Me And Orson Welles

Me And Orson Welles by Robert Kaplow (MacAdam/Cage) ISBN: 1-931561-49-4

Plot Summary

Richard is friends with two of his high school's most popular boys -- Stefan and Skelly -- who seem to get all the girls.  Richard is wildly libidinous, but doesn't know how to hold conversations with women or how to keep himself out of the "friend zone."  Stefan and Skelly tease him about his lack of success.  The only thing Richard is more obsessed with than girls is popular culture: the hit parade and films/Broadway shows.  He frequently walks New York City streets singing hits and hoping to be discovered.  A chance meeting with a rag-tag looking group of actors puts Richard in the company of a tempestuous Orson Welles.  Richard is adopted into the Mercury Theater and given the the small role of Lucius in their production of Julius Caesar.  This is his chance to be noticed by girls, respected by his friends, and live his dream.  But can he balance the demands of school and his parents with those of the fickle Welles (especially while he tries to court Sonja -- and anything else that moves).

Critical Evaluation

The plot is run-of-the-mill coming of age story from a male perspective.  Richard continually encounters girls who scorn him, but has continual chance encounters with an even more perfect dream-girl.  The major appeal of the book will likely spring from one of two sources: the character of Richard Samuel or the genius of Orson Welles.

Richard Samuel is a cross between Sal Paradise and Holden Caulfield.  His exploits will instantly appeal to those who enjoy spelunking the psyche of ambitious, girl-crazy young men living in a sort of idyllic patriarchy (save for his harping mother, the book's female characters seem to serve most readily as eye-candy -- including Richard's own sister).  Richard sums up his closest friendships as follows: 

The Black Crow Crew we called ourselves, the seven of us, in celebration of our drinking exploits.  (Black Crow was this toxically cheap beer we drank.) But it wasn't the drinking that had pulled me to the Black Crow Crew.  It was the energy of Stefan and Skelly and the rest of them -- this vanguard of good-looking male power in Westfield High School.  They had a kind of celebrity glow about them that just about defined the word desirable.  That I was permitted to be close to them seemed nothing short of a miracle.  Last year, Stefan had been standing outside of study hall eyeing up this amazing tenth-grader, Kristina Stakuna.  We noticed each other staring at her ass, and we both cracked up laughing (Kaplow, 2003 p. 5)

Some readers will likely identify with Richard's teenage pursuits and be drawn into the world in that way.

For the rest of us, Kaplow provides an intriguing glimpse into the genius of Orson Welles -- both as actor and director.  He masterfully channels the oratorical prowess of the American master: one scene sees Welles going off-script during a radio drama.  He quotes verbatim from Booth Tarkington's The Magnificent Ambersons (in an allusion to what would prove the source of Welles' followup to Citizen Kane).  While Welles claims in the scene to have made the lines up, we as readers recognize he is quoting.  But this does little to dim his star.  The lines ring perfectly with the motivations of his character and speak volumes about Welles' acting prowess.  And Kaplow's descriptions of Welles' staging of Julius Caeser make us long to see the production.  Even a reader who grows weary of Richard and his inner monologues, can marvel at the descriptions Kaplow gives of the murder of Cinna the poet:

At the Mercury, Welles was still working on the Cinna-the-poet scene.  "I'm going to stage it like a movie," he said. "Like one of those German horror movies." And that theatre was dark.  He'd extinguished every light in the place including the exit signs, and he'd lit one tiny bulb flush along the blood-colored brick wall -- just a smear of light picking out the irregularities in the stone.  The stage looked like an alley way now, the ghost of some security light filtering down through a closed-up factory.

Lloyed entered in a shabby black coat and tie, completely back-lit -- you only saw his silhouette, and you could barely make out a sheaf of white papers in his hand.

Then, one at a time, the faces appeared.  The really scary part was that you couldn't see anything clearly -- just the shoulders and the hats, the occasional pale smudge of a sweaty face. (Kaplow, 2003 p. 128-129).

Kaplow's descriptions bring the play to life and may spark the imaginations of teens who feel that Shakespeare's language is too turgid or incomprehensible.  We feel, through these descriptions, the power of staging to bring a play to life.

