1 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:12,800 Ladies and gentlemen. By way of introduction, this is a film about trickery, 2 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:22,679 Robot, about lies. He's gonna talk about Jiza. You're talking about 3 00:00:22,679 --> 00:00:28,079 Elvia, hell Me, Elmir. Who is Elma? That question has he 4 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,559 yet to be answered with any real precision? Can I kiss you to? 5 00:00:34,359 --> 00:00:38,719 Everybody want to me? In the world? The jet sett is among us 6 00:00:38,799 --> 00:00:44,520 beautiful people. Everybody knows Elmia. Tell me what he has about sixty times 7 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:49,759 the same name he's going to made Uri boy, Skry, Barry do all 8 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:56,799 the with you? Are y sixty names? His real name was Elmer ferrenk 9 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:06,640 Hofman. Then sixty personalities as much and as much real Well sounds very Jesuitica. 10 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:08,400 Yes, it is. His world is a world of make believe. 11 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:15,879 They're not an actor, not an actor, helm Beer, They're not an 12 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:21,519 actor. I am not a professional actor. He's a leading actor in this 13 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,200 movie. He's a profession It's true. He's painting, painting fakes. Among 14 00:01:25,239 --> 00:01:30,840 all fakers, Elmer is number two. Once I saw a man from Ibidza 15 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:34,480 writing a book on fake who came to see me to Paris. He said, 16 00:01:34,599 --> 00:01:38,040 I heard you are the first man who both a in Elme or that 17 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:51,799 man's name was irming the important distinction to make when you're talking about the genuine 18 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:57,480 quality of a painting. It's not so much whether it's a real painting or 19 00:01:57,519 --> 00:02:10,000 a fake. It's whether it's a good fake or a bad fake. The 20 00:02:10,159 --> 00:02:20,039 art of illusion or magic is often just pigeonholed into describing magic shows or magicians. 21 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:25,439 From Houdini, Seek Freed and Roy, David Blaine, and Chris Angel, 22 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:31,439 these individuals have provided us with mind bending moments that make us forget logic. 23 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:38,840 However, behind every trick is a secret away the illusion is pulled off. 24 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:45,599 Film directors are the same way. In orson Wells is no different. 25 00:02:46,439 --> 00:02:52,280 As a matter of fact, the outright owns it. In nineteen seventy six, 26 00:02:52,879 --> 00:02:59,879 Wells would release a video essay slash docu drama called F for Fake. 27 00:03:00,879 --> 00:03:06,800 In this film, Wells would look at notorious art forger El Mayor Diori, 28 00:03:07,719 --> 00:03:15,319 jamed biographer Clifford Irving, who wrote a biography on Diory called Fake, and 29 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:23,039 was later shamed for writing a hoax biography on Howard Hughes and Wells's companion at 30 00:03:23,039 --> 00:03:29,840 the time, the beautiful Oja Kodar. Wells as well as being a performer, 31 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:35,800 director, and writer, was a magician. In this interview from nineteen 32 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:42,599 seventy four, he talks about being a magician and how that segued into him 33 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:49,439 getting into cold readings. As he explains how this works, he exposes the 34 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:55,280 hoax. This shows how Wells could be the ultimate charlatan, speaking on something 35 00:03:55,439 --> 00:04:01,680 notorious, misleading and having people people laugh with him all along the way. 36 00:04:02,639 --> 00:04:09,800 And I once, you know, I'm a magician, and I got interested 37 00:04:09,879 --> 00:04:14,479 in mind reading and fortune telling, fake fortune telling, you know. And 38 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:17,240 I got to know a lot of old fakes who had retired as millionaires, 39 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:23,079 you know, and they told me their secrets how you do it. They 40 00:04:23,079 --> 00:04:27,680 are things that are called cold readings. A cold reading is you warm up 41 00:04:28,519 --> 00:04:31,319 the sucker by telling him things that he says. How could he ever know 42 00:04:31,399 --> 00:04:34,560 that? You see? You say, you know, between the ages of 43 00:04:36,399 --> 00:04:41,240 thirteen and fifteen, you had a great change came in your life. But 44 00:04:41,319 --> 00:04:46,399 that happens in everybody's life. But he says, he came in and told 45 00:04:46,399 --> 00:04:48,000 me things. Irony said, you've got a scar on your knee. Everybody 46 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:50,800 fell down and has the scar on their knee. Those are cold readings, 47 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:57,920 you see now, I have a scar that you see, just something bigger 48 00:04:57,959 --> 00:05:01,600 than myself. Well, now, the point about this is