Orson Welles' Sketch Book

📊 Series Specifications

Network BBC One
Episode Runtime ~15 min
Total Seasons 1
Total Episodes 7
Original Language EN
Creator Orson Welles

Orson Welles' Sketch Book (1955)

Created by Orson Welles
⭐ 3.6 / 5 (3 votes) 🎬 1 Seasons 📼 7 Episodes 🏷️ Talk 📡 Ended
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Series Status:

This series has concluded and all seasons are available for tracking.

Ended

Synopsis

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.

Seasons & Episodes

E1 The Early Days

Welles discusses a timely earthquake, first-night audiences at the Gate Theatre in Dublin, and how he came to be an actor.

E2 Critics

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.

E3 The Police

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.

E4 Houdini/John Barrymore/Voodoo Story/The People I Missed

Prompts used by actors and others; remembering Harry Houdini; observations on gender differences in the appreciation of magic tricks; John Barrymore.

E5 The War Of The Worlds

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.

E6 Bullfighting

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.

E7 Postscript