation , according to the local outlet .
Protests in the city have been ongoing since as far back as May 25 , when George Floyd died after a police officer knelt on his neck for over eight minutes , Fox News reported .
July 22 is the most recent pay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ numbers do not include the cost of normal officer salary , according to Fox 12 .
Democratic Oregon Gov .
Kate Brown announced Wednesday that the federal agents deployed to Portland for a number of weeks to curb violence would withdraw as soon as Thursday , the New York Times reported .
Oregon State Police have since replaced federal authorities at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Federal Courthouse , which had become a battleground for rioters and police , according to Fox .
Demonstrations have been ongoing for more than 60 days in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Police on Wednesday continued to report gatherings outside the courthouse and said they witnessed demonstrators in gas masks launching fireworks at officers protecting the building , according to a news release .
The White House last week said three federal officers were likely to be permanently blinded after protesters pointed high-powered laser beams at their eyes , according to Forbes .
Jake Dima is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation .

by Jake Dima
Portland Police have earned almost $5.4 million in overtime during the weeks-long protests and riots in the city.
Overtime earnings through July 22 have reached $5,351,383, police told Fox 12 Oregon. Officers have also raked in an additional $1.2 million in accrued time compensation, according to the local outlet.
Protests in the city have been ongoing since as far back as May 25, when George Floyd died after a police officer knelt on his neck for over eight minutes, Fox News reported.
July 22 is the most recent pay period for Portland police and the reported numbers do not include the cost of normal officer salary, according to Fox 12.
Democratic Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Wednesday that the federal agents deployed to Portland for a number of weeks to curb violence would withdraw as soon as Thursday, the New York Times reported. Oregon State Police have since replaced federal authorities at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Federal Courthouse, which had become a battleground for rioters and police, according to Fox.
Demonstrations have been ongoing for more than 60 days in the city, Fox reported.
Portland Police on Wednesday continued to report gatherings outside the courthouse and said they witnessed demonstrators in gas masks launching fireworks at officers protecting the building, according to a news release.
A sledge hammer, improvised weapons, leaf blowers, helmets, chest and leg armor, and fuel canister are some of the items recovered in Chapman and Lownsdale Squares this morning. pic.twitter.com/QXnppztBU6 — Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) July 30, 2020
The White House last week said three federal officers were likely to be permanently blinded after protesters pointed high-powered laser beams at their eyes, according to Forbes.
– – –
Jake Dima is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.


thetennesseestar--2020-08-01--Steve Bannon Presents ‘War Room: Pandemic’

An all new LIVE STREAM of War Room : Pandemic starts at 9 a.m. Central Time on Saturday .
Former White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon began the daily War Room : Pandemic radio show and podcast on January 25 , when news of the virus was just beginning to leak out of China around the Lunar New Year .
Bannon and co-hosts bring listeners exclusive analysis and breaking updates from top medical , public health , economic , national security , supply chain and geopolitical experts weekdays from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon ET .
The show ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Voice News , the John Fredericks Radio Network , Salem Media Group , and Newsmax TV and the podcast is available on Apple , Spotify , Stitcher , SoundCloud , and Google Play .
You can watch past episodes here .
Previously , Bannon hosted a series of three , two-hour long special programs entitled Descent into Hell : The Chinese People Confront the CCP .
The groundbreaking specials aired live on the John Fredericks Radio Network , America ’ s Voice Network , Dish TV Channel 219 , The Epoch Times , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mandarin .
For more information , visit www.pandemic.warroom.org and @ WarRoomPandemic .

An all new LIVE STREAM of War Room: Pandemic starts at 9 a.m. Central Time on Saturday.
Former White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon began the daily War Room: Pandemic radio show and podcast on January 25, when news of the virus was just beginning to leak out of China around the Lunar New Year. Bannon and co-hosts bring listeners exclusive analysis and breaking updates from top medical, public health, economic, national security, supply chain and geopolitical experts weekdays from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon ET.
The show’s broadcast partners are America’s Voice News, the John Fredericks Radio Network, Salem Media Group, and Newsmax TV and the podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, and Google Play.
You can watch past episodes here.
Previously, Bannon hosted a series of three, two-hour long special programs entitled Descent into Hell: The Chinese People Confront the CCP.
The groundbreaking specials aired live on the John Fredericks Radio Network, America’s Voice Network, Dish TV Channel 219, The Epoch Times, ND TV, GTV and GNews in Mandarin.
For more information, visit www.pandemic.warroom.org and @WarRoomPandemic.


thetennesseestar--2020-08-01--US Invests Another $2.1 Billion into a Potential Vaccine

LONDON , England ( AP ) — Pharma giants GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur have announced they will supply 100 million doses of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to the United States as governments buy up supplies in hopes of securing a candidate that works .
The United States will pay up to $ 2.1 billion “ for development including clinical trials , manufacturing , scale-up and delivery ” of the vaccine , the two companies based in Europe said in a statement .
Sanofi will get the bulk of the funds .
The U.S. government has a further option for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ longer term as part of its Operation Warp Speed program .
“ The portfolio of vaccines being assembled for Operation Warp Speed increases the odds that we will have at least one safe , effective vaccine as soon as the end of this year , ” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement .
“ Today ’ s investment supports the Sanofi and GSK adjuvanted product all the way through clinical trials and manufacturing , with the potential to bring hundreds of millions of safe and effective doses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week the British government signed a deal for 60 million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine that could start to be rolled out in the first half of next year .
The vaccine being developed by Britain ’ s GSK and France ’ s Sanofi ’ s is based on existing DNA-based technology that is used to produce Sanofi ’ s seasonal flu vaccine .
It is one of several vaccines in development .
“ The global need for a vaccine to help prevent COVID-19 is massive , and no single vaccine or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ global demand alone , ” said Thomas Triomphe , executive vice president of Sanofi Pasteur .
The executive arm of the European Union issued a statement later Friday saying it had concluded exploratory talks with Sanofi to “ provide for an option for all EU member states to purchase the vaccine.
” The idea would be to offer a contractual framework for the purchase of 300 million doses should the vaccine work .
“ We are in advanced discussions with several other companies , ” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ today which vaccine will work best in the end , Europe is investing in a diversified portfolio of promising vaccines , based on various types of technologies .
This increases our chances to obtain rapidly an effective remedy against the virus.
” Danica Krka is a reporter for The Associated Press .
AP Writer Samuel Petrequin in Brussels contributed .

by Danica Krka
LONDON, England (AP) — Pharma giants GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur have announced they will supply 100 million doses of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to the United States as governments buy up supplies in hopes of securing a candidate that works.
The United States will pay up to $2.1 billion “for development including clinical trials, manufacturing, scale-up and delivery” of the vaccine, the two companies based in Europe said in a statement. Sanofi will get the bulk of the funds.
The U.S. government has a further option for the supply of an additional 500 million doses longer term as part of its Operation Warp Speed program.
“The portfolio of vaccines being assembled for Operation Warp Speed increases the odds that we will have at least one safe, effective vaccine as soon as the end of this year,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. “Today’s investment supports the Sanofi and GSK adjuvanted product all the way through clinical trials and manufacturing, with the potential to bring hundreds of millions of safe and effective doses to the American people.”
Earlier this week the British government signed a deal for 60 million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine that could start to be rolled out in the first half of next year.
The vaccine being developed by Britain’s GSK and France’s Sanofi’s is based on existing DNA-based technology that is used to produce Sanofi’s seasonal flu vaccine. It is one of several vaccines in development.
“The global need for a vaccine to help prevent COVID-19 is massive, and no single vaccine or company will be able to meet the global demand alone,” said Thomas Triomphe, executive vice president of Sanofi Pasteur.
The executive arm of the European Union issued a statement later Friday saying it had concluded exploratory talks with Sanofi to “provide for an option for all EU member states to purchase the vaccine.” The idea would be to offer a contractual framework for the purchase of 300 million doses should the vaccine work.
“We are in advanced discussions with several other companies,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “While we do not know today which vaccine will work best in the end, Europe is investing in a diversified portfolio of promising vaccines, based on various types of technologies. This increases our chances to obtain rapidly an effective remedy against the virus.”
– – –
Danica Krka is a reporter for The Associated Press. AP Writer Samuel Petrequin in Brussels contributed.