that after they're 49 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:04,959 warmed up, they're amazed by this knee bit and the rest of it. 50 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:09,600 They start telling you because you just say is it's it? And you see 51 00:05:09,639 --> 00:05:11,680 from their face it is or it is and then you tell it back and 52 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:13,839 they say, how did he do it? You see? So I was 53 00:05:13,879 --> 00:05:17,120 born. I was playing in Kansas City with Catherine Crunnell one time and we 54 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:21,920 didn't have any matinee on Wednesday, so I hired a room and put doctor 55 00:05:21,959 --> 00:05:29,079 Swami fortune teller, you know, two dollars readings, and for the whole 56 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:32,040 day they came in and I each work because I felt guilty about it. 57 00:05:32,079 --> 00:05:34,480 At the end, I was said, I'm not going to take your money, 58 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:36,879 you know, because I couldn't have really taken. For a whole day, 59 00:05:36,879 --> 00:05:42,199 I was a fortune teller faking. But then there began to happen to 60 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:46,480 be the thing that does happen to fortune tellers and which is the occupational disease 61 00:05:46,879 --> 00:05:53,600 of fraudulents portuntellers. And they have a name for it. It's called becoming 62 00:05:53,639 --> 00:05:59,800 a shot eye, and a shot eye in the argo of these crooks is 63 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:04,399 the fellow who believe begins to believe himself. You see, and you make 64 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:06,680 these wild guests. One of them explained to me. He says, supposing 65 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:11,399 you're a nightclerk in a hotel, and when you get the job, first 66 00:06:11,399 --> 00:06:13,920 of all, fella comes in wants a single room. You look at how 67 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:15,560 good his luggage is, how good are his shoes, and you tell him 68 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,240 there's a room in the court there's no room, or yes, sir, 69 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:24,160 depending on various pieces of evidence, says you've been a nightclerk long enough. 70 00:06:24,199 --> 00:06:29,199 You glance, and you tell him you've been a nightcerk a little longer, 71 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:33,120 and you don't have to look. You've seen it. But you have the 72 00:06:33,199 --> 00:06:39,439 computer in here has made all of those deductions without your being conscious of it. 73 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:44,600 So the mind reader gets so that he, without thinking, does that, 74 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:46,399 and then they say it's true. And a woman came in to me 75 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:51,639 at the end of my career as a fraudulent and fortune telling it's in a 76 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:56,519 bright print dress and sat down looking perfectly all right, and I said, 77 00:06:56,519 --> 00:07:00,120 you've lost your husband last week, and she burst into tears she had and 78 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:10,279 then I quit. It's one of those things Undoubtedly it's not psychic. Undoubtedly 79 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:13,879 there was evidence of a tragedy. There was all kinds of things that went 80 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:18,360 into the computer and got processed without me crookedly thinking what I'm gonna say to 81 00:07:18,399 --> 00:07:21,800 her, And that's how it works. I think that's fascinating. And you 82 00:07:21,879 --> 00:07:26,600 get sort of five spooky premonitions in like that, and then you know, 83 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:29,519 yes, I do, and I'm sure they're all the spooky like that in 84 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:31,240 some kind of funny way. I suppose I look to do and you know, 85 00:07:31,279 --> 00:07:35,480 she's just Una is exactly the girl that would be happy with Charlie, 86 00:07:35,519 --> 00:07:40,560 I suppose, And instead of thinking maybe you'll meet him, I just twearted. 87 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:42,839 I lose. I said you're gonna marry him, and she did. 88 00:07:43,839 --> 00:07:46,959 From that clip, we learn that Wells does have a love of magic. 89 00:07:47,319 --> 00:07:53,519 You can hear it in his voice. That love sets the stage for this 90 00:07:53,639 --> 00:07:59,399 film. In the first scene he performs a series of tricks for a young 91 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:05,839 child. We hear Wells fully admit it's a hoax, but he keeps up 92 00:08:05,879 --> 00:08:13,480 the hoax to entertain. In all the while, he beautifully ineloquently explains what 93 00:08:13,639 --> 00:08:18,560 is going on to keep us the audience a part of the trick. At 94 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:24,600 the end of this scene, we hear wells make a promise that for the 95 00:08:24,639 --> 00:08:31,519 next hour, everything we hear is really true and based on solid facts. 