The time ORSON WELLES picked a fight with TED TURNER

On Monday MAY 6 2026, TED TURNER died at the age of 87.

Here's an interesting bit of trivia that I've kept bottled up for the longest time until recently:

Did you know that ORSON WELLES picked a fight with TED TURNER back in 1985?

It's true.

It all started around the time of when TED TURNER bought the MGM Film Library in the mid 1980s and proceeded to CONTROVERSIALLY colorize old BLACK & WHITE films.

Of course, this provoked many a film afficionado and critics in 1980s AMERICA because to them, it's just wrong to colorize an already perfect MONOCHROME film that was shot before the age of 3-STRIP TECHNICOLOR.....

Or in CITIZEN KANE's case: MOVIES that refused TECHNICOLOR in favor of B&W.

WELLES, who was already in failing health in 1985, was aware of TURNER's creed and thus, his famous quote made history:

Considering how revered ORSON WELLES was(and still is to this day), many people in HOLLYWOOD took WELLES' words very seriously.

Though the backlash against TURNER's colorization attempts was indeed from CINEPHILES & CRITICS, 

The real CRUSADERS against the TURNER COLORIZATION PROCESS came from the WELLES ESTATE.

So after some test reels were completed, the CITIZEN KANE COLORIZATION PROJECT was soon cancelled. 

So you see, I don't hold a reverence to TED TURNER due to the KANE Controversy so to me, it doesn't make sense to revere the man just because of CARTOON NETWORK.

But at the same time, I'd too side with the WELLES ESTATE on protesting the COLORIZATION PROCESS for CITIZEN KANE......

But alas, I wasn't born until '97 so I can only speculate Alternate Realities at the moment.

But seriously, B&W films like CITIZEN KANE should not be tampered with.

And speaking about the COLORIZATION Controversy of the 1980s, 

Yes we all know of the famous 1988 Congressional Speech by GEORGE LUCAS protesting the process of tampering B&W films with Color Tools, a far cry from his days of tampering with his own work....

SPANKETY SPANKETY SPANKETY......