The Mercury Theatre on the Air

The Mercury Theatre on the Air was set up as a production company by the star of the stage version, Orson “Awesome” Welles (pictured). Featuring an impressive roster of dramatised classics that began with Dracula and included War of The Worlds which prompted mass hysteria when it aired. Listeners unused to radio devoid of the usual advertisments were seriously alarmed when their normal schedule was interupted by news reports of a martian invasion. Here starts urban legend, one of the best being a town experiencing a power cut during the programme witnessed its families taking to the surrounding mountains for fear of abduction. Very nice.