thetennesseestar--2020-08-01--Hong Kong Postpones Elections by a Year, Citing Coronavirus

HONG KONG ( AP ) — Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced Friday that the government will postpone highly anticipated legislative elections by one year , citing a worsening coronavirus outbreak in the semi-autonomous Chinese city .
The Hong Kong government is invoking an emergency ordinance in delaying the elections .
Lam said the government has the support of the Chinese government in making the decision to hold the elections on Sept. 5 , 2021 .
“ The announcement I have to make today is the most difficult decision I ’ ve had to make in the past seven months @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conference .
“ We want to ensure fairness and public safety and health , and need to make sure the election is held in an open , fair and impartial manner .
This decision is therefore essential , ” she said .
The postponement is a setback for the pro-democracy opposition , which was hoping to capitalize on disenchantment with the current pro-Beijing majority to make gains .
A group of 22 lawmakers issued a statement ahead of the announcement accusing the government of using the outbreak as an excuse to delay the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who represent 60 % of the public ’ s opinion , collectively oppose the postponement and emphasize the responsibility of the SAR government to make every effort to arrange adequate anti-epidemic measures to hold elections in September as scheduled , ” the group said , referring to the territory ’ s official name , the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region .
“ Otherwise , it is tantamount to uprooting the foundation of the establishment of the SAR.
” The city of 7.5 million people has had a surge in coronavirus infections since the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recorded 3,273 infections as of Friday , more than double the tally on July 1 .
The government has tightened social distancing restrictions , limiting public gatherings to two people , and banned dining-in at restaurants after 6 p.m .
The lead-up to the elections had been closely watched after a national security law that took effect in late June stipulated that candidates who violated the law would be barred from running .
The new law was seen as Beijing ’ s attempt to curb dissent in the city after months of pro-democracy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year over a controversial — but now withdrawn — extradition bill that would allow suspects to be sent to the mainland for trial .
The monthslong protests plunged Hong Kong into its largest ever political crisis , with clashes between protesters and police turning violent at times .
Over 8,000 people have been arrested in connection to the protests since June 2019 .
Dissatisfaction with the Hong Kong government helped the pro-democracy bloc achieve a landslide victory in district council elections last November , a momentum that the opposition was hoping to ride @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In Washington , White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Friday the Trump administration strongly disapproved of Hong Kong ’ s decision to postpone the election .
“ We condemn the Hong Kong government ’ s decision to postpone for one year its legislative council elections and to disqualify opposition candidates , ” McEnany said .
“ This action undermines the democratic processes and freedoms that have underpinned Hong Kong ’ s prosperity and this is only the most recent in a growing list of broken promises by Beijing which promised autonomy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until 2047 in the Sino-British joint declaration.
” China ’ s foreign ministry insisted that Hong Kong ’ s legislative elections are an “ internal affair.
” “ It is the responsibility of the Hong Kong SAR government to ensure that the elections for the 7th Legislative Council are held in a safe , orderly , fair and just environment , ” ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Friday .
“ We believe that the Hong Kong SAR government will proceed from the current anti-epidemic situation in Hong Kong and handle relevant matters in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 12 pro-democracy candidates including prominent pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong were disqualified from running for not complying with the city ’ s mini-constitution or pledging allegiance to the local and national governments .
“ Beyond any doubt , this is the most scandalous election ever in Hong Kong history , ” Wong said at a news conference Friday .
“ I wish to emphasize that no reasonable man would think that this election ban is not politically driven.
” “ Beijing has staged multiple acts to prevent the opposition bloc from taking the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” he said .
Germany , which currently holds the European Union ’ s rotating 6-month presidency , said it was suspending its extradition agreement with Hong Kong to protest the decision to postpone the elections and disqualify the candidates .
“ We have repeatedly made clear our expectations that China will comply with its obligations under international law , ” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said .
“ This includes protecting the freedoms and rights guaranteed in the Basic Law , and this includes the right to free and fair elections.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New York-based group Human Rights Watch .
“ Postponing the September elections for a year is a cynical move to contain a political emergency , not a public health one .
This simply allows Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam to deny Hong Kong people their right to choose their government , ” said Sophie Richardson , the group ’ s China director .
“ Without making any attempt to look at alternative methods of voting , or ensuring all voting rights will be respected , Lam and her backers in Beijing are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public health , ” she said .
Separately , mainland state broadcaster CCTV said Friday that Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Nathan Law , former British Consulate employee Simon Cheng and four others were wanted under the national security law on suspicion of inciting secession and collusion with foreign forces .
The six are currently overseas , according to CCTV .
Law fled Hong Kong for the U.K. in early July and Chen was granted political asylum in Britain .
Zen Soo is a reporter for The Associated Press .
About the Headline Photo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ speaks during a press conference in Hong Kong , Friday , July 31 , 2020 .
She announce to postpone legislative elections scheduled for Sept. 6 , citing a worsening coronavirus outbreak .
( AP Photo/Kin Cheung )

by Zen Soo
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced Friday that the government will postpone highly anticipated legislative elections by one year, citing a worsening coronavirus outbreak in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
The Hong Kong government is invoking an emergency ordinance in delaying the elections. Lam said the government has the support of the Chinese government in making the decision to hold the elections on Sept. 5, 2021.
“The announcement I have to make today is the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in the past seven months,” Lam said at a news conference.
“We want to ensure fairness and public safety and health, and need to make sure the election is held in an open, fair and impartial manner. This decision is therefore essential,” she said.
The postponement is a setback for the pro-democracy opposition, which was hoping to capitalize on disenchantment with the current pro-Beijing majority to make gains. A group of 22 lawmakers issued a statement ahead of the announcement accusing the government of using the outbreak as an excuse to delay the vote.
“Incumbent pro-democracy legislators, who represent 60% of the public’s opinion, collectively oppose the postponement and emphasize the responsibility of the SAR government to make every effort to arrange adequate anti-epidemic measures to hold elections in September as scheduled,” the group said, referring to the territory’s official name, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
“Otherwise, it is tantamount to uprooting the foundation of the establishment of the SAR.”
The city of 7.5 million people has had a surge in coronavirus infections since the beginning of July. Hong Kong has recorded 3,273 infections as of Friday, more than double the tally on July 1.
The government has tightened social distancing restrictions, limiting public gatherings to two people, and banned dining-in at restaurants after 6 p.m.
The lead-up to the elections had been closely watched after a national security law that took effect in late June stipulated that candidates who violated the law would be barred from running.
The new law was seen as Beijing’s attempt to curb dissent in the city after months of pro-democracy and anti-government protests rocked Hong Kong last year over a controversial — but now withdrawn — extradition bill that would allow suspects to be sent to the mainland for trial.
The monthslong protests plunged Hong Kong into its largest ever political crisis, with clashes between protesters and police turning violent at times. Over 8,000 people have been arrested in connection to the protests since June 2019.
Dissatisfaction with the Hong Kong government helped the pro-democracy bloc achieve a landslide victory in district council elections last November, a momentum that the opposition was hoping to ride to gain a majority in the legislature.
In Washington, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Friday the Trump administration strongly disapproved of Hong Kong’s decision to postpone the election.
“We condemn the Hong Kong government’s decision to postpone for one year its legislative council elections and to disqualify opposition candidates,” McEnany said. “This action undermines the democratic processes and freedoms that have underpinned Hong Kong’s prosperity and this is only the most recent in a growing list of broken promises by Beijing which promised autonomy and freedoms to the Hong Kong people until 2047 in the Sino-British joint declaration.”
China’s foreign ministry insisted that Hong Kong’s legislative elections are an “internal affair.”
“It is the responsibility of the Hong Kong SAR government to ensure that the elections for the 7th Legislative Council are held in a safe, orderly, fair and just environment,” ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Friday. “We believe that the Hong Kong SAR government will proceed from the current anti-epidemic situation in Hong Kong and handle relevant matters in accordance with the law.”
On Thursday, 12 pro-democracy candidates including prominent pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong were disqualified from running for not complying with the city’s mini-constitution or pledging allegiance to the local and national governments.
“Beyond any doubt, this is the most scandalous election ever in Hong Kong history,” Wong said at a news conference Friday. “I wish to emphasize that no reasonable man would think that this election ban is not politically driven.”
“Beijing has staged multiple acts to prevent the opposition bloc from taking the majority in the Hong Kong legislature,” he said.
Germany, which currently holds the European Union’s rotating 6-month presidency, said it was suspending its extradition agreement with Hong Kong to protest the decision to postpone the elections and disqualify the candidates.
“We have repeatedly made clear our expectations that China will comply with its obligations under international law,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said. “This includes protecting the freedoms and rights guaranteed in the Basic Law, and this includes the right to free and fair elections.”
The postponement also drew criticism from the New York-based group Human Rights Watch.
“Postponing the September elections for a year is a cynical move to contain a political emergency, not a public health one. This simply allows Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam to deny Hong Kong people their right to choose their government,” said Sophie Richardson, the group’s China director.
“Without making any attempt to look at alternative methods of voting, or ensuring all voting rights will be respected, Lam and her backers in Beijing are merely masking repression under the guise of public health,” she said.
Separately, mainland state broadcaster CCTV said Friday that Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Nathan Law, former British Consulate employee Simon Cheng and four others were wanted under the national security law on suspicion of inciting secession and collusion with foreign forces.
The six are currently overseas, according to CCTV. Law fled Hong Kong for the U.K. in early July and Chen was granted political asylum in Britain.
Hong Kong police declined to comment.
– —
Zen Soo is a reporter for The Associated Press.
About the Headline Photo: Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks during a press conference in Hong Kong, Friday, July 31, 2020. She announce to postpone legislative elections scheduled for Sept. 6, citing a worsening coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)


