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 be out of town and sent John Huston to claim the award, thanking the Academy on film. Huston criticized the Academy for awarding Welles, even while they refused to give Welles any work. In 1972, Welles acted as on-screen narrator for the film documentary version of Alvin Toffler's 1970 book "Future Shock". Working again for a British producer, Welles played Long John Silver in director John Hough's "Treasure Island" (1972), an adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel, which had been the second story broadcast by "The Mercury Theatre on the Air" in 1938. This was the last time he