All shows

The Mercury Theatre on the Air

18 episodes · 1938 · CBS, ABC · Drama

Radio Hall of Fame inductee. (Wikipedia)

Play The Mercury Theatre on the Air on Radio Days

Orson Welles brought his Mercury Theatre company to CBS on July 11, 1938, with Dracula. Each week was an hour-long adaptation of a classic, with Welles directing and starring, John Houseman producing and Bernard Herrmann on the music. It ran 22 broadcasts. On October 30, 1938, The War of the Worlds became one of the most famous broadcasts in radio history for the panic it reportedly caused; soon after, Campbell Soup signed on, and on December 9 the series became The Campbell Playhouse.

Sources: The Mercury Theatre on the Air, Wikipedia

Episodes

Tap a title to play it on Radio Days.

1938

• Dracula July 11, 1938 · CBS · 59 min
  The Mercury Theatre's first broadcast: Orson Welles leads Bram Stoker's tale of the count from Transylvania, with Agnes Moorehead and George Coulouris. It was the only Mercury show for which Bernard Herrmann wrote new music.
• Treasure Island July 18, 1938 · ABC · 64 min
  The second show of the series: Stevenson's adventure classic.
• A Tale of Two Cities July 25, 1938 · CBS · 59 min
  The third Mercury broadcast: Orson Welles in Dickens's story of London and Paris during the French Revolution.
• The Thirty-Nine Steps August 1, 1938 · CBS · 62 min
  John Buchan's spy chase, by way of the 1935 Hitchcock film, with Orson Welles as the man on the run.
• I'm a Fool, The Open Window, My Little Boy August 8, 1938 · CBS · 59 min
  Three short stories: love at an Ohio county fair, Saki's "The Open Window," and a story of a small boy and his parents.
• Abraham Lincoln August 15, 1938 · CBS · 60 min
  Lincoln in the war years, from John Drinkwater's play.
• The Affairs of Anatole August 22, 1938 · CBS · 60 min
  The adventures of a charming rake in old Vienna before the First World War.
• The Count of Monte Cristo August 29, 1938 · CBS · 59 min
  Alexandre Dumas's story of a young sailor thrown into a dungeon, who comes out years later as the fabulously wealthy Count of Monte Cristo. Orson Welles stars.
• The Man Who Was Thursday September 5, 1938 · CBS · 59 min
  Chesterton's puzzling, exciting story, announced as the last show of the summer series.
• Julius Ceasar September 11, 1938 · 67 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• The Immortal Sherlock Holmes September 25, 1938 · CBS · 59 min
  Orson Welles plays Holmes against Moriarty, from the stage play, with news bulletins about the European war crisis breaking in.
• Hell on Ice October 9, 1938 · 60 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Seventeen October 16, 1938 · CBS · 60 min
  The growing pains of a young man in love one summer, from Booth Tarkington's novel.
• Around the World in 80 Days October 23, 1938 · CBS · 59 min
  Orson Welles's own adaptation of Jules Verne's tale of Phileas Fogg, the punctual Englishman who bets he can circle the globe in eighty days. Broadcast one week before The War of the Worlds.
• The War of the Worlds October 30, 1938 · CBS · 57 min
  The most famous radio broadcast of all: Martians land in New Jersey, reported as breaking news between dance-band numbers.
• Heart of Darkness and Life with Father November 6, 1938 · CBS · 61 min
  Joseph Conrad's journey into the Congo, followed by scenes from Clarence Day's Life with Father. The week after The War of the Worlds.
• A Passenger to Bali November 13, 1938 · CBS · 60 min
  Orson Welles as an evil man without a country who boards a freighter and can't be put off.
• The Pickwick Papers November 20, 1938 · CBS · 61 min
  Dickens's jolly, very English Pickwick Papers. Announced as the twentieth show of the series.