thetennesseestar--2020-08-01--Donald Trump Says He Needs Bill Hagerty in Washington, D.C.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday again endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Bill Hagerty on Twitter .
“ @ BillHagertyTN , an outstanding man and one of the best Ambassadors ever ( Japan ) , is running an excellent campaign for the Senate , ” Trump tweeted .
“ He loves Tennessee and loves our Country .
We need him badly in Washington .
He has my Complete and Total Endorsement !
” Hagerty and Manny Sethi are competing against one another to replace the retiring U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander .
As The Tennessee Star reported last month , Trump joined @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and told Tennesseans that Hagerty , if elected , will do great things .
During a nearly nine-minute phone call at the time , Trump told listeners that Hagerty had his “ complete and total endorsement.
” Hagerty hosted Trump on the call immediately after Tennessee ’ s polls opened for early voting .
“ I had plenty of choices , but Bill Hagerty is someone that I know very well .
He was my ambassador to Japan .
He was a fantastic ambassador .
I ’ ll never forget .
I went @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over there .
He knew the businessmen .
He could pronounce those names that I had a hard time with .
It was amazing , ” Trump said during the call .
“ He was one of the truly great ambassadors that I ’ ve ever met .
And I ’ ve met some good ones , and I ’ ve met some very bad ones , to be honest .
Bill was so solid , so good .
And they still miss him , I will tell you.
” Trump also said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fight for American ’ s Second Amendment rights .
Hagerty , meanwhile , told Trump that he , if elected , would make himself the president ’ s “ strongest ally there.
” “ Here in Tennessee we are working hard to ensure you are re-elected for four more years so we can continue to keep America great .
When you look around and you see this angry liberal mob , you see what ’ s happening in Portland , Oregon .
That can ’ t happen across this country .
And Tennesseans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to make sure it never does , ” Hagerty said .
Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star .
Follow Chris on Facebook .
Email tips to [ email protected ]

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday again endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Bill Hagerty on Twitter.
“@BillHagertyTN, an outstanding man and one of the best Ambassadors ever (Japan), is running an excellent campaign for the Senate,” Trump tweeted.
“He loves Tennessee and loves our Country. We need him badly in Washington. He has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
.@BillHagertyTN, an outstanding man and one of the best Ambassadors ever (Japan), is running an excellent campaign for the Senate. He loves Tennessee and loves our Country. We need him badly in Washington. He has my Complete and Total Endorsement!https://t.co/VGeHlzYfwy — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2020
Hagerty and Manny Sethi are competing against one another to replace the retiring U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander.
As The Tennessee Star reported last month, Trump joined Hagerty in a brief tele-town hall event and told Tennesseans that Hagerty, if elected, will do great things.
During a nearly nine-minute phone call at the time, Trump told listeners that Hagerty had his “complete and total endorsement.” Hagerty hosted Trump on the call immediately after Tennessee’s polls opened for early voting.
“I had plenty of choices, but Bill Hagerty is someone that I know very well. He was my ambassador to Japan. He was a fantastic ambassador. I’ll never forget. I went to Japan. He knew every person over there. He knew the businessmen. He could pronounce those names that I had a hard time with. It was amazing,” Trump said during the call.
“He was one of the truly great ambassadors that I’ve ever met. And I’ve met some good ones, and I’ve met some very bad ones, to be honest. Bill was so solid, so good. And they still miss him, I will tell you.”
The president urged Tennesseans to vote early.
Trump also said Hagerty will act tough with China and fight for American’s Second Amendment rights.
Hagerty, meanwhile, told Trump that he, if elected, would make himself the president’s “strongest ally there.”
“Here in Tennessee we are working hard to ensure you are re-elected for four more years so we can continue to keep America great. When you look around and you see this angry liberal mob, you see what’s happening in Portland, Oregon. That can’t happen across this country. And Tennesseans are so grateful for your leadership here to make sure it never does,” Hagerty said.
– – –
Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected]


