The Mercury Theatre Radio Programs

Background

Imagine the panic, disbelief and disorientation that ensued with the horrific 9/11 Attack, then stop and imagine if we lived in a world in which the only source of news for that infamous event was Radio and Newspapers. No CNN--no Television, Satellites, or cell phones for that matter--and only either word of mouth, the radio airwaves or the next print edition of the local newspaper to confirm or deny the attack and its gravity.

That's the level of panic and disorientation that ensued after Orson Welles' 1938 broadcast of Mercury Theatre's radio adaptation of Herbert George Wells' The War of The Worlds over CBS Radio, New York. The broadcast was so realistic, so compelling and so carefully crafted that it was taken for a real attack throughout the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Given the far slower communications of the day, before it could be revealed as a simple Radio drama the panic had already begun to spread throughout the United States.

That was the power of Radio. That was the power of the gifted band of renegade dramatists, scenarists, actors and technicians that made up Orson Welles and John Houseman's Mercury Theatre repertory company. Founded in August 1937, Houseman and Welles formed a revolutionary troupe of actors and stage technicians who began turning the theories of classical stage drama on their ear. While producing some of history's classic stage dramas, the Mercury Theatre approached each of the productions they mounted with out-of-the-box thinking. They mounted an all-Negro Macbeth set in Haiti, starring The Negro Theatre Unit of the Federal Theatre Project. They successfully produced Marc Blitzstein’s controversial labor union opera, The Cradle Will Rock (1937), also under the auspices of the Federal Theatre Project. They mounted Julius Caesar set in fascist Italy in contemporary clothes and almost no sets to speak of. What sets they did employ were stark, spare and little more than a stage upon which to act. The only traditional effect was lighting, which they employed in revolutionary ways for the time.

The critics of the era cried 'heresy', damned the company with the faintest praise, or simply dismissed the young players and their brilliant director, 21 year old Orson Welles, as eccentrics. But through word of mouth alone, tickets for each new production became harder to obtain. Houseman and Welles went out of their way to make the productions accessible to the colleges and universities of the area and the buzz from those early productions spread further and further. Before long the drama critics were forced to take the young upstarts seriously. There was never any doubt as to their acting talent. Despite how horrified the reviewers were with Mercury Theatre's thumb at the nose of convention, they couldn't deny the young troupe's raw talent and innovation.

Independent of the Theatre Company, Orson Welles had been making a name for himself with dramatic poetry readings and readings of the Classics. The young man's booming voice, projection and tempo were rivetting for their time. Welles was no slouch when it came to self-promotion, either. He was aggressive, relentless and equally charming when needed. Before long he'd managed to air a four-a-week, fifteen-minute Radio program, Musical Reveries (1936), comprised of equal parts of Welles' poetry and dramatic readings, songs, and orchestral music. It was a relatively common format for the era, but Welles attacked each of his segments with the gusto and flair of a Flo Ziegfield. Welles' voice was being noticed by the major networks and 1936 also found him appearing in episodes of The March of Time for CBS.

The aggressiveness, charm and persistence paid off. By the Summer of 1937, Welles covinced the Mutual Broadcasting System and WOR to mount a serial production of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. Broadcast in 30-minute increments, one chapter a week for seven weeks, the production captivated a growing summertime audience with each passing week. This in itself was a brilliant stroke. Most serials of the day played out in five daily performances each week, as with the proliferation of Soap-sponsored melodramas of the era, or simply 'Soaps'.

Welles' genius was in producing and directing a classical drama so compellingly mounted that even summertime audiences would return week after week for the next installment. It was easy enough to get children to tune in from week to week for the next cliff-hanger adventure from their favorite female street waif, cowboy, spaceman, super-hero, or jungle adventurer. But it was quite another prospect to instill that kind of loyalty and interest in an adult audience--let alone a vacation-time audience.

