''The Fountain of Youth'' is a 1956

television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distr ...

directed by

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

for a proposed

Desilu Productions Desilu Productions () was an American television production company founded and co-owned by husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. The company is best known for shows such as ''I Love Lucy'', ''The Lucy Show'', ''Mannix'', ''The Untouchabl ...

anthology series that was never produced. Based on a short story by John Collier, the

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

narrated onscreen by Welles stars

Dan Tobin Daniel Malloy Tobin (October 19, 1910 – November 26, 1982) was an American supporting actor on the stage, in films and on television. He generally played gentle, urbane, rather fussy, sometimes obsequious and shifty characters, often with a c ...

Joi Lansing Joi Lansing (born Joy Rae Brown, April 6, 1929 – August 7, 1972) was an American model, film and television actress, and nightclub singer. She was noted for her pin-up photos and roles in B-movies, as well as a prominent role in the famous ...

and

Rick Jason Rick Jason (born Richard Jacobson; May 21, 1923 – October 16, 2000) was an American actor, born in New York City, and most remembered for starring in the ABC television drama ''Combat!'' (1962–1967). Childhood An only child of Jewish parent ...

. ''The Fountain of Youth'' was televised once, on September 16, 1958, on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's ''

Colgate Theatre ''Colgate Theatre'' is a 30-minute dramatic television anthology series telecast on NBC during 1949 and 1958 for a total of 50 episodes in two different formats. The first edition, a live television anthology, was telecast on Monday nights from J ...

''. It received the prestigious Peabody Award for

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

, the only unsold television pilot ever to be so honored.

Production

''The Fountain of Youth'' is a 1956 television pilot for an anthology series that was never produced. It was broadcast once, on September 16, 1958, on

's ''

''. The

was written and directed by

, based on the short story "Youth from Vienna" by John Collier.

and

star as a

narcissistic Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism exists on a co ...

couple faced with an irresistible temptation concocted by a scientist (

). Welles himself is also much in evidence as onscreen narrator. "It was intended to inaugurate a series of short stories Welles would narrate and direct in the ''First Person Singular'' style of his '' Mercury Theatre on the Air'' and '' Campbell Playhouse'' radio series, but with his innovative radio techniques adapted for the visual intimacy of the newer medium," wrote Welles biographer Joseph McBride. "Welles described it to me as his only 'film conceived for the box'. The vaudeville-show tone and blackout style, suited to the 1920s setting, lend unsettling dark humor to this fable about human vanity … As the faintly sinister host, Welles is so ubiquitous a presence, sometimes even mouthing the characters words, that he becomes their puppet master, darkly amused by their self-destructive foibles."

Desi Arnaz Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986) was a Cuban-born American actor, bandleader, and film and television producer. He played Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom '' I Love Lucy'', in which he c ...

conceived the series and proposed that Welles host and narrate every episode — combining his gift for storytelling with the intimacy of television. "When I made my deal with Orson for the pilot, I was trying to develop an anthology series which would include ''The Fountain of Youth''," Arnaz wrote, "and the kind of stories

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...

is famous for, like '

The Pit and the Pendulum "The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842 in the literary annual ''The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843''. The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of ...

'." Working with Desilu art director

Claudio Guzmán Claudio Guzmán (August 2, 1927 – July 12, 2008) was a Chilean-American television director, producer, art director, and production designer. Biography Guzmán was born in Rancagua, Chile in 1927. As a young man, Guzmán enrolled at the ...

, Welles used an innovative process of stills and live action, Arnaz recalled:

We used still pictures and "hold frames," and a lot of the stuff they think is so new today. If we wanted to show a guy making a successful play for a girl, we would use four still pictures: he looking, she looking, he winking, she winking, hold frame. It was almost a comic-strip technique and hadn't been used on television.

"I was very fond of it, that way of doing it," Welles recalled. "It was based entirely on back projection, there was no scenery. We just took the props from the prop department and put them behind the screen, and a few little things in front. It was entirely ad lib. … And of course it's the only comedy I've ever made on film. I used to do an awful lot of comedy in the theatre, and radio. But in film I've always been pretty solemn." Most published reports that the pilot was costly and over schedule were refuted by Welles scholar Bill Krohn, who studied the Desilu files. Filming took five days, May 8–11 and 14, 1956. The total cost was $54,896 — nearly $5,000 over budget but about half the cost of the first episode of ''

I Love Lucy ''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along wit ...

