Orson Welles on Charlie McCarthy Show

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The rivalry between Orson Welles and his “Mercury Theatre on the Air” and “The Charlie McCarthy Show” was friendly enough that Welles appeared as a guest on the latter several times:

04-02-1944: in “The Easter Rabbit”
05-28-1944: in “The Raven”
10-29-1944: as “The Musuem Guide”
11-05-1944: in “Buck Bergen and Flash Welles”

04-02-44 in “The Easter Rabbit”
Welles was the only guest.
The opening sketch was “Letter From Sanborn.”
“The Easter Rabbit” was a corny sketch with a bit of improv. First, after some good-natured ribbing between Welles and McCarthy, Welles reads a gag from the script: “frankly, I’ve seen better owls in drug stores,” which drew a big groan from the audience and gave him a chance to ad-lib that the material they’d hear on his Wednesday night show would be better.

05-028-44 in “The Raven”
Other sketches: “Weatherby and Graduation,” “Making a Date.”
Last show of the season

10-29-44 as “The Musuem Guide”
Other sketches: “Ghost Story,” “Window Washer”
In this Halloween episode, Orson comes on early with a few rounds of jousting with Charlie meant to portray them as rivals; he returns to lead Bergen and McCarthy on a museum tour. After he points out the tyrannosaur and other dinosaurs, McCarthy quips, “and a whiskey sour.”

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