Les Bravades
Les Bravades is a 68-page picture book by Orson Welles, written and drawn in 1956, and published posthumously in 1996. The title is that of the publisher; the original manuscript carries the title, A portfolio of pictures made for Rebecca Welles by her father, Christmas 1956.
Subject
The book was created by Welles when he was staying in Saint-Tropez, France, during Les Bravades des Espagnols, the annual festival of June 15 celebrating a local victory over the Spanish fleet in 1637. The festival features a procession in which a bust of the saint after whom the town is named, Saint Torpes, is carried around.
Welles wrote in the book, 'I've seen lots of "fetes", "fiestas", and festivals, every sort and variety of saints-day high-jinks all over the world. I've been to such events in Sicilly [sic] and China, in southern Spain and Italy and on the Alti-Plano of Bolivia. But never anything to equal the "Bravades" of St. Tropez.' In it, he wrote to his daughter,'I was lucky enough to be in St. Tropez during this holiday; and because I kept thinking of you, and wishing you could be seeing it too, I've prepared this little picture book to give you an idea of what it was like.'[1]
The book tells of the procession and customs during this festival, and in particular it describes the town's uniformed guards, "Les Bravadeurs", who carry a statue of Saint Torpes around the town.
Publication
The book was not intended for publication. Welles made it as a private gift for Rebecca, his 12-year-old daughter from his marriage to Rita Hayworth.
In the 1990s, Rebecca Welles auctioned off the book, and the buyer had the full manuscript published as a picture book in November 1996 by Workman Publishing, with an afterword by Welles biographer Simon Callow.
References
- ^ Orson Welles, Les Bravades (Workman Publishing, New York, 1996) (Page citations not given, as the book's pages are unnumbered.)
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- Filmography
- Radio credits
- Theatre credits
- Discography
- Bibliography
- Unrealized projects
- Citizen Kane (1941)
- The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
- The Stranger (1946)
- The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
- Macbeth (1948)
- Othello (1951)
- Mr. Arkadin (1955)
- Touch of Evil (1958)
- The Trial (1962)
- Chimes at Midnight (1965)
- The Immortal Story (1968)
- F for Fake (1973)
- Filming Othello (1978)
- The Other Side of the Wind (2018)
- Twelfth Night (1933)
- The Hearts of Age (1934)
- Citizen Kane trailer (1940)
- Around the World (1946)
- The Miracle of St. Anne (1950)
- Magic Trick (1953)
- The Dominici Affair (1955)
- Portrait of Gina (1958)
- An Evening with Orson Welles (1970)
- Orson's Bag
- Vienna (1968)
- The Merchant of Venice (1969)
- One Man Band (1968–1971)
- Moby Dick (1971)
- Orson Welles' Magic Show (1976–1985)
- The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh (1984)
- Too Much Johnson (1938)
- It's All True (1942)
- Don Quixote (1957–1969)
- The Heroine (1967)
- The Deep (1967–1970)
- Filming 'The Trial' (1981)
- The Dreamers (1980–1982)
- Journey into Fear (1943)
- Follow the Boys (1944)
- Black Magic (1949)
- Three Cases of Murder (1955)
- David and Goliath (1960)
- The Southern Star (1969)
- Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
- Treasure Island (1972)
- Cradle Will Rock (1999)
- The Big Brass Ring (1999)
- Orson Welles' Sketch Book (1955)
- Around the World with Orson Welles (1955)
- Orson Welles and People (1956)
- The Fountain of Youth (1958)
- In the Land of Don Quixote (1964)
- The Orson Welles Show (1979)
- Marching Song (1932)
- Bright Lucifer
- Voodoo Macbeth (1936)
- Horse Eats Hat (1936)
- The Cradle Will Rock (1937)
- Caesar (1937–1938)
- Too Much Johnson (1938)
- Native Son (1941)
- The Mercury Wonder Show (1943)
- Around the World (1946)
- Othello (1951)
- The Lady in the Ice (1953)
- Moby Dick—Rehearsed (1955)
- Rhinoceros (1960)
- Les Misérables (1937)
- The Shadow (1937–1938)
- The Mercury Theatre on the Air (1938)
- "Dracula" (1938)
- "The War of the Worlds" (1938)
- The Campbell Playhouse (1938–1940)
- The Orson Welles Show (1941–1942)
- Ceiling Unlimited (1942–1943)
- Hello Americans (1942–1943)
- The Orson Welles Almanac (1944)
- This Is My Best (1945)
- Orson Welles Commentaries (1945–1946)
- The Mercury Summer Theatre of the Air (1946)
- The Adventures of Harry Lime (1951–1952)
- The Black Museum (1951–52)
- The Happy Prince (1946)
- The Begatting of the President (1970)
- This is Orson Welles (1992)
- Les Bravades (1996)
- Mercury Theatre
- Rita Hayworth (second wife)
- Paola Mori (third wife)
- Beatrice Welles (daughter)
- Oja Kodar
- Frozen Peas
- Orson Welles Paul Masson advertisements
- It's All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles (1993)
- Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014)
- They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018)
- Orson Welles (crater)