96 00:08:33,279 --> 00:08:37,480 For my next experiment, ladies and gentlemen, I would appreciate the loan of 97 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:43,240 any small personal object from your pocket, a key, box of matches, 98 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:48,759 a coin. It is good to hold it up ten feet over your head 99 00:08:48,279 --> 00:08:56,720 and watch out the slightest hint of hanky panky, And behold before our very 100 00:08:56,799 --> 00:09:05,960 eyes and transformation. We've changed your key into a coin. What happened to 101 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:09,879 the key? It's been returned to you. Look closely, sir. You'll 102 00:09:09,919 --> 00:09:15,919 find the key back in your pocket. May we see it? Please? 103 00:09:18,399 --> 00:09:24,000 After your old tricks? I see why not? I'm a charlatan. What's 104 00:09:24,039 --> 00:09:26,480 that said? Did I used to be a magician, sir, I'm still 105 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:33,120 working on it. As for the key, it was not symbolic of anything. 106 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:35,639 This isn't that kind of movie. You will find the coin now in 107 00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:39,679 your pocket, sir. Keep your eyes on that coin, sir, while 108 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:46,000 it's returned to you as your key. Should we return you to your mother? 109 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:48,440 Is this your mother? No? Of course not. Open your mouth 110 00:09:48,639 --> 00:09:52,759 wide and will return you your money. By the way, have you ever 111 00:09:52,799 --> 00:10:00,279 heard of Robert Hood speaking of magicians? Annie? Of course, but of 112 00:10:00,279 --> 00:10:03,200 course you do know. My partner in France, or Rising Bark, was 113 00:10:03,279 --> 00:10:13,480 the greatest magician who ever lived. Do you know what he said? The 114 00:10:13,639 --> 00:10:18,559 magician, he said, is just an actor. Well, good luck to 115 00:10:18,639 --> 00:10:31,480 you, just an actor playing the part of a magician. Very nice and 116 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:35,639 she's fabulously rich too. It's a good story about it. Do you want 117 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:39,039 to tell it? We'll come to that one I did. Now it's time 118 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:50,080 for an introduction, ladies and gentlemen. By way of introduction, this is 119 00:10:50,120 --> 00:11:00,440 a film about trickery and trot about lies. Tell it by the fires in 120 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:05,039 a marketplace or in a movie. Almost any story is almost certainly some kind 121 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:11,159 of lie. But not this time. Now, this is a promise during 122 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:16,480 the next hour. Everything you'll hear from this is really true and based on 123 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:22,240 solid effects. Throughout this film, Wells presents the idea of illusions in hoaxes 124 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:30,399 being misunderstood. That is what makes this docudrama so intriguing. None of us 125 00:11:30,919 --> 00:11:37,519 like to be misled, However, how many times have we bought knockoff designer 126 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:45,559 clothing or accessories off brand food items, famous pieces of art reproduced into a 127 00:11:45,639 --> 00:11:52,759 poster such as Starry Night, The Mona Lisa, or any of Grentwood's pieces. 128 00:11:54,399 --> 00:11:58,120 Wouldn't that make us a part of the hoax, en the victim of 129 00:11:58,159 --> 00:12:05,320 it? These are the questions this film presents to us. In our final 130 00:12:05,399 --> 00:12:11,600 clip, Wells has just told the story regarding Kodar, her grandfather, and 131 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:18,320 her grandfather forging Picasso paintings. This is the final scene of the film where 132 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:24,000 Wells shows us the viewer that not everything is what it seems, and that 133 00:12:24,399 --> 00:12:33,679 quote that we mentioned previously that for the next hour that everything presented is really 134 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:43,200 true and based on solid facts. Time for a confession, Time to go 135 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:50,559 good night. That's a real name, you know, ohyah Oya Koda. 136 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:56,960 I don't think that young gentleman's a trump home player. That Oya's grandfather was 137 00:12:58,039 --> 00:13:03,919 Hungarian? Did he paid any pictures ever in his life? Ladies and gentlemen, 138 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:09,600 we did you Zia's grandfather to lend versimilarity to the reenactment of this story, 139 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:13,879 but his reenactment really the word what I mean is with the story this 140 00:13:13,919 --> 00:13:20,399 is hard to believe. Re Enactment isn't easy, right. Brands are at 141 00:13:20,399 --> 00:13:26,360 the very beginning of all this, I did make you a promise. Remember, 142 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:31,320 I did promise that for one hour, I tell you only the truth. 143 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:39,279 That hour, ladies and gentlemen, is over. For the past seventeen 144 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:46,960 minutes, I've been lying my head off the truth. And please forgive us 145 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:52,960 for it is that we've been forging an art story. As a charlatan. 