thetennesseestar--2020-08-01--Orson Welles: American Maverick

Orson Welles: American Maverick

The scene is perfectly set , full of trickery and magic : from a seemingly abandoned train station , a towering figure of a man in a cape and a hat emerges out of a cloud of smoke .
The man decides to do a few magic tricks for a couple of children and is caught by the knowing gaze of a beautiful and exotic looking woman , dressed in fur .
She registers a look of slight disapproval at the man in the cape , as if she caught a child fumbling through a cookie jar .
But her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the man for being playful .
“ Up to your old tricks , I see , ” says the beautiful woman .
“ Why not ?
” says the man in a rather booming and distinctive voice .
“ I ’ m a charlatan.
” With that , he gives her a mischievous smirk betraying his true sentiments .
The man is not offering a confession or looking for absolution but is instead offering his own assessment of any expert who might wish to judge him a charlatan .
The man in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Orson Welles ( 1915-1985 ) , in one of his later films , “ F for Fake ” ( 1973 ) .
Welles , a charlatan ?
Of course , this description is preposterous and untrue , and Welles himself said it in jest .
His grin , both devious and utterly innocent tells us something quite the opposite : Welles is asserting his artistic superiority yet he really doesn ’ t care what he is called , whether by the critics , “ experts , ” or even his loyal audience @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thing : making great movies .
One Man ’ s Fight Against the Establishment It would be all too easy and lazy to dismiss Orson Welles as a “ has-been ” —someone who quickly rose to fame and then crashed , disappearing from the public eye .
Welles is usually captured in the American imagination as three personalities : a radio broadcaster who delivered the infamous “ War of the Worlds ” broadcast that scared many people into believing an alien attack was underway in rural New Jersey ; a director of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Citizen Kane ” ( 1941 ) ; and a spokesperson for Paul Masson wine , Japanese whiskey , and frozen peas .
Welles ’ weight problem , the subject of many jokes ( some of which he didn ’ t mind , as he often made fun of himself ) , is too often the focus of many critics and people who worked with him .
These are all beside the point .
They constitute such a small part of who he was that they obscure the big picture .
In many ways @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just one life—whether it was in acting or in innovating new cinematic forms .
Welles was the founder of what we now call “ independent cinema , ” even as most so-called “ independent filmmakers ” are nothing more than the fakers Welles so obviously abhorred .
The only other American film director who can authentically claim the mantle of independent filmmaker is John Cassavetes , who , like Welles , hated the phoniness and corruption for which Hollywood was known .
Naturally , Welles was aware that he was not a “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any clubs of any kind .
He was too free and supremely confident in that freedom to submit his personhood to any authority , let alone any creative authority coming out of Hollywood .
In his book , Whatever Happened to Orson Welles : A Portrait of an Independent Career ( 2006 ) , the Welles scholar Joseph McBride singles out some of Welles ’ more vocal pronouncements about Hollywood .
Even as early as 1939 , when Welles first came to Hollywood , he was considered a man to watch .
His @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other words .
Welles recalls that he was considered a This is most certainly a moment of honest self-reflection on Welles ’ part .
He was quite capable of that , despite his constant humor and laughter , which can suggest some kind of avoidance of life ’ s realities .
He may have fashioned himself into that figure of a magician , of the “ Great Orsini , ” who laughs loudly and boisterously , but do not be fooled : Welles was a true artist .
He saw more clearly than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ humanity is made of , what its joys and sorrows are , its faults , and attempts at perfection .
The movie establishment , naturally , was not particularly interested in looking deeply into the question of what it means to be human .
The fact that Welles had no regard for anything other than his films did not help his cause , and this was especially true in his first film , “ Citizen Kane ” ( 1941 ) .
The sheer audacity to make a film based almost entirely on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ publishing magnate , was palpable in this 25-year-old dynamo .
Not only did he challenge every possible convention in the business of technical filmmaking ( his employment of different camera angles alone changed the trajectory of filmmaking forever ) , but the barely veiled correlations to Hearst ’ s life was what got Welles into a heap of trouble .
Hearst did not like the way his mistress , Marion Davies , was portrayed in the film .
In “ Citizen Kane ” she is an empty-headed bimbo incapable of good acting , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and a comedienne .
This caused Hearst to want to destroy Welles at any cost .
Since he had power over the newspaper industry , Hearst began circulating rumors that Welles was a Communist—an insult that at that time turned the public against the person so accused .
Of course , Welles was never a member of the Communist Party .
But there was also a psychological component of establishment Hollywood ’ s rejection of Welles .
Any figure in any field who demonstrates the potential to disrupt the machinery churning out secure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hated .
Individual creativity under such circumstances is often scorned , and as Joseph McBride points out , “ Welles serves as a perfect whipping boy for those in the film industry and in the media who uncritically worship the imperatives and products of the commercial system.
” Welles most definitely was a mischievous man and he had no qualms about causing certain disruptions .
But these disruptions were more along the lines of explorations in art , rather than deliberate salvos aimed at film studios .
After all , he needed the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make movies .
But oftentimes , collectivism wins the battle over individual vision .
What is most ironic is the fact that this brilliant American filmmaker was unable to be an individual in America .
This certainly points to a sad state of affairs when it comes to individual liberty and what it means to be an artist in America .
The American consciousness somehow rejected Welles despite the fact that Welles never abandoned it .
When he died , many obituaries continued the utter fiction that Welles only made one great film— @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of his life was spent in sad isolation , a tragic end of what could have been a great career .
Even his collaborator in the Mercury Theater productions , John Houseman ( the infamously cranky professor in “ The Paper Chase , ” 1973 ) contributed to this unfair and untrue portrayal of Welles : “ If there was a downfall , then it was entirely of his own doing .
I mean , nobody stopped him from producing more ‘ Citizen Kanes.
’ ” The dismissiveness of that statement is self-evident @ @ @ @ @ @ @ himself to engage in some “ wash , rinse , repeat ” cycle of creating art ?
Such an approach is the very definition of an artistic fraud .
Commenting on the various negative obituaries of Welles , Joseph McBride writes , “ Scorning Welles as a tragic failure of gargantuan proportions seems to satisfy a public need ( at least in America ) to point a finger at an archetypal ‘ spoiled artist , ’ to bring genius down to the level of everyday mediocrity.
” But did the American audience truly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Or should we blame the film studios , most notably RKO Pictures , whose administrators and producers repeatedly butchered Welles ’ films in order to make them more ‘ accessible ’ to mainstream audiences ?
Welles ’ second feature-length film , “ The Magnificent Ambersons ” ( 1942 ) certainly suffered such a fate .
This particular film was an adaptation of Booth Tarkington ’ s eponymous novel that centered on one family ’ s magnificence and its loss .
The film primarily focuses on the dark side of the unraveling of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ invention of the automobile .
As everything is becoming faster and more industrialized , the Ambersons can ’ t seem to or don ’ t want to catch up and instead live in a reality that resembles more nostalgia than the hard facts of life .
Just like in “ Citizen Kane , ” Welles excelled here at new and innovative techniques in filmmaking .
By this point , that probably wouldn ’ t have bothered the studio executives but after screening the entire film to a few select audiences , they weren @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and thus embarked on what ended up being the greatest ever mutilation of a film in Hollywood .
Almost 50 minutes were cut and a new ending was shot , one that was “ happier ” since Welles ’ ending was far too grim .
The logic of the studio executives was that the film wasn ’ t going to make much money unless there is a happier ending .
Pearl Harbor was just attacked , and who wants to watch a dark and gloomy film about a bunch of American aristocrats ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the producers on “ The Magnificent Ambersons ” also lied to Welles about the budget , informing him that he was over budget when in reality he was under budget .
The conversations between studio executives reveal a series of paranoid and vindictive attacks on Welles at one point even entertaining a plan to throw Welles to “ the authorities , ” whomever those were supposed to be .
One can only imagine .
The missing 43 minutes of film reels allegedly were destroyed .
At least , the studio executives revealed in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be destroyed .
Whether it happened is impossible to know at this point .
It may yet turn up in some basement of some bar or a warehouse that has nothing to do with storing film reels .
Welles faced a similar problem with his brilliant work of film noir , “ Touch of Evil ” ( 1958 ) .
Initially , when the film was released , it was shortened , and badly edited .
Welles was so angry that he sent a 58-page memo to the producers with strict and specific @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They didn ’ t listen .
It was only decades later that the film was edited by Walter Murch according to Welles ’ exact instructions .
Murch said that Welles “ .
.
.
was a guy who was 20 to 25 years ahead of his time .
That was his glory and why he had such problems .
Hollywood doesn ’ t like people who are ahead of their time .
They like people who are just ahead of their time , like six seconds ahead of their times , because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It is generally accepted that Welles was at times difficult to work with but he was also a consummate professional and , according to many actors , a very fast-moving film director .
He may not have been Mr. Sunshine but he certainly did not deserve to have his work thrown to the vulgar wolves who knew nothing of film as an elevated art form .
Welles was a master at exploring human interiority and no director since has achieved his incredible level of precision when it comes to the development of characters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is often said that all of philosophy is just a series of footnotes to Plato , and the same can be said of cinema and Welles : almost every cinematic expression that came after “ Citizen Kane ” owes something to Orson Welles .
Yet if one is continuously misunderstood and not accepted by the establishment governing one ’ s industry , then how does one manage to continue to create ?
Will the artist break at some point because of the slow disappearance of the essence that makes him an artist ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ After he directed “ Citizen Kane , ” Welles went on to direct 11 more feature-length films .
And then , there is also an incredible amount of his unfinished work .
He was often accused of being fearful and it is suggested that it was fear that kept him from finishing many films .
But this is little more than ridiculous psychologizing ; it couldn ’ t be further from the truth .
In fact , the reason many of Welles ’ projects were interrupted was not that he was flighty or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It had simply to do with the fact that he so often would run out of money .
That was the reason he did all those silly commercials : his devotion to art was so strong that he fell in love with this “ crazy profession ” of movie-making .
He couldn ’ t extricate himself from the magic or the hold that movies had on him .
Although he may not have been fearful , there was one aspect of Welles ’ expression as an artist that , at times , had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ critic Molly Haskell points out that Welles had “ almost debilitating dissatisfaction that sprang from the very nature of his genius : an overabundance of ideas .
.
.
.
Because he was a master of so many ( too many ? )
of the facets of the cinema—cutting , staging , camera movement and framing , dialogue , sound , and performance—there was always some new angle to try .
Every film contained many films , unrealized possibilities.
” This is not an easy predicament for an artist .
On one hand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Welles , as a director , could envision all of them .
Yet , the unstoppable stream of possibilities could also render him silent , incapable of realizing anything at all .
Ever since he was a boy , Welles loved magic tricks .
He was fascinated by the response of the audience , while being , quite literally , the center of attention .
According to one of Welles ’ biographers , Frank Brady , Welles was introduced to the world of magic by Dr. Bernstein ( his mother ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Welles took to it , and “ to further Orson ’ s apprenticeship as a magician , Dr. Bernstein took him backstage at the theater where Houdini was performing so he could meet the master magician and escapologist .