Reader’s Annotation

Richard Samuel is a nebbishy 17 year old who reads How to Win Friends and Influence People and quotes his favorite actors in the hopes that girls will notice him.  One day while walking through New York city hoping someone will notice him, someone does: in the person of a young Orson Welles.  Now Richard has a small role in the Mercury Theater's production of Julius Caesar -- he just hopes that girls will take notice (and his parents won't).

Information about the author

From the author's webpage:

Robert Kaplow is a writer and a teacher. In addition to his fiction, he writes satirical songs and sketches for National Public Radio's Morning Edition and Fresh Air, which he performs with his band Moe Moskowitz and the Punsters. Below is a snippet of Robert's favorite piece about his life and his writing. It was written by James Poyner and published by Salon.   

The paparazzi likely will be lined up on the evening of Nov. 23 in New York, jostling each other to snag a shot of fast-rising heartthrob Zac Efron; veteran ingenue Claire Danes; director Richard Linklater; and maybe even a star in the making, Christian McKay. They all will be on the red carpet for the premiere of their latest movie, Me and Orson Welles, an offbeat romantic dramedy set in 1937 about how a New Jersey high school senior learns a thing or two about love, fame, and the hypocrisy of the real world by wrangling his way into the cast of Orson Welles' classic Broadway production of Julius Caesar.   

But the paparazzi may well miss getting a shot of a slightly rumpled, gangly guy arriving at the festivities in his 2005 Honda Accord. Reminding you a little of a dark-haired Jimmy Stewart, that will be Robert Kaplow, a Summit High School English teacher for nearly 30 years who wrote the novel upon which the movie is based. The story of how Kaplow, 55, got to rub elbows with movie stars illustrates what can happen when an ounce or two of luck is mixed with a pound of perseverance.   (Kaplow 2013, & Poyner, J. qtd in Kaplow 2013).

Genre

The books is most clearly a work of historical fiction.  It also takes on a classic "coming of age" narrative style.

Curriculum Ties

The book deals heavily with Orson Welles production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.  Though California high school students don't often read Caesar, the book can help inspire an interest in Shakespeare.  Indeed the most compelling parts of the novel happen to be the descriptions of wells staging.

Booktalking Ideas

1) Play up the recent Richard Linklater film.
2) Read the Cinna the poet scene.
3) Focus on the meet cute scenes of Richard and Gretta.

Reading Level/Interest Age

The narrator is 17 and the frank talk about sex and the heavy references to Shakespeare and Leibniz suggest that book might be best for older teens.  The interest age may also include older teens, but the spark of the book is the way Kaplow so effectively channels Orson Welles.  Since few teens are likely to be familiar with his work, the interest might be rather niche among teens and likely skews higher among adults.

Challenge Issues

Kaplow speaks frankly about sex.  Richard is so libidinous he continually wishes the women he meets would unbutton their blouses; he even sneaks a glimpse of his own sister showering.  Eventually, he consummates a relationship with the adult Sonja.  We are also led eventually to read all of the novel's events through the lens of Liebniz and his belief that our world is the best possible world -- suggesting that any actions we take are to the good, as Richard says, "If you believed [Liebniz's] philosophy, didn't it mean you could never really do anything wrong?" (Kaplow, 2003 p. 211).  This kind of moral relativism may well be objectionable to some parents. 


I would openly greet any patron who presented a challenge to the work, giving them ample time to detail their complaint.  I would listen attentively.  To respond to these challenges I would have some reviews of the work on hand.   I would be prepared to explain that as a public institution libraries "cannot limit access on the basis of age or other characteristics" (ALA, 1999).  I would have copies of the library's collection policy on hand.  I would be prepared to politely discuss that parents can control what their children are exposed to by coming to the library with them and examining books they check out.  If the Teen Advisory Group had written reviews of the book I'd have them handy.  While it may be of little comfort to certain parents, I would also be prepared to discuss my staunch support of intellectual freedom and abhorrence of censorship.  As a last resort, I would be sure to keep copies or a reconsideration form on hand.

Why did you include this book in the titles you selected?

The book came highly recommended by a friend and has also been made into a feature film by director Richard Linklater (director of cult classic teen films like Before Sunsrise, Dazed and Confused, and School of Rock) and starring teen heartthrob Zac Efron.

References

American Library Association. (1999). Strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips 

Kaplow, R. (2003). Me and Orson Welles. San Francisco: MacAdam/Cage.

Kaplow, R. (2010). About Robert Kaplow. Retrieved from http://robertkaplow.com/robert.php