146 00:13:52,039 --> 00:13:56,759 Of course, my job was to try to make it real, not that 147 00:13:56,200 --> 00:14:03,399 reality has anything to do with it. Reality it's the toothbrush waiting at home 148 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:09,960 for you in its glass, a bus ticket, a paycheck, and the 149 00:14:11,039 --> 00:14:16,879 grave in the right mode. Perhaps Elmeir has just as few regrets as I 150 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:20,559 have to have been a charlattan. But we are not so proud either of 151 00:14:20,639 --> 00:14:24,279 us, as to lay any superior claim to being very much worse than the 152 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:35,000 rest of you. Now what we professional liars hope to serve his truth? 153 00:14:35,039 --> 00:14:39,639 I'm afraid the pompous word for that is art, because of himself said it 154 00:14:39,679 --> 00:14:46,559 art. He said, He's a lie, a lie that makes us realize 155 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:54,759 the truth. Ohya's grandfather, floating here in the air, has no comment, 156 00:14:54,000 --> 00:15:00,519 which isn't surprising because he ever existed to the memory of that great man 157 00:15:00,559 --> 00:15:07,840 who will never cease to exist. I offer my apologies and wish you all 158 00:15:07,519 --> 00:15:18,799 true and false. How very pleasant, good evening. When this film was 159 00:15:18,879 --> 00:15:24,799 released, it was met with widespread criticism. Wells had released a nine minute 160 00:15:24,879 --> 00:15:31,320 trailer that only featured scenes that were not even in the film. When critics 161 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:37,600 and moviegoers went to see the release, this led to them not understanding what 162 00:15:37,639 --> 00:15:43,600 the film is about and being confused about what Wells was even trying to convey. 163 00:15:45,559 --> 00:15:50,879 Those feelings could be the ultimate story of Wells's career. A man, 164 00:15:50,519 --> 00:15:56,519 a director, a magician, a performer that was far ahead of his time. 165 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:03,200 His films were not erlded then for the most part, but now they 166 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:07,600 are a part of the greatest ever films. Discussion, Touch of Evil, 167 00:16:08,039 --> 00:16:14,320 Citizen Kane, Magnificent Amber Sins, the list can go on and on. 168 00:16:14,919 --> 00:16:21,320 His influence is felt through decades of cinema, and he is my all time 169 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:26,240 favorite director. His films were made by a performer and magician, and in 170 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:33,519 my opinion, that is why they captivate in awe even today. I hope 171 00:16:33,519 --> 00:16:37,360 you join me next week, when, in honor a Major League baseball season 172 00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:41,840 starting, we will look at the nineteen eighty nine film starring Charlie Sheen, 173 00:16:42,279 --> 00:16:51,200 Corbin Bernson, and Wesley Snipe's Major League. To conclude this month long tribute 174 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,519 to Orson Welles, we will feature a scene from f for Fake where he 175 00:16:55,639 --> 00:17:02,759 compares art to human life with the backdrop of Chartez Cathedral in France. It 176 00:17:02,879 --> 00:17:08,279 rises, it falls, and it is forgotten, thankfully for us, Wells 177 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:15,200 and his masterpiece as he left us. Never will be a celebration to God's 178 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:22,799 glory and to the dignity of man. Well all that's left most artists seem 179 00:17:22,839 --> 00:17:34,480 to feel these days is man naked, poor, forked, reddish. There 180 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:41,839 aren't any celebrations ours. The scientists keep telling us as a universe which is 181 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:52,839 disposable, you know, it might be just this one anonymous glory of all 182 00:17:52,880 --> 00:18:00,039 things, this rich stone forest, this epic chant, this gaiety, this 183 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:07,240 grand quiring shout of affirmation, which we choose when all our cities are dust, 184 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:15,920 to stand intact, to mark where we have been, to testify to 185 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:23,599 what we had in us to accomplish. Our works in stone and paint in 186 00:18:23,799 --> 00:18:29,920 print are spared, some of them for a few decades or a millennium or 187 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:34,240 two. But everything must finally fall in war, or wear away into the 188 00:18:34,319 --> 00:18:41,920 ultimate and universal ash, the triumphs and the frauds, the treasures and the 189 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:48,359 fakes, the fact of life. We're going to die, be of good 190 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:57,359 heart, cry the dead artists out of the living past. Our songs will 191 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:10,480 all be silence. But what of it? Go on singing. Maybe a 192 00:19:10,519 --> 00:19:17,359 man's name doesn't matter all that much.