This was pretty heady material. And in retrospect it was more like one of today's made for TV mini-series for a Radio audience. Victor Hugo's brilliant tale of class warfare, a seemingly never-ending chase (a la The Fugitive), and the ultimate involvement of a revolution of students was the kind of drama that Welles could very well have stretched over an entire 26-week season if he'd had to. As it was, the seven scripts were brilliant mini-dramas unto themselves and quickly caught the attention of radio programmers from coast-to-coast.

But was it just the material, or Welles' raw, compelling talent that created this interest in a new approach to The Classics? Ever the promoter, Welles' seems to have convinced the news media, reviewers and critics alike that it was Welles and his troupe that were the difference. And showmanship aside, it very much was.

Mercury Theatre spawns an unprecedented canon of Radio Drama

The chronology of the Mercury Theatre productions between 1937 and 1946 was as follows:

• Les Miserables (1937)
• Mercury Theatre On The Air (1938) [First-Person, Singular]
• Campbell Playhouse (1938 - 1941)
• Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles (1941-1942)
• Mercury Theatre's Hello, Americans (1942-1943)
• Mercury Theatre's Orson Welles Radio Almanac (1944)
• The Mercury Summer Theatre of The Air (Summer of 1946)

Les Miserables [MBS]

Les Miserables (1937) was comprised of most of the players from Welles' and Houseman's Mercury Theatre repertory, but Les Miserables was not specifically referred to as a Mercury Theatre production. As such it was more an Orson Welles vehicle than a Mercury Theatre production per se. But as a matter of historical fact, virtually all of the core Mercury Theatre ensemble made an appearance in one chapter or another of the Les Miserables programs.

• Ray Collins
• Gwen Davies [announced as Estelle Levy]
• Alice Frost
• Martin Gabel
• Adelaide Klein
• Agnes Moorehead
• Everett Sloane
• Judy Holliday [as Judy Tuvim]
• Orson Welles
• Virginia Welles [Welles' wife at the time]

Mercury Theatre On the Air [CBS]

Mercury Theatre On The Air (1938) was the most innovative and historically significant production of the series. Indeed, though overshadowed in Radio History by the extraordinary result of its notorious The War of The Worlds program, all of the remaining productions were equally radical or innovative for their time. Julius Caesar was presented in much the same format as their radical Stage production, set in contemporary fascist Italy. Welles' Sherlock Holmes characterization was heralded as one of the finest interpretations of the morphine-addicted detective genius as had ever been heard over Radio. And all three of the Charles Dickens productions--A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist and The Pickwick Papers--were very well received. But indeed it was Howard Koch's brilliant adaptation of H.G. Wells' The War of The Worlds that created a stir out of all proportion to any other Radio broadcast during the Golden Age of Radio.

Mercury Theatre On The Air had intended from the outset to mount H.G. Wells' The War of The Worlds on October 30, 1938 as a Halloween presentation. They'd already opened their season with Dracula in any case, and Howard Koch and John Houseman had written a hyper-realistic adaptation of Wells' brilliant science-fiction novel. The production was by no means a secret. Nor, by extension was The War of The Worlds a secret. First published in 1898, H.G. Wells' most famous book had already been published throughout the world in a commensurate number of languages fully forty years before Mercury Theatre adapted it for Radio.

For a more thorough review of the aftermath of the broadcast, please consult the .pdf Galley of newspaper headlines in the sidebar to the left. Or feel free to click the hot-link to the a narrative about The War of the Worlds broadcast--including its original recording--from its log entry below.

The program opened with Welles' narration describing a series of fictional events which ensued during the evening of October 30, 1938 ("the 39th year of the twentieth century"). In Welles' deep baritone, melodramatically filled with import and foreboding, Welles' matter of factly introduced the series of very realistic radio script elements that followed: radio engineers cutting back and forth during the broadcast from the 'music of Ramon Raquelo' to an astronomer at the Princeton Observatory in New Jersey, then to 'reporters in the field' observing first-hand the slow unscrewing of the hatch of an extra-terrestrial meteorite that had landed near Grover's Mill, New Jersey. From that point forward, the script cut back and forth from accounts of the astronomer tracking uncommon activity on the surface of Mars, accounts from the farmers and reporters at Grover's Mill, and the news studios, authorities and observers of the phenomena that ensued.