''. Before signing the deal Arnaz had clarified the finances with Welles: "I am not RKO. This is my '

Babalu Babalu may refer to: * "Babalú", a 1939 song popularized by Desi Arnaz in the 1940s * '' BaBalu'', a 2001 Michael Bublé album * Babalu, Iran, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * The nickname for mixed martial artist Renato Sobral * Ba ...

' money," Arnaz told him. "I never had any trouble with Orson," Arnaz wrote. Arnaz reported that

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

gave the series a slot, with

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...

as a sponsor, but the challenges in getting Welles to commit to a series lasting 30 to 38 weeks daunted them and the series did not go on the air.

Leading man A leading actor, leading actress, or simply lead (), plays the role of the protagonist of a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person who typica ...

Rick Jason devoted a chapter called "Orson Welles and Feet of Clay" in his online autobiography, ''Scrapbooks of My Mind'', to the making of the film, carefully detailing the unique approaches Welles employed to arrive at the film's striking result. In a May 2000 discussion at the

Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York with a branch office in Los Angeles, dedicated to ...

Jason described his difficulties in working with Welles. ''The Fountain of Youth'' remains available for viewing at the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. Paramount Pictures owns the film and reportedly believes there is no market for it on home video.

Cast

''In order of onscreen credits:'' *

as Humphrey Baxter *

as Carolyn Coates *

as Alan Brody *

Nancy Kulp Nancy Jane Kulp (August 28, 1921 – February 3, 1991) was an American character actress and comedienne best known as Miss Jane Hathaway on the CBS television series ''The Beverly Hillbillies''. Early life Kulp was born to Robert Tilden and M ...

as Stella Morgan *

Billy House William H. Comstock (May 7, 1889 – September 23, 1961), known by his stage name Billy House, was an American vaudevillian, Broadway performer and feature film actor. After devoting most of his career to live performance, he moved to Hollywood ...

as Albert Morgan *

Madge Blake Madge Blake (née Cummings; May 31, 1899 – February 19, 1969) was an American character actress best remembered for her role as Larry Mondello's mother, Margaret Mondello, on the CBS/ ABC sitcom '' Leave It to Beaver'', as Flora MacMichael on ...

as Journalist (uncredited) *

as Host / narrator

Accolades

Awards

''The Fountain of Youth'' was broadcast September 16, 1958, on NBC-TV's ''

''.Welles, Orson, and

Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. One of the " New Hollywood" directors, Bogdanovich started as a film journalist until he was hired to work on ...

, edited by

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...

, ''

This is Orson Welles ''This is Orson Welles'' is a 1992 book by Orson Welles (1915–1985) and Peter Bogdanovich that comprises conversations between the two filmmakers recorded over several years, beginning in 1969.Welles, Orson, and Peter Bogdanovich, edited by Jon ...

''. New York: HarperCollins Publishers 1992 It received a special

Peabody Award, announced in April 1959 by Peabody board chairman

Bennett Cerf Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...

:Adams, Val, "Peabody Awards for 1958 Listed". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', April 8, 1959.

To Orson Welles, for the wit, originality, and insouciance of ''The Fountain of Youth'', NBC, one of the merriest, most irreverent half-hours of the year 1958, this special Peabody Award is given.

"It was the only unsold pilot ever to win the then most coveted award in television," wrote executive producer

. Arnaz, Desi. ''A Book''. New York: William Morrow, 1976.

Subsequent recognition

"Hollywood at this time was just getting into film production for TV", said Ron Simon, curator of the Museum of Television & Radio in Beverly Hills, California, where the film screened in 2000. "Welles obviously had a much greater vision. It would have been interesting if he could have tried to do this on a weekly basis." "The best measure of how far ahead of its time this experimental but unpretentious program was in 1958 is that it ''still'' seems avant-garde compared with anything yet seen on American commercial television," wrote biographer Joseph McBride. McBride, Joseph. ''What Ever Happened to Orson Welles? A Portrait of an Independent Career''. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2006.

References

External links

*
''The Fountain of Youth''
(September 16, 1958) at the

''The Fountain of Youth''
on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Fountain Of Youth, The 1958 films 1958 drama films American drama short films American black-and-white films Films directed by Orson Welles Peabody Award-winning broadcasts English-language television shows 1950s English-language films 1950s American films