Orson Welles Welles had not been drafted. "The Mercury Wonder Show" ran August 3 – September 9, 1943, in an 80-by-120-foot tent located at 9000 Cahuenga Boulevard, in the heart of Hollywood. At intermission September 7, 1943, KMPC radio interviewed audience and cast members of "The Mercury Wonder Show"—including Welles and Rita Hayworth, who were married earlier that day. Welles remarked that "The Mercury Wonder Show" had been performed for approximately 48,000 members of the U.S. armed forces. The idea of doing a radio variety show occurred to Welles after his success as substitute host of four consecutive episodes (March 14 –
The Orson Welles Almanac label, all of them recorded August–November 1944 by the group Ertegun renamed Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band. "Viewed in perspective," Ertegun later wrote, "they are among the most significant jazz records ever made: they gave eloquent proof of the continuing vitality of New Orleans jazz at a time when such proof was needed." Broadcast July 19, 1944, from the Coast Guard camp in Long Beach, California, the final episode of "The Orson Welles Almanac" ends with a five-minute reading by Welles, "a short story, especially written for me to broadcast by one of the first talents in American literature, John