Radio drama critical acclaim. Some of the many storytellers and monologists on early 1920s American radio might be able to claim even earlier dates. Perhaps America's most famous radio drama broadcast is Orson Welles' "The War of the Worlds" (a 1938 version of H. G. Wells' novel), which convinced large numbers of listeners that an actual invasion from Mars was taking place. By the late 1930s, radio drama was widely popular in the United States (and also in other parts of the world). There were dozens of programs in many different genres, from mysteries and thrillers, to soap operas and comedies. Among
The War of the Worlds (radio drama) the consequence is you can still play with ideas of terror and conflict... It's a natural thing to do until you're right up against it." "Until it ceases to be a game," Welles said, a phrase that Wells repeated. Britain and France had then been at war with Nazi Germany for more than a year. As the Mercury's second theatre season began in 1938, Orson Welles and John Houseman were unable to write the "Mercury Theatre on the Air" broadcasts on their own. They hired Howard Koch, whose experience in having a play performed by the Federal Theatre Project in