A prime portrait

Young Chang

When Peter Small is in Golda Meir garb, he is never without a

cigarette in his teeth and is always dripping with a thick, nasal

Milwaukee accent.

Meir was a chain smoker, Small said. A chain smoker from Milwaukee.

When Small pretends to be Thomas Edison, he talks loudly because the

great inventor was apparently hard of hearing during his later stages.

When the historical impressionist feigns Harry Truman, he speaks with

his Missouri accent -- that’s with a hard T at the end of “accent.”

And when asked by viewers if he, Truman, knows President George Bush,

then Small will ask, “Who?”

“I become that person and try to be that person in that time period,”

the 47-year-old said.

The Placentia resident will present a one-person performance as the

late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir on Aug. 12 at the Temple Isaiah of

Newport Beach.

“It affects our imagination,” said Flory Van Beek, a co-founder of the

temple as well as a volunteer. “And you know he’s in the reality, by the

same token, because he’s a historian.”

Formerly a history teacher and today a full-time presenter at the

Thomas Edison workshop at Knotts Berry Farm, Small fell into being an

impressionist because he wanted to spruce up his history lessons as a

teacher.

“They remember it, that’s the important thing,” he said. “It makes it

alive, these odd traits of these people, and [viewers] will learn

something new.”

About Thomas Jefferson, for example, Small’s audiences learn that the

third president of the United States was also an architect, a scientist,

a farmer, an inventor, a founder of the University of Virginia, the

author of Virginia’s law on religious liberty and, of course, the author

of the Declaration of Independence.

“We always think of him as being the third president,” Small said.

“But on his tombstone, it doesn’t list that as an achievement.”

Other prominent characters in Small’s repertoire include presidents

George Washington and Franklin Roosevelt. Golda Meir joins the list

partly because of Small’s own experience in Israel.

Meir was Prime Minister in the late 60s and early 70s, and news of the

six-day war in 1967 affected Small, who was then a teen.

He eventually lived in Israel for six years.

“I can understand what she went through,” the performer said. “Going

from the golden land of America to what’s considered the promised land of

Israel.”

Small researches his different personas, learning everything from

each’s quirks to their major achievements.

“And you learn they’re human beings just like everybody else,” he

said. “They’re full of the same complexities that make up each and every

one of us.”

Through his impressions, Small also gets to dream.

“It’s a chance to live out childhood fantasies of wanting to do great

things,” he said. “Making a contribution to the world.”

FYI

WHAT: Peter Small performs as Golda Meir

WHEN: 1 p.m. Aug. 12

WHERE: Temple Isaiah of Newport Beach, 2401 Irvine Ave., Newport Beach

COST: Free

CALL: (949) 548-6900