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"ORSON WELLES is a one-person play in two acts about the life and times of Orson Welles. [Acting Edition]Some say that Orson Welles was a genius, but he always denied that. He did give us CITIZEN KANE, considered by most critics to be the best film ever made, but after that, his career took one long downward plunge.The play finds Welles trying to find the financing for one of his film projects. It's a difficult task, since most of the Hollywood community considers him to be a ""screwball"".Pondering his life with his ""other self,"" he tells us about his alcoholic father, his lonely years as a ""gifted child,"" his rise as the ""boy genius"" of Broadway and the ""War of the Worlds"" radio broadcast that panicked America and made his name a household word.But ""genius"" can be self-destructive -- as was the case with Welles. Time after time, with a new post-KANE success within his grasp, he would knowingly make the wrong move, thereby destroying everything he'd built.Containing wry stories about William Randolph Hearst, Columbia Pictures' Harry Cohn, and Rita Hayworth, Michael B. Druxman's ORSON WELLES is the ""boy genius"" at his best."

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9781461109068

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"Michael B. Druxman is a veteran Hollywood screenwriter whose credits include CHEYENNE WARRIOR with Kelly Preston; DILLINGER AND CAPONE starring Martin Sheen and F. Murray Abraham; and THE DOORWAY with Roy Scheider, which he also directed. He is also a prolific playwright, his one-person play, JOLSON, having had numerous productions around the country. Other produced stage credits include one-person plays about Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Spencer Tracy and Orson Welles. Additionally, Mr. Druxman is the author of thirteen other published books, including several nonfiction works about Hollywood, its movies, and the people who make them (e.g., BASIL RATHBONE: His Life and His Films, MAKE IT AGAIN, SAM: A Survey of Movie Remakes, ONE GOOD FILM DESERVES ANOTHER: A Survey of Movie Sequels, MERV [Griffin] and THE MUSICAL: From Broadway to Hollywood). He has written two novels, NOBODY DROWNS IN MINERAL LAKE and SHADOW WATCHER, plus the humorous revisionist history, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: From the Secret Files of Harry Pennypacker, and FAMILY SECRET, a non-fiction book co-authored with Warren Hull, which reveals the true facts behind the 1947 murder of mobster ""Bugsy"" Siegel in Beverly Hills. An acknowledged Hollywood historian, he has also written television documentaries and has been interviewed for various retrospective featurettes that have accompanied DVD releases of classic films (e.g. THE MALTESE FALCON, etc.). Mr. Druxman is a former Hollywood publicist of 35 years experience who has represented many film and television stars, as well as noted directors, producers and composers. One of his Academy Award campaigns is often mentioned in books dealing with Oscar's history. He has taught various dramatic writing and film appreciation courses in an adult university and is the author of How to Write a Story...Any Story: THE ART OF STORYTELLING, which has been used as a text in several colleges. A native of Seattle who graduated from Garfield High School and the University of Washington, Mr. Druxman moved with his wife, Sandy, from Los Angeles to Austin, TX in 2009. His memoir, MY FORTY-FIVE YEARS IN HOLLYWOOD AND HOW I ESCAPED ALIVE, is published by Bear Manor Media."

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