It was the very documentary style of the broadcast that was the most compelling. The 'first-hand' accounts were wonderfully similar to the kind of man-in-the-street fare that had already become the rage in Radio (e.g., Vox Pop, et al). Howard Koch's genius in orchestrating the various initially unrelated events slowly and subtlely--and wonderfully realistically--into a tapestry of a growing extra-terrestrial threat was one of Radio's most brilliant dramatic strokes.

Unfortunately, the thousands of listeners that tuned in after Orson Welles' very explicit disclaimer found themselve caught up in what can only be described as a mass suspension of disbelief. For those listeners, hearing only the brilliantly realistic radio snippets coming over their radio sets, the scenario was developing into situation so realistic that by twenty-three minutes into the hour-long broadcast phones were ringing off the hook in radio stations, police precincts, and fire departments up and down the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. Within hours, as the broadcast aired throughout the country, the same phenomena occured throughout radio-listening America. What with announcements of road blocks in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, declarations of martial law, and even an address by 'F.D.R.' himself, the entire nation soon became caught up in the mass hysteria to one degree or another.

The aftermath was predictable for a mid-term election year. Officials great and small were calling for Orson Welles' head on a pike. Within twelve hours of the broadcast, the FCC was demanding a review of the Columbia Chain's (CBS's) broadcast license. Within eighteen hours of the broadcast H.G. Wells himself had been contacted for comment, expressing outrage that Mercury Theatre had changed the location of his story from London, England to New Jersey, New York and Eastern Pennsylvania. But more importantly to Mercury Theatre--and Orson Welles himself--within forty-eight hours, the entire Western World was abuzz about the twenty-three year old upstart and his Mercury Players.

That first series of Mercury Theatre broadcasts was a concept Welles had pitched as a 9-week Summer series of 'First-person, Singular' hour-long productions. CBS released this announcement for the press:

"June 12, 1938
BRIGHT SPOTS TODAY. (Time is Eastern Standard) NEW YORK—More summer drama for the radio will be forthcoming The latest is a series In which 23-year-old Orson Welles of the Broadway stage and microphone is to be the feature Together with the Mercury theater of New York, he has been engaged to present nine one-hour broadcasts for CBS on Monday nights at 8 beginning July 11 after the Radio theater goes on vacation The general title will be First Person Singular and Welles is to choose his own medium and subject he to [sic] write, cast, direct and produce the series with the coordination of Davidson Taylor of the CBS staff."

"First-Person Singular," referred to Welles' anticipated role as narrator for each production, acting in the first-person, singular as he framed each production. But 'First Person, Singular' didn't exactly roll off the toungue and CBS wasn't quite as hep as Welles was, so cooler heads prevailed and the program ultimately aired as Mercury Theatre On The Air, which in itself was quite controversial enough for CBS executives at the time.

And yet, by the end of that initial run of nine, hour-long presentations, it became apparent that CBS had something very special in their fold. A signature element of most of Welles' narrations was the background he would provide for either the author of the work they were adapting or many of the characters themselves. Welles seems to have prided himself on the instructional aspects of each presentation as much as for the technical and performance aspects of each production. So it was that Mercury Theatre extended its run for another thirteen programs for a total of twenty-two original Mercury Theatre radioplays. And indeed, the eighth of those additional programs was the notorious The War of The Worlds.

As a sustaining production, CBS got a lot of bang for their buck, but it had always been Welles and Houseman's hope that they'd find a commercial sponsor for their productions--and the increased budget, advertising, and promotion that would come with it. Indeed during Program #18, Orson Welles announced the Campbell's sponsorship that would begin in December of 1938.

The Campbell Playhouse [CBS]

The Campbell Playhouse production of Mercury Theatre arrived with the fanfare one might expect from one of Radio's most prolific sponsors. Both parties benefited, although one has to wonder if the deal had already been inked before The War of The Worlds aired. And with Campbell's sponsorship, magazines and newspapers began printing Campbell's spot ads promoting the series. The program's audience increased and with all the attendant notoriety in the aftermath of The War of The Worlds, all three parties--CBS, Campbell's and Mercury Theatre--had every reason to celebrate the program's success.

