The Mercury Theatre on the Air

The Mercury Theatre on the Air
	Orson Welles (July 1938)
Genre	Anthology drama
Running time	60 minutes
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
Home station	CBS
Hosted by	Orson Welles
Starring	Orson Welles; William Alland; Edgar Barrier; Ray Collins; Joseph Cotten; George Coulouris; Arlene Francis; Alice Frost; Martin Gabel; Agnes Moorehead; Frank Readick; Elliott Reid; Everett Sloane; Howard Smith; Paul Stewart; Karl Swenson; Virginia Welles; Richard Wilson; Eustace Wyatt;
Created by	Orson Welles
Written by	Orson Welles (writer, script editor); John Houseman (writer, script editor); Howard E. Koch, others;
Directed by	Orson Welles; Paul Stewart (rehearsal director);
Produced by	John Houseman; Orson Welles; Paul Stewart (associate producer);
Executive producer(s)	Davidson Taylor (for CBS)
Narrated by	Orson Welles
Original release	July 11 –; December 4, 1938
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	22
Opening theme	Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor by Tchaikovsky

The Mercury Theatre on the Air is a radio series of live radio dramas created and hosted by Orson Welles. The weekly hour-long show presented classic literary works performed by Welles's celebrated Mercury Theatre repertory company, with music composed or arranged by Bernard Herrmann. The series began July 11, 1938, as a sustaining program on the CBS Radio network, airing Mondays at 9 pm ET. On September 11, the show moved to Sundays at 8 pm.

The show made headlines with its "The War of the Worlds" broadcast on October 30, one of the most famous broadcasts in the history of radio due to the panic it allegedly caused, after which the Campbell Soup Company signed on as sponsor. The Mercury Theatre on the Air made its last broadcast on December 4 of that year, and The Campbell Playhouse began five days later, on December 9.