Here’s an incredibly cool video offering a piece of never-before-seen cinematic history. This video features dress rehearsal footage of 17-year-old Orson Welles and Roger “Skipper” Hill’s abridged production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
This was way back in 1933 while Weelles was a student at the Todd School for Boys in Woodstock, Illinois. The play he put on won first prize at the Chicago Drama Festival in 1933. The Footage is copyrighted by Hill’s grandson, Todd Tarbox, and was shared on YouTube with his permission.
There are ten minutes of color footage and the sound has been digitized. Tarbox said to Wellesnet: “My father, Hascy, was cast as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and my mother, Joanne, played Viola. This production won first prize at the 1933 Chicago Drama Festival and was later performed at the 1933 World’s Fair, A Century of Progress Exposition.”
The video features narration, costume design, and set design by Welles, and he is also featured in the footage. Watching this is like taking a step back in time where we get to see one of the most iconic filmmakers in history honing in on his craft as a young teen.