The Campbell Playhouse ran for three seasons. Seasons One and Two were produced by Orson Welles himself. Season Three was produced by the Mercury Theatre's John Houseman. Welles had departed to pursue his two seminal Films, Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). With much of the Mercury Theatre ensemble busy with Welles' film projects, Campbell's employed many of Hollywood's most famous names to star in the third season of Campbell Playhouse's productions. Indeed the array of major Film Stars performing in the Playhouse's third season was arguably as impressive for its short run as any assemblage of talent short of The Screen Guild series.

The Campbell Playhouse's third season was delayed for a week over some CBS/Campbell kerfuffle about the alleged fifth column theme of the proposed original script penned by John Houseman and Wyllis Cooper. Apparently the infamous, headline-grabbing Texas Representative Martin Dies and the earliest House of Representative misadventures that eventually evolved into the House Un-American Activities Committee had something to do with the season's postponement. So it was that the third season began with the second production, Air Mail to Red Riding Hood, on November 29, 1940, starring Miriam Hopkins and Humphrey Bogart. The remaining programs were heavily promoted up through Program 25, after which Campbell's detailed spot ads tailed off and few if any of the subsequent programs were announced by either title or stars. The remaining twenty-six we've been able to identify are as follows:

• Kind Lady with Grace George and Herbert Marshall
• Doctor In The House with Frederic March and Florence Eldridge
• A Christmas Carol with Lionel Barrymore [for real this time]
• Pygmalion with Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh
• Personal Appearance with Rosalind Russell
• The Go-Getter with Helen Twelvetrees, Randolph Scott, and Frank Morgan
• A Free Soul with Frances Farmer and George Raft
• Golden Boy with Sylvia Syndey and Luther Adler
• Mrs. Fane Comes of Age with Mary Astor and William Gargan
• Option On San Felipe with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
• Master Mariner with Walter Huston
• Wreck On Deliverance with Jeanette MacDonald and Gene Raymond
• Crime Syndicate with Paul Muni
• You and I with Walter Huston
• Purple and Fine Linen with John Beal and Gale Page
• Excess Baggage with Dick Powell and Wendy Barrie
• Let Us Be Gay with Madeline Carroll
• The Second Man with Noel Coward
• My Client Curley with Fred Allen and Beatrice Kay
• The Talley Method with Tallulah Bankhead and Philip Merivale
• Do Not Disturb with Edmund Lowe
• One-Way Passage with William Powell
• Springtime For Henry with Diana Lewis and Alan Mowbray
• Alien Corn with Ruth Chatterton
• Young Woodley with Judith Anderson
• The Hero with Henry Hull
• Tarnish with Margaret Lindsay
• Green Grow the Lilacs with Burgess Meredith

It's a shame that Campbell's couldn't have taken the production further, but they were sponsoring seven other productions at the same time, and the production costs for the Playhouse were far higher than most of their other sponsored programs. And so it was that Campbells' sponsorship of Mercury Theatre ended June 27, 1941 with only thirty-one of the originally projected thirty-two programs.

Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles [CBS]

That might have been the end of Mercury Theatre of The Air, but for Orson Welles' return to participate in a House of Lady Esther sponsored season of Mercury Theatre, this time presented in a Drama/Variety format. Called variously, Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles, The Orson Welles Theatre, The Lady Esther Mercury Theatre, or some combination of the three, the mixed format also introduced none other than Walt Disney's Jiminy Cricket in a recurring 'role'. Jiminy Cricket was purportedly Orson Welles' 'conscience' throughout the series. In practice the gimmick seemed a bit overdrawn (no pun intended). But the variety/drama format wasn't new to Welles. That's how he got his start in Radio. Despite several noteworthy performances and guest stars, the Jiminy Cricket/Orson Welles formula never really jelled and the Lady Esther run pretty much spelled the end of the Mercury Theatre series of productions. In any case, the format folded by February 1942, to mixed reviews and public acceptance.

