Orson Welles with an entirely African American cast, and the political musical "The Cradle Will Rock". In 1937 he and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory theatre company that presented a series of productions on Broadway through 1941. Welles found national and international fame as the director and narrator of a 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel "The War of the Worlds" performed for his radio anthology series "The Mercury Theatre on the Air". It reportedly caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was actually occurring. Although some contemporary sources say these
The Orson Welles Show attempt to enter the commercial field and earn my living as a talk show host. It was just a flop, that's all, nobody wanted it." Several clips from the pilot are included in the 1995 documentary "Orson Welles: One Man Band" (which was included with the DVD release of Welles' documentary "F for Fake"). The clips feature part of Welles' interview with the Muppets, and show the format was "in the round" with the audience surrounding the panel. One of the clips ends with Welles poking fun at the necessity of having to break for commercials. The Orson Welles Show