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''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' is a radio series of live radio dramas created and hosted by
Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
. The weekly hour-long show presented classic literary works performed by Welles's celebrated
Mercury Theatre The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury als ...
repertory company, with music composed or arranged by
Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely r ...
. The series began July 11, 1938, as a sustaining program on the
CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broad ...
network, airing Mondays at 9 pm ET. On September 11, the show moved to Sundays at 8 pm. The show made headlines with its "
The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...
" broadcast on October 30, one of the most famous broadcasts in the history of radio due to the panic it allegedly caused, after which the
Campbell Soup Company Campbell Soup Company, trade name, doing business as Campbell's, is an American processed food and snack company. The company is most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however, through mergers and acquisitions, it has gro ...
signed on as sponsor. ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' made its last broadcast on December 4 of that year, and '' The Campbell Playhouse'' began five days later, on December 9.


Production

After the theatrical successes of the
Mercury Theatre The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury als ...
,
CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broad ...
invited Orson Welles to create a summer show for 13 weeks. The series began July 11, 1938, Orson Welles presented a special challenge to the CBS sound effects team, ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' reported. "His programs called for all sorts of unheard-of effects, and he could be satisfied with nothing short of perfection." For the first episode, "Dracula", the sound team searched for the perfect sound of a stake being driven through the heart of the vampire. They first presented a savoy cabbage and a sharpened broomstick for Welles's approval. "Much too leafy," Welles concluded. "Drill a hole in the cabbage and fill it with water. We need blood." When that sound experiment also failed to satisfy Welles, he considered awhile—and asked for a watermelon. ''The New Yorker'' recalled the effect:
Welles stepped from the control booth, seized a hammer, and took a crack at the melon. Even the studio audience shuddered at the sound. That night, on a coast-to-coast network, he gave millions of listeners nightmares with what, even though it be produced with a melon and hammer, is indubitably the sound a stake would make piercing the heart of an undead body.
As the Mercury's second theatre season began in 1938, Welles and
John Houseman John Houseman (born Jacques Haussmann; September 22, 1902 – October 31, 1988) was a Romanian-born British-American actor and producer of theatre, film, and television. He became known for his highly publicized collaboration with directo ...
were unable to write the ''Mercury Theatre on the Air'' broadcasts on their own. For "Hell on Ice" (October 8, 1938), the 14th episode of the series, they hired Howard E. Koch, whose experience in having a play performed by the Federal Theatre Project in Chicago led him to leave his law practice and move to New York to become a writer. ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' was a sustaining show underwritten by CBS, so in lieu of a more substantial salary Houseman gave Koch the rights to any script he worked on—including, to his literal good fortune, "
The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...
". After five months Koch left the show for Hollywood; his last script was "The Glass Key" (March 10, 1939), France, Richard (1977). ''The Theatre of Orson Welles''. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press. by which time ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' was called '' The Campbell Playhouse''.


Episodes


Awards

''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' was inducted into the
National Radio Hall of Fame The Radio Hall of Fame, formerly the National Radio Hall of Fame, is an American organization created by the Emerson Radio Corporation in 1988. Three years later, Bruce DuMont, founder, president, and CEO of the Museum of Broadcast Communicati ...
in 1988.''Mercury Theatre on the Air''
at the Radio Hall of Fame; retrieved June 16, 2012


See also

*'' The Campbell Playhouse''


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mercury Theatre on the Air, The 1930s American radio programs 1938 radio programme debuts 1938 radio programme endings American radio dramas CBS Radio programs Works by Orson Welles Anthology radio series