Orson Welles Voodoo MacBeth

Written by Joe D on October 17th, 2011

macbeth1.jpgHere is a newsreel of Orson Welles production of Macbeth. Produced by the WPA and called Voodoo MacBeth because Welles set it in Haiti with Voodoo priests as the Three Sisters, it was a resounding smash, toured the nation and put Welles on the road to stardom. I used to frequent a bar/restaurant on 8th Avenue around 55th st.in NYC. It was called Le Coq Au Vin, a charming place run by a great guy, Jojo. One evening I was talking to an older woman at the bar, she was working at The Metropolitan Opera as a costumer, she told me she had worked at The Mercurey Theater with Orson when she was young and had worked on Voodoo MacBeth.

malcolmcostume.jpg

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The Hearst Building on 8th Avenue, The fancy glass tower was added a few years back. It’s a luxury high rise, home to such luminaries as Michael Mann

I also met an older gent there who had worked on Movietone Newsreels, (The bar was about a block away from Hearst Movitone HQ on 8th), Funny, considering Citizen Kane’s fake newsreel opening and Orson’s relationship to WR Hearst.

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