Original title
Orson Welles' Sketch Book
Released
4/24/1955
Origin country
GB
Genre
Talk
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
1
Number of episodes
7
Orson Welles' Sketch Book is a series of six short television commentaries by Orson Welles for the BBC in 1955. Written and directed by Welles, the 15-minute episodes present the filmmaker's commentaries on a range of subjects. Welles frequently draws from his own experiences and often illustrates the episodes with his own sketches.
Welles discusses a timely earthquake, first-night audiences at the Gate Theatre in Dublin, and how he came to be an actor.
Welles talks about a Boston performance of Five Kings, the consequences of Percy Hammond's negative review of the Voodoo Macbeth, and a curse placed on the film It's All True.
Welles relates the story of Isaac Woodard, a decorated black World War II veteran who was blinded in a brutal 1946 beating by South Carolina police.
Prompts used by actors and others; remembering Harry Houdini; observations on gender differences in the appreciation of magic tricks; John Barrymore.
The famous 1938 Mercury Theatre broadcast mistaken by many listeners for a real Martian invasion, and the consequent skepticism during the presentation of Norman Corwin's Between Americans on December 7, 1941; and the opening night of the Mercury stage flop, Danton's Death.
Welles tells the true story of Bonito the bull. Robert Flaherty's story was partially filmed in 1942 for Welles's unfinished film, It's All True.
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