Mercury Theatre’s The Count of Monte Cristo

Although The Mercury Theater on the Air only lasted five months, it was responsible for the most famous production in radio history. Actor/director Orson Welles and producer John Houseman had formed the Mercury Theater in 1937, taking Broadway by storm with their ambitious productions. CBS was impressed enough to offer the Mercury Theater its own one-hour program in the summer of 1938. The Mercury Theater on the Air focused on classic literature; early productions included Treasure Island, The Count of Monte Cristo and Dracula, which opened the series on July 11, 1938. As with Les Misérables the previous year, Welles was given complete creative control by CBS over the new series. The choices he made in developing the series were informed by what he had learned in previous years in other radio dramas. Chief among those choices was to create dramas specifically for the radio and not to simply adapt dramas in production at the Mercury Theatre for broadcast. In close collaboration with John Houseman and other writers, Welles wrote, directed and performed in the productions. The end result was a series of dramas based on literary, rather than dramatic, works. Orson Welles was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1915. As a young man, Welles appeared on the series Cavalcade of America and The March of Time before writing, directing and starring in the Mutual network’s 1937 production of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. That fall, Welles assumed the title role on The Shadow, while earning raves on Broadway with his new troupe, the Mercury Theater.Welles launched a successful film career in 1941, co-writing, directing and starring in the legendary Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons and Touch of Evil. He remained active in radio throughout his career, later starring in the BBC series The Third Man—based on his 1949 film—and The Black Museum. Orson Welles died on October 10, 1985. John Houseman died on October 31, 1988. Orson Welles was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988