John Houseman abandoned in favor of Bram Stoker's "Dracula", with Welles playing the infamous vampire. During an all night session at Perkins' Restaurant, Welles and Houseman hashed out a script. "The Mercury Theatre on the Air" featured an impressive array of talents, including Agnes Moorehead, Bernard Herrmann, and George Coulouris. "The Mercury Theatre on the Air" subsequently became famous for its notorious 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds", which had put much of the country in a panic. By all accounts, Welles was shocked by the panic that ensued. According to Houseman, "he hadn't the faintest
The Orson Welles Almanac Jazz Group (which Welles often called the All Star Jazz Combination or the Mercury All Star Jazz Combination) first performed on "The Orson Welles Almanac" on March 15, 1944. Its last performance was July 12, 1944, on the penultimate show in the series. The performances on Welles's show were so popular that the band became a regular feature, launched Ory's comeback, and was an important force in reviving interest in New Orleans jazz. On the morning of the fifth broadcast, April 19, 1944, Jimmie Noone suddenly died at home of a heart attack, aged 48. Welles telephoned Ory and told