Opera Chic

Caruso Told My Mother: I Always Remember When I Sing That The Audience Is Made Entirely Of Tenors

It comes at 3:30 but you should watch it in its entirety; Mr. Welles just drops one golden nugget after the other.

Cool As Ice: Orson Welles And The Lady In The Ice

Welles, challenged to try a ballet at a chance meeting with Choreographer Roland Petit in Paris, tossed off a scenario idea on the spot: a young girl is frozen in a block of ice; thawed out by a young man's ardent dancing, she comes to life, but as her enthusiasm waxes, his wears out, and at the end it is he who is frozen solid. Welles helped with the staging, came through with a method of displaying Heroine Colette Marchand as if she were suspended in ice. Near the finish, he was dithering nervously in the wings when a drapery covering the frozen hero began to tear as it was raised. Stagehands began to panic, but Welles rose to the occasion: "Continuez! Continuez!" he yelled. "Let it tear! C'est magnifique!" The audience gave Welles an ovation.

The story of The Lady in the Ice, a ballet written and coreographed by Welles (Ballet de Paris).