Impressed by the child ’ s knowledge of the art of magic through the ages and his grasp of the technical aspects of the craft , Houdini taught the boy a simple but effective trick with a red handkerchief.
” In many ways , Welles ’ artistic drive and hunger had a lot to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He always had to prove himself with some kind of a performance , and later in life described himself as a very “ precocious child , ” which probably was not pleasant for many people .
Welles ’ parents divorced very early on in his life ; his mother died when he was 9 years old , and his father died when he was just 15 .
These were the great tragedies and sorrows in Welles ’ life which , undoubtedly , he carried with him throughout his career .
He was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particularly like to go to school—so his mother encouraged him to read Shakespeare , Keats , and Tennyson .
It was said his father died alone in a Chicago hotel room , and throughout his life , Welles suspected that it might have been suicide by drink .
But like many things in Welles ’ life , this story may be an exaggeration .
Many of the tales that Welles spun about his life turned out either to be untrue or just too vague to confirm .
We are always left to wonder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is playing a trick on us .
Just as we are about to get close to Welles and perhaps even to understand a small part of him , he plays a magic trick and poof !
He disappears from view .
It is easy to psychologize and psychoanalyze an artist in order to try to gain a better understanding of his life , and in doing that we could conclude that Welles ’ childhood was the major factor in his artistic choices .
But what purpose would such a conclusion even serve ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to suppose .
It is in Welles ’ films that he most readily reveals and conceals himself .
We must look to his creations .
In many cases , he picked subjects that deal with action and that play with the notion of reality and illusion .
Both reality and illusion can be disorienting but Welles ’ aim was never to disorient the audience .
Perhaps he wanted them to wake up from the slumber of illusions , but even that assertion may be forcing Welles into a symbolic box of cinematic analysis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evades analysis as every true artist should do .
Sometimes the illusions he created were dark and demanding , leaving one ill at ease , —as in the case of Welles ’ adaptation of Franz Kafka ’ s novel , “ The Trial.
” Other times , the illusions were humorous and meant to provoke , as in the case of “ F for Fake.
” This “ documentary essay , ” as Welles ’ friend Peter Bogdanovich called it , is full of “ trickery , ” as Welles warns us at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sure whether to accept anything as true .
In the film , we follow the story of two hoaxers : Elmyr de Hory , a famous art forger , and Clifford Irving , a writer who famously wrote a hoax biography about the reclusive director , inventor , and aviator , Howard Hughes .
Both de Hory and Irving ended up serving some time in prison for their forgeries and lies .
The film ’ s art rests in editing , and it shows the power of narrative that is created before our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that are superimposed and built up like modules one after another ?
Should we take Welles , our narrator and guide throughout the film , seriously or dismiss him as yet another artistic scoundrel ?
Welles wants us to ask these questions but he is not going to spoon-feed us any answers .
The questions that arise in this film are not merely about proving the guilt or innocence of de Hory or Irving , or even Welles .
They are about the nature of art in our lives .
Welles wants us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ considered art .
Is it something that is beautiful ?
Surely .
But who decides what is beautiful ?
The so-called experts ?
An establishment that decides what is good or bad ?
It is hardly surprising that “ F for Fake ” did not go over well in the United States , though this might be primarily because there was hardly any distribution for it .
When Bogdanovich tried to distribute “ F for Fake , ” the distributor he screened the film for fell asleep during the presentation .
As Joseph @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the American public barely knew Welles as a director .
With a myopic perspective built by the largely hostile American media , they knew him mostly as a buffoonish has-been , a cameo player in bad movies and a guest on Dean Martin ’ s television variety show.
” Hollywood was changing fast and all the glamour was turned into the worship of the bearded and drugged hippie .
The question of whether movies are “ magical ” was one to laugh and sneer at .
But despite the aesthetic changes of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and corrupt establishment .
At the time of this film , Welles had already been an American exiled in Europe .
He left America , rather reluctantly , simply because it became harder and harder to make a film here .
His vision was rejected .
The more America rejected him , the more Europe loved him .
The French director , François Truffaut admired Welles immensely and thought “ Citizen Kane ” was the film of films , and “ the only ‘ first ’ film directed by a famous man.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well-founded .
As a great artist himself , Truffaut understood how difficult it is not only to make a film but to accomplish it fully in accordance with one ’ s artistic vision and intent .
Welles ’ love of movies transcended his love of America , and so he made films in Croatia , Spain , and France .
He was certainly not an angry American trying to bring down the structure and the essence of this country .
On the contrary , Welles yearned and wished for success in America .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ American rejection of Welles was truly rooted in the dismissal and hatred from the American people ( the audience ) or did the establishment simply push him out until he was deemed irrelevant ?
Did the entrenched powers of studios and production companies dictate American tastes so completely ?
These questions are important not only in terms of Welles ’ life and career but also in relation to what constitutes art and the American character .
How do people respond to art ?
Does a film cease to be a work of art @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not only a few ?
The creation of art is most certainly not democratic but its enjoyment should be available to all , and Welles would agree with this .
On several occasions , he remarked that he truly wished he had a mass audience but that always seemed to elude him .
He was not an elitist in the sense that he enjoyed the exclusion of others for arbitrary or superficial reasons .
He did demand perfection , however , above all from himself .
The Man in the Mirror In one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life , Welles admitted that he did not like mirrors .
Of course , Welles meant this comment to be symbolic of his view of himself .
He always evaded the past and didn ’ t want to delve into any details of his own life .
The public continued to be curious , but every time Welles appeared on television talk shows , he maintained the persona of a magician or a celebrity who was very much relaxed in talking about anything—except his past .
According to Joseph McBride , even when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Merv Griffin “ tried prodding him in those directions , he [ Welles ] preferred to spend his time on ‘ Merv ’ indulging his fondness for performing elaborately tedious magic tricks.
” Is this all an audience in America was really interested in ?
Perhaps , but Welles certainly was not willing to give or share anything more .
He used such appearances to his advantage : first , he didn ’ t have to talk about his life , and second , he made money which he then always put into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have liked to look in the mirror ; but he used them frequently in his films .
The most famous example comes from “ Citizen Kane , ” in the scene when an old Charles Foster Kane roams the vast rooms of his massive Xanadu estate , and catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror .
Kane is not pleased with what he sees : a man , who has everything and nothing ; a failure , yet still a young boy yearning to become whole again .
In this case , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ looking deeply into the distorted and lost face , he recoils in disgust , in shame , or in anger that emotions lying so deeply under the skin are visible at all under the veneer , or mask , that has been carefully sculpted over the years .
Another famous example of the mirror comes in Welles ’ 1948 film , “ The Lady from Shanghai , ” in which Welles stars along with Rita Hayworth .
At the time of the shooting , Welles and Hayworth were already practically divorced and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well .
Welles plays Michael O ’ Hara , a man who is hired to work aboard the yacht of a disabled man , Mr. Arthur Bannister , and gets caught in a web of deceit and corruption thanks to Bannister ’ s beautiful and seductive wife , Rosalie .
Typical of Welles , this film too is very different from others in the noir genre , and it leaves the viewer disoriented .
And just like most of Welles ’ films that were made through film studios , “ The Lady from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the producers who cut about an hour of footage and were not pleased with Welles ’ lack of close-ups in the film or his strange long takes .
But despite some omissions , the film is still very much a Wellesian project , and the end alone proves that point .
The mirror scene in “ The Lady from Shanghai ” is one of the most brilliant scenes in the history of cinema .
It takes place in the Magic Mirror Maze , a seaside funhouse , where there are mirrors upon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after another .
The truth of who framed whom comes out at the end of the film but unlike Charles Foster Kane , Michael O ’ Hara has power over the mirror and is willing to look at his own face .
It is important to point out , however , that unlike Kane , O ’ Hara has no reason to feel shame—only justified anger over Rosalie ’ s betrayal .
In both cases , Welles plays with the illusory quality of our lives .
What is real and authentic ?
Are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of our souls or is it easier to look away ?
Is self-revelation even possible ?
Do we not all simply wear masks in order to forget and break away from the burdens of existence ?
Consider Jaques ’ famous lines in Shakespeare ’ s comedy , “ As You Like It ” : All the world ’ s a stage , And all the men and women merely players ; They have their exits and their entrances , And one man in his time plays many parts Surely Welles would attest to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us with questions about reality and whether our lives are merely somewhat meaningful and bearable transitions , or whether the stage , the world , the exits , and entrances are all up to us to create ?
As we attempt to answer the question of reality and illusion , we can not evade our very selves that we see in the mirror , and the biggest question of them all : are we free ?
Accepting an American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 1975 , Welles touched on his vision as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A maverick may go his own way but he doesn ’ t think it ’ s the only way or ever claim that it ’ s the best one—except maybe for himself .
And don ’ t imagine that this raggle-taggle gypsy-o is claiming to be free .
It ’ s just that some of the necessities to which I am a slave are different from yours.
” Welles knew that choosing to be entirely in control of his projects and holding closely and deeply to his particular vision would not be easy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kind means that you have to pave your way , engage in what will most likely be a constant forge , and understand that whatever you create ( even if brilliant ! )
may not be recognized or applauded in the way that you yearn to see it done .
I think that Welles understood and accepted this—otherwise , he would not have kept making films .
It is significant , however , that he does not claim to be free .
On many occasions throughout a number of separate interviews , Welles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that he fell in love with making movies and that he should have started a different profession after he completed “ Citizen Kane.
” This regret and this constant need to forge new ways not only to make films but also to show us how fragile , tragic , and yet beautiful life can be , may have been the thing that rendered Welles an imprisoned man unwilling to look in the mirror .
Or perhaps it was only that he was unwilling to let us see that he indeed had no fear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his own face .
There is a great sense of mystery in Orson Welles .
He was composed of many parts , and many “ exits and entrances.
” Through his work , Welles reveled in the game of concealment and illumination but , in the end reveals it to be more than just a silly game .
It was his invitation to explore the deep , forgotten , and neglected pieces of our strange , funny , and broken selves , and to ask what it means to be human .
Welles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ great courage and resolve , and he gave us not only a cinematic gift but also a true example of individual courage .
Originally from Bosnia , a survivor of the Bosnian war and its aftermath of refugee camps , Emina Melonic immigrated to the United States in 1996 and became an American citizen in 2003 .
She has a Ph.D. in comparative literature .
Her writings have appeared in National Review , The Imaginative Conservative , New English Review , The New Criterion , Law and Liberty , The University Bookman , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mind , and Splice Today .
She lives near Buffalo , N.Y .

