What was the Mercury Theatre on the Air?

The Mercury Theatre on the Air was a prominent 1938 radio drama series featuring Orson Welles and his company of actors. The program was known for presenting radio adaptations of famous literary classics.12

The series achieved national notoriety for its October 30, 1938, broadcast of H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds. Welles and scriptwriter Howard Koch adapted the novel into a simulated news broadcast, using radio tropes to depict a Martian invasion of New Jersey and New York City.12

While the broadcast is legendary for allegedly causing widespread panic, historical reexaminations suggest that the extent of the public alarm was significantly exaggerated by newspapers at the time. The program's success and the resulting national attention helped propel Welles toward a major contract with Hollywood studio RKO.132