Orson Welles "First Person Singular", with the formula that Welles would play the lead in each show. Some months later the show was called "The Mercury Theatre on the Air". The weekly hour-long show presented radio plays based on classic literary works, with original music composed and conducted by Bernard Herrmann. The Mercury Theatre's radio adaptation of "The War of the Worlds" by H. G. Wells October 30, 1938, brought Welles instant fame. The combination of the news bulletin form of the performance with the between-breaks dial spinning habits of listeners was later reported to have created widespread confusion among listeners who
Orson Welles 28, 1941 – January 22, 1942. Throughout the shooting of the film Welles was also producing a weekly half-hour radio series, "The Orson Welles Show". Many of the "Ambersons" cast participated in the CBS Radio series, which ran September 15, 1941 – February 2, 1942. At RKO's request, Welles worked on an adaptation of Eric Ambler's spy thriller, "Journey into Fear", co-written with Joseph Cotten. In addition to acting in the film, Welles was the producer. Direction was credited to Norman Foster. Welles later said that they were in such a rush that the director of each scene was determined