by Emina Melonic
The scene is perfectly set, full of trickery and magic: from a seemingly abandoned train station, a towering figure of a man in a cape and a hat emerges out of a cloud of smoke. The man decides to do a few magic tricks for a couple of children and is caught by the knowing gaze of a beautiful and exotic looking woman, dressed in fur. She registers a look of slight disapproval at the man in the cape, as if she caught a child fumbling through a cookie jar. But her disapproval quickly melts away and she forgives the man for being playful.
“Up to your old tricks, I see,” says the beautiful woman.
“Why not?” says the man in a rather booming and distinctive voice. “I’m a charlatan.”
With that, he gives her a mischievous smirk betraying his true sentiments. The man is not offering a confession or looking for absolution but is instead offering his own assessment of any expert who might wish to judge him a charlatan.
The man in the cape is the great actor and director, Orson Welles (1915-1985), in one of his later films, “F for Fake” (1973). Welles, a charlatan? Of course, this description is preposterous and untrue, and Welles himself said it in jest. His grin, both devious and utterly innocent tells us something quite the opposite: Welles is asserting his artistic superiority yet he really doesn’t care what he is called, whether by the critics, “experts,” or even his loyal audience. Orson Welles cared only about one thing: making great movies.
One Man’s Fight Against the Establishment
It would be all too easy and lazy to dismiss Orson Welles as a “has-been”—someone who quickly rose to fame and then crashed, disappearing from the public eye. Welles is usually captured in the American imagination as three personalities: a radio broadcaster who delivered the infamous “War of the Worlds” broadcast that scared many people into believing an alien attack was underway in rural New Jersey; a director of the best American film ever made, “Citizen Kane” (1941); and a spokesperson for Paul Masson wine, Japanese whiskey, and frozen peas. Welles’ weight problem, the subject of many jokes (some of which he didn’t mind, as he often made fun of himself), is too often the focus of many critics and people who worked with him. These are all beside the point. They constitute such a small part of who he was that they obscure the big picture.
In many ways, Welles lived thousands of lifetimes in just one life—whether it was in acting or in innovating new cinematic forms. Welles was the founder of what we now call “independent cinema,” even as most so-called “independent filmmakers” are nothing more than the fakers Welles so obviously abhorred. The only other American film director who can authentically claim the mantle of independent filmmaker is John Cassavetes, who, like Welles, hated the phoniness and corruption for which Hollywood was known.
Naturally, Welles was aware that he was not a “joiner.” He didn’t join any clubs of any kind. He was too free and supremely confident in that freedom to submit his personhood to any authority, let alone any creative authority coming out of Hollywood. In his book, Whatever Happened to Orson Welles: A Portrait of an Independent Career (2006), the Welles scholar Joseph McBride singles out some of Welles’ more vocal pronouncements about Hollywood.
Even as early as 1939, when Welles first came to Hollywood, he was considered a man to watch. His anti-establishment credentials were fully perceived, in other words. Welles recalls that he was considered a
. . . terrible maverick . . . I was sort of 40 or 30 years ahead of my time . . . a sort of ghost of Christmas future. There was the one beatnik, you know, there was this guy with a beard who was going to do it all by himself. I represented the terrible future of what was going to happen to that town. So I was hated and despised, theoretically, but I had all kinds of friends among the real dinosaurs, who were awfully nice to me. And I had a very good time. But I believe that I have looked back too optimistically on Hollywood. Because my daughter has a group of books about Hollywood that she bought, I don’t know, probably vainly looking for references of her father in them. And I took to reading them lately. And I realized how many great people that town has destroyed since its earliest beginnings—how almost everybody of merit was destroyed or diminished, and how the few people who were good who survived, what a great minority they were . . . And I take my own life out of it and see what they did to other people, I see that the story of that town is a dirty one, and its record is bad.
This is most certainly a moment of honest self-reflection on Welles’ part. He was quite capable of that, despite his constant humor and laughter, which can suggest some kind of avoidance of life’s realities. He may have fashioned himself into that figure of a magician, of the “Great Orsini,” who laughs loudly and boisterously, but do not be fooled: Welles was a true artist. He saw more clearly than the rest of humanity what this very humanity is made of, what its joys and sorrows are, its faults, and attempts at perfection. The movie establishment, naturally, was not particularly interested in looking deeply into the question of what it means to be human.
The fact that Welles had no regard for anything other than his films did not help his cause, and this was especially true in his first film, “Citizen Kane” (1941). The sheer audacity to make a film based almost entirely on the life of William Randolph Hearst, the publishing magnate, was palpable in this 25-year-old dynamo. Not only did he challenge every possible convention in the business of technical filmmaking (his employment of different camera angles alone changed the trajectory of filmmaking forever), but the barely veiled correlations to Hearst’s life was what got Welles into a heap of trouble. Hearst did not like the way his mistress, Marion Davies, was portrayed in the film. In “Citizen Kane” she is an empty-headed bimbo incapable of good acting, although in reality was quite an actress and a comedienne. This caused Hearst to want to destroy Welles at any cost.
Since he had power over the newspaper industry, Hearst began circulating rumors that Welles was a Communist—an insult that at that time turned the public against the person so accused. Of course, Welles was never a member of the Communist Party.
But there was also a psychological component of establishment Hollywood’s rejection of Welles. Any figure in any field who demonstrates the potential to disrupt the machinery churning out secure and profitable projects is bound to be hated. Individual creativity under such circumstances is often scorned, and as Joseph McBride points out, “Welles serves as a perfect whipping boy for those in the film industry and in the media who uncritically worship the imperatives and products of the commercial system.”
Welles most definitely was a mischievous man and he had no qualms about causing certain disruptions. But these disruptions were more along the lines of explorations in art, rather than deliberate salvos aimed at film studios. After all, he needed the structure of the studio in order to make movies. But oftentimes, collectivism wins the battle over individual vision.
What is most ironic is the fact that this brilliant American filmmaker was unable to be an individual in America. This certainly points to a sad state of affairs when it comes to individual liberty and what it means to be an artist in America. The American consciousness somehow rejected Welles despite the fact that Welles never abandoned it. When he died, many obituaries continued the utter fiction that Welles only made one great film—“Citizen Kane”—and the rest of his life was spent in sad isolation, a tragic end of what could have been a great career.
Even his collaborator in the Mercury Theater productions, John Houseman (the infamously cranky professor in “The Paper Chase,” 1973) contributed to this unfair and untrue portrayal of Welles: “If there was a downfall, then it was entirely of his own doing. I mean, nobody stopped him from producing more ‘Citizen Kanes.’”
The dismissiveness of that statement is self-evident. How can any self-respecting artist bring himself to engage in some “wash, rinse, repeat” cycle of creating art? Such an approach is the very definition of an artistic fraud. Commenting on the various negative obituaries of Welles, Joseph McBride writes, “Scorning Welles as a tragic failure of gargantuan proportions seems to satisfy a public need (at least in America) to point a finger at an archetypal ‘spoiled artist,’ to bring genius down to the level of everyday mediocrity.”
But did the American audience truly reject Welles’ contribution to film? Or should we blame the film studios, most notably RKO Pictures, whose administrators and producers repeatedly butchered Welles’ films in order to make them more ‘accessible’ to mainstream audiences? Welles’ second feature-length film, “The Magnificent Ambersons” (1942) certainly suffered such a fate.
This particular film was an adaptation of Booth Tarkington’s eponymous novel that centered on one family’s magnificence and its loss. The film primarily focuses on the dark side of the unraveling of the family, which is paralleled with the invention of the automobile. As everything is becoming faster and more industrialized, the Ambersons can’t seem to or don’t want to catch up and instead live in a reality that resembles more nostalgia than the hard facts of life.
