Mercury Theater
The Mercury Theater was a theater group in New York City , by Orson Welles and John Houseman founded. The Mercury Theater's first production was staged in June 1937. After initial stage successes, the theater group started working with radio a year later .
Orson Welles had previously staged numerous radio plays , including a seven-part adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables . In 1938 he was offered the opportunity to work on a weekly hour-long series, originally called First Person Singular and later renamed The Mercury Theater on the Air . Welles insisted that the theater company - actors and other staff - be involved in working on the series. Although this demand was as unusual as it was costly, he was able to enforce it against those responsible.
In its first year, 1938, was created in collaboration with CBS the most famous piece of radio play history , HG Wells ' The War of the Worlds (dt. War of the Worlds ).
Members
- William Alland
- Richard Barr
- Bea Benaderet
- Ray Collins
- Joseph Cotten
- George Coulouris
- Geraldine Fitzgerald
- Arlene Francis
- Martin Gabel
- John Houseman
- John Hoyt
- Whitford Kane
- Norman Lloyd
- Agnes Moorehead
- Vincent Price
- Erskine Sanford
- Stefan Schnabel
- Hiram Sherman
- Everett Sloane
- Paul Stewart
- Ruth Warrick
- Orson Welles
- Mary Wickes
- Richard Wilson
Web links
- The Mercury Theater on the Air (website with MP3 and RealMedia files)