The Mercury Theatre on the Air

(1938-1940)

Drama

Cast: Orson Welles, John Houseman, Carl Frank, Joseph Cotten, Martin Gabel, Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, Hans Conreid, Paul Stewart, Will Geer, George Coulouris, Olive Stanton and Everett Sloane

The absolutely legendary program, featuring the famous Mercury Theatre Company, was created by Orson Welles and John Houseman.  This series was an hour-long dramatic anthology taking freely from the classics.  The list of great literature adapted by the Mercury Theatre is stunning, including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , A Tale of Two Cities , Dracula , The Man Who Was Thursday, Magnificent Ambersons, Treasure Island, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Heart of Darkness, and The Count of Monte Cristo.

But what this show is most celebrated for is the infamous adaptation of H.G. Wells The War of the Worlds , which was so well-written, acted, and produced that it sent an entire nation into panic , believing it to be a live newscast, and not merely an episode of one of the finest programs ever done, in any medium