Just like in “Citizen Kane,” Welles excelled here at new and innovative techniques in filmmaking. By this point, that probably wouldn’t have bothered the studio executives but after screening the entire film to a few select audiences, they weren’t pleased with the reception, and thus embarked on what ended up being the greatest ever mutilation of a film in Hollywood.
Almost 50 minutes were cut and a new ending was shot, one that was “happier” since Welles’ ending was far too grim. The logic of the studio executives was that the film wasn’t going to make much money unless there is a happier ending. Pearl Harbor was just attacked, and who wants to watch a dark and gloomy film about a bunch of American aristocrats?
According to Joseph McBride, some of the producers on “The Magnificent Ambersons” also lied to Welles about the budget, informing him that he was over budget when in reality he was under budget. The conversations between studio executives reveal a series of paranoid and vindictive attacks on Welles at one point even entertaining a plan to throw Welles to “the authorities,” whomever those were supposed to be. One can only imagine. The missing 43 minutes of film reels allegedly were destroyed. At least, the studio executives revealed in their conversations that the footage needed to be destroyed. Whether it happened is impossible to know at this point. It may yet turn up in some basement of some bar or a warehouse that has nothing to do with storing film reels.
Welles faced a similar problem with his brilliant work of film noir, “Touch of Evil” (1958). Initially, when the film was released, it was shortened, and badly edited. Welles was so angry that he sent a 58-page memo to the producers with strict and specific instructions on how the film should look. They didn’t listen. It was only decades later that the film was edited by Walter Murch according to Welles’ exact instructions. Murch said that Welles “. . . was a guy who was 20 to 25 years ahead of his time. That was his glory and why he had such problems. Hollywood doesn’t like people who are ahead of their time. They like people who are just ahead of their time, like six seconds ahead of their times, because those persons make the most money.”
It is generally accepted that Welles was at times difficult to work with but he was also a consummate professional and, according to many actors, a very fast-moving film director. He may not have been Mr. Sunshine but he certainly did not deserve to have his work thrown to the vulgar wolves who knew nothing of film as an elevated art form. Welles was a master at exploring human interiority and no director since has achieved his incredible level of precision when it comes to the development of characters as well as cinematic innovations.
Reality or Illusion
It is often said that all of philosophy is just a series of footnotes to Plato, and the same can be said of cinema and Welles: almost every cinematic expression that came after “Citizen Kane” owes something to Orson Welles. Yet if one is continuously misunderstood and not accepted by the establishment governing one’s industry, then how does one manage to continue to create?
Will the artist break at some point because of the slow disappearance of the essence that makes him an artist? Some might but Welles never did.
After he directed “Citizen Kane,” Welles went on to direct 11 more feature-length films. And then, there is also an incredible amount of his unfinished work. He was often accused of being fearful and it is suggested that it was fear that kept him from finishing many films. But this is little more than ridiculous psychologizing; it couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, the reason many of Welles’ projects were interrupted was not that he was flighty or had some mental hang-up about completion. It had simply to do with the fact that he so often would run out of money. That was the reason he did all those silly commercials: his devotion to art was so strong that he fell in love with this “crazy profession” of movie-making. He couldn’t extricate himself from the magic or the hold that movies had on him.
Although he may not have been fearful, there was one aspect of Welles’ expression as an artist that, at times, had negative effects on his process. Film critic Molly Haskell points out that Welles had “almost debilitating dissatisfaction that sprang from the very nature of his genius: an overabundance of ideas. . . . Because he was a master of so many (too many?) of the facets of the cinema—cutting, staging, camera movement and framing, dialogue, sound, and performance—there was always some new angle to try. Every film contained many films, unrealized possibilities.”
This is not an easy predicament for an artist. On one hand, ideas and inspiration are constantly flowing and Welles, as a director, could envision all of them. Yet, the unstoppable stream of possibilities could also render him silent, incapable of realizing anything at all.
Ever since he was a boy, Welles loved magic tricks. He was fascinated by the response of the audience, while being, quite literally, the center of attention. According to one of Welles’ biographers, Frank Brady, Welles was introduced to the world of magic by Dr. Bernstein (his mother’s partner and a surrogate father). Welles took to it, and “to further Orson’s apprenticeship as a magician, Dr. Bernstein took him backstage at the theater where Houdini was performing so he could meet the master magician and escapologist. Impressed by the child’s knowledge of the art of magic through the ages and his grasp of the technical aspects of the craft, Houdini taught the boy a simple but effective trick with a red handkerchief.”
In many ways, Welles’ artistic drive and hunger had a lot to do with the way he grew up. He always had to prove himself with some kind of a performance, and later in life described himself as a very “precocious child,” which probably was not pleasant for many people.
Welles’ parents divorced very early on in his life; his mother died when he was 9 years old, and his father died when he was just 15. These were the great tragedies and sorrows in Welles’ life which, undoubtedly, he carried with him throughout his career. He was educated in an unconventional way—he did not particularly like to go to school—so his mother encouraged him to read Shakespeare, Keats, and Tennyson.
It was said his father died alone in a Chicago hotel room, and throughout his life, Welles suspected that it might have been suicide by drink. But like many things in Welles’ life, this story may be an exaggeration. Many of the tales that Welles spun about his life turned out either to be untrue or just too vague to confirm. We are always left to wonder whether Welles, the consummate magician, is playing a trick on us. Just as we are about to get close to Welles and perhaps even to understand a small part of him, he plays a magic trick and poof! He disappears from view.
It is easy to psychologize and psychoanalyze an artist in order to try to gain a better understanding of his life, and in doing that we could conclude that Welles’ childhood was the major factor in his artistic choices. But what purpose would such a conclusion even serve? It is hard to know and easy to suppose. It is in Welles’ films that he most readily reveals and conceals himself. We must look to his creations.
In many cases, he picked subjects that deal with action and that play with the notion of reality and illusion. Both reality and illusion can be disorienting but Welles’ aim was never to disorient the audience. Perhaps he wanted them to wake up from the slumber of illusions, but even that assertion may be forcing Welles into a symbolic box of cinematic analysis. The truth is that he constantly evades analysis as every true artist should do.
Sometimes the illusions he created were dark and demanding, leaving one ill at ease,—as in the case of Welles’ adaptation of Franz Kafka’s novel, “The Trial.” Other times, the illusions were humorous and meant to provoke, as in the case of “F for Fake.” This “documentary essay,” as Welles’ friend Peter Bogdanovich called it, is full of “trickery,” as Welles warns us at the beginning. The audience is not sure whether to accept anything as true. In the film, we follow the story of two hoaxers: Elmyr de Hory, a famous art forger, and Clifford Irving, a writer who famously wrote a hoax biography about the reclusive director, inventor, and aviator, Howard Hughes. Both de Hory and Irving ended up serving some time in prison for their forgeries and lies.
The film’s art rests in editing, and it shows the power of narrative that is created before our eyes. Should we trust the images that are superimposed and built up like modules one after another? Should we take Welles, our narrator and guide throughout the film, seriously or dismiss him as yet another artistic scoundrel? Welles wants us to ask these questions but he is not going to spoon-feed us any answers.
The questions that arise in this film are not merely about proving the guilt or innocence of de Hory or Irving, or even Welles. They are about the nature of art in our lives. Welles wants us to ponder what things ought to be considered art. Is it something that is beautiful? Surely. But who decides what is beautiful? The so-called experts? An establishment that decides what is good or bad?