Hello, Americans [CBS]

The Mercury Theatre's next production appeared in November of 1942 as Hello, Americans. Funded by CBS and U.S. Government's Coordinator for Latin-American Affairs (the CIA). Welles had announced his impending trip to South America during the last episode of Mercury Theatre of The Air, and true to his word, he spent the following year touring South America and working on a Film project in Brazil and a Film project in Mexico. So it was a busman's holiday of sorts. Welles was apparently approached by the CIA with the concept and when Welles wasn't working on the Film projects he gathered sound bites, recordings and background for the Hello, Americans project. Hello, Americans wasn't as jingoistic as such propaganda pieces tend to go. One gets the impression that Welles was genuinely affected by what he saw during his tour and it was equally important to wrest back our influence in South America from the in-roads the Axis powers had made there.

Though twelve episodes were advertised as planned, only ten of them were broadcast. During two separate Orson Welles illnesses, CBS Hollywood jumped in to fill the scheduled void with two special 'Ritmos de las Americas' (Rhythms of The Americas) variety format presentations. The first aired following Episode #7 and the second after Episode #9. The ten episodes that were actually broadcast were Mercury Theatre-caliber productions, cast from both the Mercury Theatre Players and Hollywood's finest voice talent.

Orson Welles Radio Almanac [CBS]

Mercury Theatre's next airing was another departure--Mercury Theatre's Orson Welles Radio Almanac for 1944. It was a combination of interview and commentary, sketch, and variety. The thirty-nine episode series featured some of the biggest stars of Radio, Screen, and Stage in a uncharacteristically laid back type of format. Welles took the opportunity to stage several dramatic and patriotic presentations over the course of the run as well. The series was equal parts poignant, humorous, stirring and refreshingly candid on occasion.

The Mercury Summer Theatre of The Air [CBS]

The Mercury Theatre players were by no means idle for the intervening year, but it wasn't until the Summer of 1946 that the Mercury Theatre returned to Radio as The Mercury Summer Theatre of The Air. The final season of Mercury Theatre was short, but sweet. The troupe reprised four of their productions from years past, while introducing several spendidly mounted new productions. The Mercury Theatre magic was still present for fifteen programs more. For CBS, the prospect of obtaining Welles and his Mercury Theatre players for even a summer run was a major coup. Welles was as much in demand as ever and the Mercury Theatre troupe had scored innumerable successes both together and in their own individual careers. For one last Summer the heyday of the Mercury Theatre could be relived again, but without Jiminy Cricket, thank you very much.

It wasn't just the Mercury Theatre players that made this wonderful series of productions work for almost ten years. The behind-the-mike staff was consistently top-notch from Les Miserables to the Mercury Summer Theatre. Of particular note is the contribution of Bernard Herrmann and his magnificent music scoring, direction and compositions. The sheer breadth of the dramatic works the Theatre tackled over the years would normally have called for any number of Music directors with a specialty in one area or another. But Bernard Herrmann, already a legend for his time, added his brilliance to the already brilliant cast, writers and sound engineers. This is one series of productions for which Bernard Herrmann had every right to be considered one of the Mercury Theatre Players. His contribution was an integral element of every Mercury Theatre production they mounted. Herrmann also scored Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), although he requested that his name be removed from The Magnificent Ambersons credits over artistic differences.

Series Derivatives:

Notes on Provenances:

All above cited provenances are in error to one degree or another. The RadioGOLDINDex was the most helpful provenance apart from the newspaper articles and listings.

OTRisms:

There's something of a cottage industry that has sprung up over the past 15 years in the 'otr world.' It's an industry of history revisionists and outright wishful thinking. The OTR community seems to hold a very parochial view about the founders of Mercury Theatre, taking the position that Mercury Theatre was Orson Welles, Orson Welles and Orson Welles. But indeed, John Houseman was even more instrumental in establishing, organizing and continuing to manage the Mercury Theatre over the years. Orson Welles moved on to Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons, leaving the day-to-day management and productions of Mercury Theatre to John Houseman.

