Who Was That Fat Man?

By Tom Morrow

About 1973, I have having lunch at a rather posh restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona. I don’t recall the reason for my presence on that particular day, but needless to say there were a number of “beautiful” people there, along with a couple of ner-dee-wells.
Over in one of the corners sat a party of four with one of them being extremely large – exceeding 300 pounds. The man was devouring a plate of barbequed baby backs,
After about an hour of gorging, topped off with an ample dessert, the party got up to leave. I recognized two of them: a friend of mine who was a Phoenix TV personality and the fat man? It was himself, Orson Wells, in all his girthy splendor. Now, if have to tell you who Orson Wells is (was), then this entire piece won’t mean a thing..
My friend was the last one to leave the party as he was picking up the tab. As he was walking out, my friend stopped by our table to say hello. He was laughing, almost uncontrollably when he approached.
“Tom, the waiter asked me if he could get an autograph from ‘Mr. Ives.’” Laughter continued to ensue.
The waiter insisted the fat man was actor/folk singer Burl Ives. My friend assured the waiter it wasn’t, “But he does sing a pretty good rendition of ‘Big Rock Candy Mountain,” my friend assured.
Wells, who was the world’s most recognizable actor/director/writer, spent considerable time in the Scottsdale-Carefree area of Arizona filming “The Other Side of the Wind” – when he had money to film.
Even though many of the actors contributed their talents free-of-charge, Wells never did finish that film, as well as several others. He died at the age of 70 in 1985. Friends finished “Wind” after his death, which was released posthumously in 1976.
SCAG SEZ: “Being born with a silver spoon in your mouth means you don’t have to stir for yourself later in life.” – Cecil Scaglione, www.maturelifefeatures.com
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