page_title: Bernard Herrmann
section_title: Collaboration with Orson Welles
hierarchical_section_title: Bernard Herrmann / Collaboration with Orson Welles
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of a rehearsal of CBS Radio's The Mercury Theatre on the Air, printed in many US newspapers following the broadcast of "The War of the Worlds"Subjects include Orson Welles, with arms upraised; Bernard Herrmann, conducting the CBS Radio orchestra; actor Ray Collins at the CBS microphone; Richard Wilson (white shirt) beside him; William Alland to Wilson's left; and Arthur Anderson. Caption reads as follows:Producer Welles—In ActionWhile he rehearsed the cast of the Mercury Theater of the Air in the H. G. Wells story "War of the Worlds," Producer Orson Welles little thought that their acting skill would send the nation into a panic. Welles is shown, with hands upraised, directing the actors who are gathered, scripts in hand, around the microphone in the foreground. So realistic was the Welles production of the utterly imaginative tale of a descent upon earth of monstrous people from Mars, that radio listeners from New York to San Francisco and Canada to the Gulf of Mexico believed the catastrophe was really happening. Many were injured in the widespread panic that ensued. Snipe on reverse side of original photo distributed October 31, 1938, reads as follows:Awe-Inspiring Mercury Theater Group In RehearsalNew York City—A rehearsal session of the Mercury Theater radio group which threw the nation into a panic with its radio dramatization of H. G. Wells' novel, "The War of the Worlds," is pictured above. Standing with his arms upraised is Producer Orson Welles. This is not a picture of the rehearsal of the startling presentation, but is a typical Mercury Theater rehearsal shot. The highly realistic arrangment of the novel, with Welles acting in the role of a news commentator reporting catastrophic happenings in New Jersey where a band of warriors from Mars, according to the story, were spreading destruction and death with weapons invulnerable to human attack, sent thousands of listeners into hysteria. Many listeners believed they were hearing an actual news broadcast.Your credit line must read (Acme Telephoto)
context_page_description: Bernard Herrmann was an American composer best known for his work in composing for motion pictures. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers.
  An Academy Award-winner, Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo. He also composed scores for many other films, including Citizen Kane, Anna and the King of Siam, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Cape Fear, Fahrenheit 451, and Taxi Driver. He worked extensively in radio drama, composed the scores for several fantasy films by Ray Harryhausen, and many TV programs, including Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone and Have Gun – Will Travel.
context_section_description: While at CBS, Herrmann met Orson Welles, and wrote or arranged scores for radio shows in which Welles appeared or wrote, such as the Columbia Workshop, Welles's Mercury Theatre on the Air and Campbell Playhouse series (1938–1940), which were radio adaptations of literature and film. He conducted the live performances, including Welles's famous adaptation of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds broadcast on October 30, 1938, which consisted entirely of pre-existing music. Herrmann used large sections of his score for the inaugural broadcast of The Campbell Playhouse, an adaptation of Rebecca, for the feature film Jane Eyre (1943), the third film in which Welles starred.
  When Welles gained his RKO Pictures contract, Herrmann worked for him. He wrote his first film score for Citizen Kane (1941) and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Score of a Dramatic Picture. He composed the score for Welles's second film, The Magnificent Ambersons (1942); like the film itself, the music was heavily edited by the studio, RKO Pictures. When more than half of his score was removed from the soundtrack, Herrmann bitterly severed his ties with the film and promised legal action if his name were not removed from the credits.
  Herrmann also created the music for Welles's CBS radio series The Orson Welles Show (1941–1942), which included the debut of his wife Lucille Fletcher's suspense classic, The Hitch-Hiker; Ceiling Unlimited (1942), a program conceived to glorify the aviation industry and dramatize its role in World War II; and The Mercury Summer Theatre on the Air (1946). "Benny Herrmann was an intimate member of the family," Welles told filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich.
  Herrmann was among those who rebutted the charges Pauline Kael made in her 1971 essay "Raising Kane", in which she revived controversy over the authorship of the screenplay for Citizen Kane and denigrated Welles's contributions.
caption: Herrmann conducts the CBS Radio orchestra at a rehearsal of The Mercury Theatre on the Air directed by Orson Welles (1938)
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