Actors - Frozen Peas

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	Actors - Frozen Peas

Frozen Peas is the colloquial term for a blooper audio clip wherein American filmmaker Orson Welles performs narration for a series of British television advertisements for Findus. Welles reads scripts for commercials concerning frozen peas, fish fingers and beef burgers, all the while balking at their quality. While the commercials' director and producer attempt to convince Welles to complete the recordings, Welles becomes insulted by their suggestions, eventually giving up and leaving the studio.

It is uncertain when the clip was recorded, though many believe it was after the late 1960s, when the director was blacklisted from Hollywood largely due to the commercial failure of most of his films combined with an arguably ill-founded reputation for erratic un-cooperative behaviour, which this clip certainly did nothing to diminish.

Because of Welles' candid, vulgar attitude, the clip is often considered humorous, and indicative of Welles' notorious ego and temper. It circulated around small groups of people during the 1980s before gaining worldwide attention after play on radio shows shortly after the director's death in 1985.

The clip is also informally known as In July, or Yes, Always, based on several of Welles' complaints during the recording. The tape has been parodied many times, often used in conjunction when parodying Welles himself. The most notable among these parodies are from animated series The Critic and Animaniacs, which feature caricatures of Welles or a Welles-like character (The Brain) reciting lines similar to that of the clip. The version portrayed in The Critic features Welles' lips whispering "Rosebud" a la Citizen Kane
, before the shot pans out to reveal Welles at a table, with a plate of Rosebud Frozen Peas he is advertising. He is tricked into describing their "green pea-ness (penis)," becomes disgusted, and walks offscreen to eat the peas (as well as a french fry he finds in his beard). Both parodies feature voice actor Maurice LaMarche. LeMarche is known to parody the "frozen peas" tape before recording sessions as a warm up (a "kid friendly" version of his parody can be heard in the special features of Comic Book: The Movie
).

In the recording session, Welles complains about the poor quality of the script he is required to read and, in particular, requests from the producer that he emphasize certain words in a way Welles feels is awkward and conversationally incorrect, most notably the request that he begin a descriptive sentence with the words "In July", with the stress given to the word "In". "Come on fellas, you're losing your heads! I wouldn't direct any living actor like this in Shakespeare," he says at one point. Although the recording is used as an example of Welles' temperament, many of his criticisms are considered valid.

A similar recording exists of Doctor Who actor Tom Baker complaining during the recording of a radio advertisement for a furniture company, although most of his comments involve poking fun at the material, the pronunciation of certain words, and the producer of the commercial.

With the advent of the Internet, MP3s of the clip have been widely circulated on the Web.

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