# The Orson Welles Show (radio series)

The Orson Welles Show (1941–42), also known as The Orson Welles Theater, Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater and the Lady Esther Show (after its sponsor), was a live CBS Radio series produced, directed and hosted by Orson Welles. Broadcast Mondays at 10 p.m. ET, it made its debut September 15, 1941. Its last broadcast was February 2, 1942.

## History

Sponsored by Lady Esther cosmetics, The Orson Welles Show presented dramatic adaptations, poetry, history, music, comedy, and a commentary segment by Welles titled "Almanac." Nineteen broadcasts were produced.
Created each week with the same basic crew, The Orson Welles Show featured music by Bernard Herrmann and a regular cast that included Conrad Binyon, Hans Conried, Dolores del Río, Brenda Forbes and Blanche Yurka. On many of the shows, Cliff Edwards recreated the voice of Jiminy Cricket and bantered with Welles between segments. Most of the series was produced while Welles was shooting his second feature film, The Magnificent Ambersons (October 28, 1941 – January 31, 1942), and many of the cast participated in The Orson Welles Show. On January 6, 1942, Welles also began filming Journey into Fear.
The November 17, 1941, broadcast marked the debut of The Hitch-Hiker, an original radio play by Lucille Fletcher (wife of Bernard Herrmann) that has become a classic of suspense. On the broadcast of December 29, 1941, Rita Hayworth was the guest player; this was the first meeting between Welles and Hayworth, who were married in September 1943.$^{:366–369.378}$
Welles concluded the final broadcast of The Orson Welles Show February 2, 1942, with a statement: "Tomorrow night the Mercury Theatre starts for South America. The reason, put more or less officially, is that I've been asked by the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to do a motion picture especially for Americans in all the Americas, a movie which, in its particular way, might strengthen the good relations now binding the continents of the Western Hemisphere."$^{:369}$

## Episodes

| # | Date | Program |
| 1 | September 15, 1941 | "Sredni Vashtar," story by Saki "Hidalgo", original play about Mexican history "An Irishman and a Jew," story by Geoffrey Household "Boogie Woogie" by Meade Lux Lewis, piano "Almanac"$^{:366}$$^{:447}$$^{:115–116}$ Extant |
| 2 | September 22, 1941 | "The Right Side," with Elliott Lewis (Faust) and Ray Collins (Devil) "The Sexes," story by Dorothy Parker, with Betty Field and Richard Carlson "Murder in the Bank," with Ruth Gordon "The Golden Honeymoon," story by Ring Lardner, with Ruth Gordon (Mother) and Orson Welles (Father) "Almanac" and Jiminy Cricket (Cliff Edwards)$^{:366}$ Presumed lost |
| 3 | September 29, 1941 | "The Interlopers," original radio play, with Elliott Lewis (narrator), Ray Collins and Orson Welles "Song of Solomon," read by Orson Welles "I'm a Fool," story by Sherwood Anderson, with Orson Welles and Nancy Gates "Almanac" and Jiminy Cricket$^{:367}$ Extant |
| 4 | October 6, 1941 | "The Black Pearl," original story by Norman Foster "There's a Full Moon Tonight" "Annabel Lee," poem by Edgar Allan Poe, read by Orson Welles Cast: Orson Welles, Edgar Barrier, Ray Collins, Dorothy Comingore, Joseph Cotten, Erskine Sanford, Paul Stewart$^{:367}$ Extant |
| 5 | October 13, 1941 | "If in Years to Come," by Earle Reed Silvers, with Orson Welles, Marsha Hunt and Agnes Moorehead "Noah Webster's Library," skit with Lucille Ball, Joseph Cotten and Marsha Hunt Four poems read by Lucille Ball "Almanac"$^{:367}$ Extant |
| 6 | October 20, 1941 | "Romance," story by Ellis Parker Butler, with Joseph Cotten (narrator), Tim Holt, Anne Baxter, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins "The Prisoner of Assiout," story by Grant Allen, with Orson Welles, Everett Sloane, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Edgar Barrier, Marlo Dwyer Shakespeare sonnet read by Orson Welles "Almanac"$^{:367}$ Extant |
| 7 | November 3, 1941 | "Wild Oranges," adapted from the novel by Joseph Hergesheimer, with Frances Dee, Ray Collins, Paul Stewart, Gale Gordon, John Woodfolk "Almanac"$^{:367}$ Extant |
| 8 | November 10, 1941 | "That's Why I Left You," story by John Nesbitt, with Ray Collins (narrator), Stuart Erwin, June Collyer, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead "The Maysville Minstrel," story by Ring Lardner, with Joseph Cotten, Ray Collins, Stuart Erwin, June Collyer "Almanac"$^{:367}$ Extant |
| 9 | November 17, 1941 | The Hitch-Hiker, original radio play by Lucille Fletcher, with Orson Welles and other cast$^{:367}$ Presumed lost |
| 10 | November 24, 1941 | A Farewell to Arms, adapted from the novel by Ernest Hemingway Cast: Ginger Rogers (Catherine), Orson Welles (Frederick Henry)$^{:367}$ Presumed lost |
| 11 | December 1, 1941 | "Something's Going to Happen to Henry," story by Wilma Shore and Louis Solomon, with Janet Gaynor, Joseph Cotten, Ray Collins, Glenn Anders "Wilbur Brown, Habitat: Brooklyn," story by Arthur Stander, with Orson Welles, Ray Collins, Glenn Anders$^{:368}$ Extant |
| 12 | December 7, 1941 | "Symptoms of Being 35," story by Ring Lardner, with Joseph Cotten "Leaves of Grass," selected poetry by Walt Whitman read by Orson Welles$^{:368}$ Extant |
| 13 | December 22, 1941 | Luke, chapter 2 (The Nativity) read by Orson Welles "The Happy Prince," story by Oscar Wilde, with Orson Welles, Ray Collins, Agnes Moorehead, Joseph Cotten, Edgar Barrier, Erskine Sanford, Gus Schilling, Tim Holt Christmas poem by G. K. Chesterton read by Orson Welles$^{:368}$ Extant |
| 14 | December 29, 1941 | There Are Frenchmen and Frenchmen, story by Richard Connell adapted by Joseph Cotten Cast: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Lurene Tuttle, Joseph Cotten$^{:368}$ Extant |
| 15 | January 5, 1942 | The Garden of Allah, adapted from the novel by Robert Hichens Guest stars: Merle Oberon, Cedric Hardwicke$^{:368}$ Extant |
| 16 | January 12, 1942 | The Apple Tree, adapted from the story by John Galsworthy Cast: Orson Welles (Frank), Geraldine Fitzgerald (Megan), Ray Collins (Phil)$^{:369}$ Extant |
| 17 | January 19, 1942 | My Little Boy, story by Carl Ewald Cast: Dix Davis, Orson Welles, Ruth Warrick, Ray Collins, Barbara Jean Wong$^{:369}$ Extant |
| 18 | January 26, 1942 | The Happy Hypocrite, story by Max Beerbohm Cast: Orson Welles (narrator), John Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Agnes Moorehead, Eustace Wyatt, Everett Sloane$^{:369}$ Incomplete |
| 19 | February 2, 1942 | Between Americans, story by Norman Corwin$^{:369}$ Incomplete |