This week I reviewed the book In My Father’s Shadow by Chris Welles Feder for the weekly magazine of the California Report. The show is broadcast by public radio stations statewide at various times over the weekend. It was on San Francisco’s KQED Friday at 4:30pm and it’s online now. Here’s how it begins:
Orson Welles was a genius filmmaker, with all the complications that genius seems to bring. The desire to learn more about one of the most fascinating characters to pass through Hollywood is understandable. But it’s this interest in Welles that gives the new memoir by his eldest daughter its unusual shape, if not its title: In My Father’s Shadow.
Yet the book is no cliched litany of star-offspring complaints. Feder might have had them — like the punch line of a Johnny Cash song, she’s a girl named Christopher. But Chris, now 71, adored her father, and is a talented storyteller who brings alive the golden era of Hollywood.
If you listen, that silky voice at the beginning isn’t me — it’s Rachel Myrow. I’m the more nubby one that follows.
As I drove home from the market with a week’s worth of groceries for the family (my Sunday night routine), I was listening to the California Report and heard the beginning of your review. Since my trip home was short, I pulled over for a few minutes so I could hear the whole piece. Nicely done! The frozen veggies and ice cream were none the worse.