Orson Welles

Twenty-six episodes of this variety show aired during its life of Jan. 26 to Jul. 19, ‘44. Guests included Lucille Ball, Lionel Barrymore, King Cole Trio, and Groucho Marx, and Jimmy Durante. Right after the WWII D-Day Invasion of Normandy, Welles aired a special episode for D-day, in which a woman named Agnes Moorehead, the wife of a fighter pilot who was in France, read an open letter to her infant son.

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 Wash