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RE: (TV) Re: Verlaine Studies / A better example



Scrap Shakespeare.  That was probably not the best example.  
Orson Welles, however, fits my point much better.  Welles made great film
after great film.  None of them made money in his lifetime.  Despite the
praise he received from critics at the time, he found it very difficult to
get films made in Hollywood.  By 1958, the man responsible for Citizen Kane
(which still sits atop the AFI's list 100 best films of all time) couldn't
get a movie deal from anyone in Hollywood.  He eventually went to Europe and
paid his way by taking cameos in films, and making his own films on
incredibly small budgets.
By comparison, the man who wrote Marquee Moon (which is on its fair share of
all-time great lists) can't get a record deal here and now.  
Welles had a number of unreleased films at the time of his death (The Other
Side of the Wind, It's All True, etc.)  Verlaine has unreleased albums, and
lots of critical praise to go along with them.
Fame is strange beast.  Today, Welles' legend is beyond famous, his place in
history (for right now) looks to be secure.  In his lifetime, I don't think
he ever would have imagined that would happen, considering the way he had
been treated in North America.  
Now, there are entire film courses devoted to Welles and his style of
filmmaking.  Oddly enough, all of these events happened rather recently
(within the last 20 years).  
That's not say that Verlaine is "guaranteed" the place in rock 'n' roll
history that he so richly deserves, once he dies.  The "anything can happen"
notion works both ways.  However, he might just end up joining the scores of
composers, poets, painters, who struggle throughout their entire lives, only
be canonised as soon as their gone.

P.S.  Or Leo's story will come true.  It was pretty cool, man.
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