The disconnect arises with the third season of Campbell Playhouse, which 'OTR' collectors seem to dismiss as a departure from Mercury Theatre while never citing the proof for their dismissal (not that they ever cite their proof or show their work in the first place). But it was in fact John Houseman that continued to produce and write (with Lights Out! writer Wyllis Cooper) the third and last season of The Campbell Playhouse while still under the aegis of Mercury Theatre. Most of the newspaper listings and articles of the day continue to refer to the third season of Campbell Playhouse as a Mercury Theatre production--because of the John Houseman connection. And despite Campbell bringing Diana Bourbon onboard to direct, John Houseman very much shaped the Season Three program lineup. This is simply another example of the very parochial, un-provenanced citations from the 'OTR' community. What they can't explain, they either dismiss--or obfuscate. Given the utter commercial corruption of Wikipedia by the same OTR community, the same nonsense has now become commonplace there as well. But as an historical point of fact, the third season of The Campbell Playhouse was indeed a continuing Mercury Theatre production, Q.E.D.

If any of the Mercury Theatre derivatives should be questioned, it should be the Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles production. While not necessarily a radical departure from Orson Welles' Radio productions of the past, the very Variety nature of the Lady Esther Presents season, with its Jiminy Cricket hook, is the season that should be least associated with Mercury Theatre. But we're reminded that Orson Welles' very first radio appearance was in just such a mixed Variety/Dramatic Readings format. As such the Lady Esther season is more reminiscent of Musical Reveries (1936) than Mercury Theatre On The Air. Be that as it may, we've included Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles in this collection for continuity's sake, but we reserve our doubts as to its proper inclusion with Mercury Theatre's other productions.

Campbell Playhouse Program #27, dated 39-09-10 should be titled Peter Ibbetson, not Peter Ibbertson, nor Peter Ibertsen. The second two titles exist only in the OTR world, as any Google search will disclose.

Campbell Playhouse Program #45, dated 40-01-14, should be Theodora Goes Wild, not Theadora Goes Wild. Again, only in the OTR world. Search it with quotes in Google and you will receive only OTR hits.

Hello, Americans was particularly poorly supported by the commercial OTR community. The OTRR's Certified Complete and Accurate Hello, Americans is completely inaccurate rubbish:

• The titles posted at Internet Archive bear no resemblance whatsoever to the content or themes of the ten actual episodes and two specials.
• The OTRR maintain there were twelve episodes of Hello, Americans broadcast. There were only ten--broadcast. Two of the scheduled episodes were either delayed or unaired, citing two separate 'illnesses' of Orson Welles. In their place, CBS aired two separate 'Ritmos de las Americas' variety programs with completely different casts and announcers. They were neither Mercury Theatre casts, nor Mercury Theatre productions.
• A reviewer at Internet Archive pointed this out to the OTRR over 15 months ago, to no avail.
• The ID3 V1 and V2 tags of the Internet Archive-posted OTRR Certified Complete and Accurate series are the same rubbish as the titles listed on the page.
• The two special presentations were both titled 'Ritmos de las Americas'. The first hosted by Tito Guizar and announced by Dick Joy and the second announced and hosted by Truman Bradley and featuring Diana Gayle, Miguelito Valdez and Carlos Ramirez.

Had anyone at the OTRR 'certifying' this series actually listened to any of it, they'd have heard Dick Joy announce both Tales of Mexico as Episode #8 and Feeding The World as Episode #9. As is too often the case, the OTRR apparently didn't use their own research in the first place. They simply 'phoned it in' from another website they cite--which was equally inaccurate.

Since every currently circulating title for Hello Americans is in error, we simply refer you to the titles listed in the log below. The series aired in rural America well past the last cited air date of January 31, 1943, but there is no mention in those listings of the titles or themes of those broadcast listings. They may well have been rebroadcasts.

And finally, The Alphabet of The Islands wasn't a two-part arc, it was a three-part arc, from Episode #4 through Episode #6. There's no mistaking it, since Welles takes great pains to pound the point home in the last broadcast before Christmas. The episode erroneously titled The Story of Abednego the Slave, is actually The Alphabet of The Islands -- The Slave, Abednego to 'Z', a point Orson Welles punctuates himself in the last minute of the broadcast.