It is hardly surprising that “F for Fake” did not go over well in the United States, though this might be primarily because there was hardly any distribution for it. When Bogdanovich tried to distribute “F for Fake,” the distributor he screened the film for fell asleep during the presentation. As Joseph McBride points out, “By 1970, the American public barely knew Welles as a director. With a myopic perspective built by the largely hostile American media, they knew him mostly as a buffoonish has-been, a cameo player in bad movies and a guest on Dean Martin’s television variety show.”
Hollywood was changing fast and all the glamour was turned into the worship of the bearded and drugged hippie. The question of whether movies are “magical” was one to laugh and sneer at. But despite the aesthetic changes of Hollywood culture, it remained an immovable and corrupt establishment.
At the time of this film, Welles had already been an American exiled in Europe. He left America, rather reluctantly, simply because it became harder and harder to make a film here. His vision was rejected. The more America rejected him, the more Europe loved him. The French director, François Truffaut admired Welles immensely and thought “Citizen Kane” was the film of films, and “the only ‘first’ film directed by a famous man.” Truffaut’s admiration was correct and well-founded. As a great artist himself, Truffaut understood how difficult it is not only to make a film but to accomplish it fully in accordance with one’s artistic vision and intent.
Welles’ love of movies transcended his love of America, and so he made films in Croatia, Spain, and France. He was certainly not an angry American trying to bring down the structure and the essence of this country. On the contrary, Welles yearned and wished for success in America. We do have to ask whether the American rejection of Welles was truly rooted in the dismissal and hatred from the American people (the audience) or did the establishment simply push him out until he was deemed irrelevant? Did the entrenched powers of studios and production companies dictate American tastes so completely?
These questions are important not only in terms of Welles’ life and career but also in relation to what constitutes art and the American character. How do people respond to art? Does a film cease to be a work of art once it is admired by many and not only a few? The creation of art is most certainly not democratic but its enjoyment should be available to all, and Welles would agree with this. On several occasions, he remarked that he truly wished he had a mass audience but that always seemed to elude him. He was not an elitist in the sense that he enjoyed the exclusion of others for arbitrary or superficial reasons. He did demand perfection, however, above all from himself.
The Man in the Mirror
In one of the interviews given later in his life, Welles admitted that he did not like mirrors. Of course, Welles meant this comment to be symbolic of his view of himself. He always evaded the past and didn’t want to delve into any details of his own life. The public continued to be curious, but every time Welles appeared on television talk shows, he maintained the persona of a magician or a celebrity who was very much relaxed in talking about anything—except his past.
According to Joseph McBride, even when the host of a show, particularly Merv Griffin “tried prodding him in those directions, he [Welles] preferred to spend his time on ‘Merv’ indulging his fondness for performing elaborately tedious magic tricks.” Is this all an audience in America was really interested in? Perhaps, but Welles certainly was not willing to give or share anything more. He used such appearances to his advantage: first, he didn’t have to talk about his life, and second, he made money which he then always put into his film projects.
Welles may not have liked to look in the mirror; but he used them frequently in his films. The most famous example comes from “Citizen Kane,” in the scene when an old Charles Foster Kane roams the vast rooms of his massive Xanadu estate, and catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Kane is not pleased with what he sees: a man, who has everything and nothing; a failure, yet still a young boy yearning to become whole again. In this case, the mirror has power over Kane—instead of looking deeply into the distorted and lost face, he recoils in disgust, in shame, or in anger that emotions lying so deeply under the skin are visible at all under the veneer, or mask, that has been carefully sculpted over the years.
Another famous example of the mirror comes in Welles’ 1948 film, “The Lady from Shanghai,” in which Welles stars along with Rita Hayworth. At the time of the shooting, Welles and Hayworth were already practically divorced and the tension is visible on the screen as well. Welles plays Michael O’Hara, a man who is hired to work aboard the yacht of a disabled man, Mr. Arthur Bannister, and gets caught in a web of deceit and corruption thanks to Bannister’s beautiful and seductive wife, Rosalie.
Typical of Welles, this film too is very different from others in the noir genre, and it leaves the viewer disoriented. And just like most of Welles’ films that were made through film studios, “The Lady from Shanghai” also suffered at the hands of the producers who cut about an hour of footage and were not pleased with Welles’ lack of close-ups in the film or his strange long takes. But despite some omissions, the film is still very much a Wellesian project, and the end alone proves that point.
The mirror scene in “The Lady from Shanghai” is one of the most brilliant scenes in the history of cinema. It takes place in the Magic Mirror Maze, a seaside funhouse, where there are mirrors upon mirrors, replicating, one distorted image after another. The truth of who framed whom comes out at the end of the film but unlike Charles Foster Kane, Michael O’Hara has power over the mirror and is willing to look at his own face. It is important to point out, however, that unlike Kane, O’Hara has no reason to feel shame—only justified anger over Rosalie’s betrayal.
In both cases, Welles plays with the illusory quality of our lives. What is real and authentic? Are we willing to look into the mirror of our souls or is it easier to look away? Is self-revelation even possible? Do we not all simply wear masks in order to forget and break away from the burdens of existence? Consider Jaques’ famous lines in Shakespeare’s comedy, “As You Like It”:
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women
merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays
many parts
Surely Welles would attest to this. Shakespeare’s monologue leaves us with questions about reality and whether our lives are merely somewhat meaningful and bearable transitions, or whether the stage, the world, the exits, and entrances are all up to us to create? As we attempt to answer the question of reality and illusion, we cannot evade our very selves that we see in the mirror, and the biggest question of them all: are we free?
Accepting an American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 1975, Welles touched on his vision as an independent filmmaker and freedom: “A maverick may go his own way but he doesn’t think it’s the only way or ever claim that it’s the best one—except maybe for himself. And don’t imagine that this raggle-taggle gypsy-o is claiming to be free. It’s just that some of the necessities to which I am a slave are different from yours.”
Welles knew that choosing to be entirely in control of his projects and holding closely and deeply to his particular vision would not be easy. Being an independent artist of any kind means that you have to pave your way, engage in what will most likely be a constant forge, and understand that whatever you create (even if brilliant!) may not be recognized or applauded in the way that you yearn to see it done. I think that Welles understood and accepted this—otherwise, he would not have kept making films. It is significant, however, that he does not claim to be free.
On many occasions throughout a number of separate interviews, Welles had said that his biggest regret was that he fell in love with making movies and that he should have started a different profession after he completed “Citizen Kane.” This regret and this constant need to forge new ways not only to make films but also to show us how fragile, tragic, and yet beautiful life can be, may have been the thing that rendered Welles an imprisoned man unwilling to look in the mirror. Or perhaps it was only that he was unwilling to let us see that he indeed had no fear of taking off the mask and seeing his own face.
There is a great sense of mystery in Orson Welles. He was composed of many parts, and many “exits and entrances.” Through his work, Welles reveled in the game of concealment and illumination but, in the end reveals it to be more than just a silly game. It was his invitation to explore the deep, forgotten, and neglected pieces of our strange, funny, and broken selves, and to ask what it means to be human. Welles explored this time and time again with great courage and resolve, and he gave us not only a cinematic gift but also a true example of individual courage.
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Originally from Bosnia, a survivor of the Bosnian war and its aftermath of refugee camps, Emina Melonic immigrated to the United States in 1996 and became an American citizen in 2003. She has a Ph.D. in comparative literature. Her writings have appeared in National Review, The Imaginative Conservative, New English Review, The New Criterion, Law and Liberty, The University Bookman, Claremont Review of Books, The American Mind, and Splice Today. She lives near Buffalo, N.Y.