Orson Welles Stars in Book Sense 76 Top Ten Pick

December 02, 2003

Robert Kaplow has recently returned from Carnegie Hall. And no, he didn't get there by practicing -- well, an instrument, anyway. For the last 20 years, however, Kaplow has been writing and performing for NPR, teaching high school English, and authoring six books.

Kaplow's most recent literary endeavor -- November/December Book Sense 76 Top Ten Pick Me and Orson Welles -- was responsible for his trip to the famed concert hall, where he went to the third floor, settled into an out-of-the way recording studio, and was interviewed via satellite by Bob Edwards, host of NPR's Morning Edition.

Kaplow's fascination with performance and with little-known attributes and hard-to-find nooks in beautiful and historic theatres is evident in Me and Orson Welles. Set in 1937 Manhattan at the Mercury Theatre, the book is a quick ticket back to an era when Welles was just beginning to show signs of his genius for the arts. Said Kaplow, "He was an extraordinary talent … he had an intuitive command of theater, radio, and film."

We experience Welles -- his creativity, his passion, his ego -- through the eyes and emotions of narrator Richard Samuels. Richard is eager to be done with his suburban teenage life and become "somebody"; he whiles away the time before somebody-hood with frequent visits to the library, intensive radio-listening and pop-song singing, and a series of determined (and comically endearing) self-improvement mantras.

And then, it happens: an autumn day trip to the New York Public Library turns into a Pivotal Life Moment. Richard sidles up to a boisterous, excited group of people outside the Mercury Theatre and, in short order, he is playing a drum roll for Orson Welles, then suddenly, amazingly is cast in Welles' upcoming production of Julius Caesar.

Me and Orson Welles amply demonstrates Kaplow's skill at creating mood, whether of person or place. Richard's awe and excitement at the wild new world opening before him is palpable; suspense and wonderment inevitably seep into the reader's experience of the unfolding events. The city itself is alive -- it, too, is on the edge of an unpredictable new way of being, impossible to predict and fascinating to watch. And then there is Welles … volatile and clever, dictatorial and innovative, kind one minute and cruel the next.

Kaplow's own fascination with Welles began when he was about Richard's age; at age 16, he read John Houseman's memoir Run-Through, a book that he described as "well-written and very evocative. If you do any research on Welles, you have to read it. It's a primary source -- Houseman was there [as Welles' partner in founding the Mercury]."

Kaplow said that, to him, the book was about "being young and ambitious, dreaming of glory," adding, "I've had people who are 16 say how much they like [Me and Orson Welles] and they don't know who Welles is. For them, it's about wanting to be somebody, to make an impact."

Like Welles, Kaplow has made an impact in radio -- he does satirical songs and sketches for NPR's Morning Edition and Fresh Air, and is the creator of the "Moe Moskowitz and the Merry Punsters" song-and-sketch bits -- its own brand of theater. He also teaches film studies, creative writing, and AP English at a high school in New Jersey.

Kaplow's first book was published in 1979: Two in the City, about a young couple who decide to move to Manhattan and work, rather than attend college. Kaplow said that, at the time, he was working on Wall Street. "I was in the wrong place, but I slogged through. It was just misery … but I got my first book out of it." One of the characters, he noted, worked at a "dreadful Wall Street firm." (Kaplow had "fled" the company by then, so there were no in-office repercussions.)

The publication of that book, a YA novel, was followed by three more YA titles in 1984, 1989, and 1992. In March of this year, The Cat Who Killed Lillian Jackson Braun: A Parody was published by New Millennium Press; Me and Orson Welles was published by MacAdam/Cage in September.

Of his books' focus on the younger set, Kaplow said, "There's a certain symbiosis in that the stories I've written tend to be about younger people, and I work around them. Probably the same element that draws me to teaching them draws me to writing about them. It's an interesting period to watch, when people invent themselves. Oh, and sorry to make you type symbiosis."

This time, although Welles' protagonist is a 17-year-old, MacAdam/Cage is not marketing the book as a YA novel. Kaplow said, "Its territory is wider than what you traditionally find in that genre. It's a romantic comedy, a coming of age, an encounter with celebrity, and the whole world of New York City arts in the 1930s. And Richard's reactions are [filtered] through people who are older than he is."

'Tis true; although Richard is in high school, he's not actually there for the duration of the story -- he's cutting classes so he can throw himself into this new world he's found. Most notably, his naivete is mixed with a singularly adult sense of his own values. He knows what he is capable of doing, and learns what he's not capable of accepting, culminating in a scene that will be uncomfortably familiar to any reader, whatever the age, who has faced a moral dilemma. Noted Kaplow, "It's a painful scene -- for Richard to have his dream so close, only to get it forcefully annihilated."

Kaplow said that Welles -- sometimes the annihilator, other times the gracious patron -- is a "very mysterious, enigmatic figure … one I thought would work well in a novel like this. Whether [my portrayal] is accurate or not, it's hard to tell -- I worked on this for so long, it's hard to tell any longer what's the fabric and the fabrication."

Indeed, 10 years of research would indicate a great devotion to the topic. Kaplow agreed, adding, "[Welles] is an extraordinary talent, a genius. And here we have a guy who is 22, and is as much of an adolescent as Richard is. He's inventing himself, seeing what he will become … a star, a very powerful ego that is going to eliminate anything in its path."

And what of the other players in Julius Caesar? Kaplow was able to interview Samuel Leve, the set designer, who described to Kaplow his battles with Welles over credit for the staging of the play. Kaplow also met the actor who played Lucius (Richard's role in the book's version of the play), a man named Arthur Andersen.

Kaplow found him in an unconventional manner, at least for Manhattan: he picked up a phone book and started calling all the Andersens. Fortunately, after about a dozen calls Kaplow found his Arthur, who is now in his 80s. Said Kaplow, "He was, and is, a wonderful source. He has a tremendous memory, and kept a scrapbook. I grilled him … I asked where the bathrooms were, the dressing room. It was a fantasy I wanted to live, to be there when this extraordinary thing was happening." Being able to examine artifacts from the Mercury Theater and Julius Caesar helped to render Kaplow's fantasy a bit more real. In fact, the original production's handbill is reproduced on page 25 of Me and Orson Welles.

Though he hasn't created handbills about the book, Kaplow is promoting Me and Orson Welles on the radio and at store signings. He recently did a signing at Lemuria Bookstore in Jackson, Mississippi, and he was interviewed on NPR, as well as the November 29 edition of WBAI's "All Mixed Up" program.

Kaplow said that, after having two books come out in a single year, he'll be taking a break from writing. Although a Google search of the author will turn up an interesting tidbit -- he's lunched with Gene Simmons, of rock-band Kiss fame, to talk about writing a series of mysteries published by New Millennium -- at the moment, Kaplow's not writing anything except English tests. He added, "I'm eating a lot of chocolate, and reading Donna Tartt's The Little Friend (Vintage), which is very good. I bought it at Lemuria!" -- Linda M. Castellitto

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