[Update: We're given to understand that a noted OTR author is passing around more of his 'otr lore' yet again. This time it's his utterly unsupported assertion that the first nine episodes of the Mercury Theatre On The Air were actually called "First Person Singular" in a canon unto themselves. As noted in the fully supported article above, First Person, Singular was a concept and theme, not a title. And yes a couple of advance announcements by CBS via the newspapers and magazines of the era teased First Person, Singular as the proposed name or concept for the program. But the title ultimately conferred on it was The Mercury Theatre On The Air by its first broadcast date. That's The Mercury Theatre ON THE AIR, not FIRST PERSON SINGULAR.]

The Mercury Theatre of the air in its various incarnations over the years has acquired an extremely loyal following throughout the Vintage Radio Collecting hobby. It's also acquired a great deal of 'otr lore' in the process, such as the nonsense 'revelation' above regarding the 'first nine episodes of Mercury Theatre On the Air being actually named "First Person Singular." This revisionist lore persists just as all 'big lies' start and persist--by repetition. If anyone in the 'otr-credentialed community of scholars' can cite even one Mercury Theatre On the Air broadcast announcing itself as "First Person Singular," there are hundreds of thousands of genuine Radio Preservationists around the world that would love to hear it. Whoever actually possesses those alleged nine episodes needs to step forward and begin circulating even one of them. Orson Welles' concept of a Mercury Theatre of the Air ran the gamut of dramatic productions from start to finish, beginning with Mercury Theatre On the Air and ending with its last hurrah, The Mercury Summer Theatre Of the Air. Welles, Houseman and company more than made their point: a Mercury Theatre of the air could bring the same innovation, vitality and creativity to Radio as it had during their Federal Theatre Project years and their years of Stage productions. Alpha and Omega--the Mercurty Theatre began with a Mercury Theatre of the air and ended with a Mercury Theatre of the air; pefect symmetry for one of Radio's most historic, ground-breaking and influential productions.

What you see here, is what you get. Complete transparency. We have no 'credentials' whatsoever--in any way, shape, or form--in the 'otr community'--none. But here's how we did it--for better or worse. Here's how you can build on it yourselves--hopefully for the better. Here's the breadcrumbs--just follow the trail a bit further if you wish. No hobbled downloads. No misdirection. No posturing about our 'credentials.' No misrepresentations. No strings attached. We point you in the right direction and you're free to expand on it, extend it, use it however it best advances your efforts.

We ask one thing and one thing only--if you employ what we publish, attribute it, before we cite you on it.

We continue to provide honest research into these wonderful Golden Age Radio programs simply because we love to do it. If you feel that we've provided you with useful information or saved you some valuable time regarding this log--and you'd like to help us even further--you can help us keep going. Please consider a small donation here:

We don't pronounce our Golden Age Radio research as 'certified' anything. By the very definition, research is imperfect. We simply tell the truth. As is our continuing practice, we provide our fully provenanced research results--to the extent possible--right here on the page, for any of our peers to review--or refute--as the case may be. If you take issue with any of our findings, you're welcome to cite any better verifiable source(s) and we'll immediately review them and update our findings accordingly. As more verifiable provenances surface, we'll continue to update the following series log, as appropriate.

All rights reserved by their respective sources. Article and log copyright 2009 The Digital Deli Online--all rights reserved. Any failure to attribute the results of this copywritten work will be rigorously pursued.

Mercury Theatre Radio Program Logs

Les Miserables Radio Program Log

The Mercury Theatre On The Air Radio Program Log

The Campbell Playhouse Radio Program Log

The Campbell Playhouse Radio Program Log

Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles and His Mercury Theatre Radio Program Log

Mercury Theatre's Hello, Americans Radio Program Log

Orson Welles' Mercury Radio Almanac Program Log

The Mercury Summer Theatre Of The Air Radio Program Log

Mercury Theatre Biographies