Here is episode four of the six-part 1955 BBC series ‘Orson Welles’ Sketchbook’. In this fifteen minute monologue OW takes us deftly through a series of unrelated subjects staring with cue cards for actors (‘idiot boards’ as he calls them), Harry Houdini, John Barrymore, more Voodoo. etc. His ‘weave’ is really unparalleled and so is his mimicry. At 12: 35, during the Barrymore anecdote, he does a Barrymore stare–crazed, accusatory–that is as scary a replication of another persons face/persona/manner as I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure I fully understand the final anecdote about Barrymore and the ‘tea’ incident…perhaps the common knowledge that he assumes the audience has has been lost to time. Nonetheless it’s always a delight having a coffee with Orson. I only wish it were the whole six-chorus meal…