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Orson Welles - Mercury Theater - 1938 recordings

Heard
1938–1946
Episodes
22

19 Mercury Theater's radio programmes - 17 from 1938 (July-November) and 2 from 1946 BONUS: 1988 Special Programme - Mercury Theater Remembered with appearences and voices of those who worked in those programmes and still remember how Welles used to work. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - In 1937, Welles and the Mercury company earned a reputation for their inventive adaptation of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar set in contemporary Fascist Italy. They moved on to productions of The Shoemaker's Holiday, Heartbreak House, Too Much Johnson and Danton's Death in 1938. In 1939 Five Kings was produced along with The Green Goddess. The last theatrical production of the company was Native Son in 1941. [edit] Radio Welles had already worked extensively in radio drama, playing the title character in The Shadow for a year and directing a seven-part adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, both for the Mutual Broadcasting System. In 1938, he was offered a chance to direct his own weekly, hour-long radio series, initially promoted as First Person Singular. However, this title was never announced on the air. Radio Guide initially mentioned the series' debut as Mercury Theatre before later listing it as The Mercury Theatre on the Air. Welles insisted his Mercury company — actors and crew — be involved in the radio series. This was an unprecedented and expensive request, especially for one so young as Welles. Most episodes dramatized works of classic and…

Episodes, in broadcast order

  1. Dracula

    · 56 min

  2. Treasure Island

    · 1 h 04 min

  3. A Tale of Two Cities

    · 1 h 00 min

  4. The Thirty Nine Steps

    · 1 h 03 min

  5. Abraham Lincoln

    · 1 h 00 min

  6. The Affairs of Anatole

    · 1 h 00 min

  7. The Count of Monte Cristo

    · 59 min

  8. The Man who Was Thursday

    · 57 min

  9. Julius Ceasar

    · 1 h 07 min

  10. The Immortal Sherlock Holmes

    · 56 min

  11. Hell on Ice

    · 59 min

  12. Seventeen

    · 1 h 00 min

  13. Around the World in 80 Days

    · 57 min

  14. War of the Worlds

    · 51 min

  15. Heart of Darkness Life with Father

    · 58 min

  16. Complete Stories

    · 58 min

  17. A Passenger to Bali

    · 1 h 00 min

  18. Pickwick Papers

    · 1 h 01 min

  19. The Hitch-Hiker

    · 26 min

  20. The Search for Henry Le Ferre

    · 59 min

Where it comes from 1

The archive items its episodes are played from, best first, with each one’s rights as its archive states them. An episode two sets both hold is played from the first.

  1. Orson Welles - Mercury Theater - 1938 recordings

    Old Time Radio · pamstv · 22 episodes here · archive.org (opens in a new tab)

    CC BY-NC-ND 3.0: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0, as its uploader states it at the Internet Archive.

From the Old Time Radio collection at the Internet Archive, uploaded by the collector named.

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