The Mercury Theatre - Who WERE these people anyway?

[mteal]

I'm currently contemplating an attempt at a book on Welles' enormous radio career. To that end, I recently perused Jonathon Rosenbaum's chronology of Welles' career in This Is Orson Welles. I figure it all starts with the Mercury, so here's the general personell, with some casual observations:

The Mercury Theatre (80 60-minute radio programs, 10 stage productions, 4 films, 15 30-minute summer radio programs, 4 Shakespeare LPs)

Director and Star
Orson Welles

Manager
John Houseman (later Jack Moss, Richard Wilson?)

Stars
Joseph Cotton (6 theatre productions, 12 radio shows, 3 films)
Ray Collins (1 theatre production, 58 radio shows, 2 films)
Agnes Moorehead (23 radio shows, 3 films)
Everett Sloane (1 theatre production, 42 radio shows, 2 films, 1 LP)
Edgar Barrier (4 theatre productions, 33 radio shows, 2 films, 4 LPs)
George Colouris (3 theatre productions, 21 radio shows, 1 film, 3 LPs)
Erskine Sanford (4 theatre productions, 5 radio shows, 4 films, 4 LPs)
Frank Readick Jr. (26 radio shows, 1 film)
Eustace Wyatt (4 theatre productions, 17 radio shows, 1 film, 1 LP)
William Alland (5 theatre productions, 27 radio shows, 2 films, 4 LPs)
Paul Stewart (1 theatre production, 6 radio programs, 1 film)
Gus Schilling (1 theatre production, 4 radio shows, 3 films, 1 LP)
Martin Gabel (Ceasar, Dracula on radio)

Auxillery members
Ruth Warrick (2 films)
Dorothy Cumingore (1 film, 1 radio pgm)
Richard Bennett (2 films)
Normann Lloyd (1 theatre)
Alice Frost (1 theatre, various radio shows)
Arlene Francis (2 theatre, various radio)
Eliot Ried (2 theatre, 6 radio shows)
Hiram Sherman (early theatre productions)
Stefan Schnabel (2 theatre, 5 radio shows, Mercury Summer Theatre)
Alfred Shirly (10 radio shows)
Richard Barr (1 theatre, 5 radio shows, 2 LPs)
Brenda Forbes (1 theatre, 7 radio shows, 1 LP)
Arthur Anderson (various radio)
Virginia Nicholson (early radio pgms)

Welles' Mercury Summer Theatre co-stars
Mercedes McCambridge
Brainerd Duffield

If anyone has any info or comments on any of the above personell, feel free to post it. Thanks.

[mteal]

The Mercury Theatre (behind the scenes guys)

Composers
Bernard Hermann, Marc Blitztein, Paul Bowles, Aaron Copeland, Lud Gluskin

Theatre Lighting
Abe Feder

Writers
John Houseman, Orson Welles, Howard Koch, Hermann J. Mankewicz, John Tucker Battle, Milton Gieger, Brainerd Duffield, Norman Corwin

Assistant Director
Norman Foster

Feel free to comment on any of these too.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

in composers,

you left out Lud Gluskin.

in his almanacs, orson said that Lud Gluskin sounded like an unborn burp.

bye now!

[mteal]

But was the O.W. Almanac a Mercury show? I suppose you could say it was, since many Mercury players appeared on it regularly.

I also forgot Aaron Copland, who composed the music for Five Kings. I'd like to hear that sometime. I've made the changes, and also added Arthur Anderson, the Mercury's resident child actor.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

i have a book on "Ruth Warrick". you want me to send it to you so you can look through it?

[mteal]

That's OK, just post the title and any relevant info that you find interesting. Also, thanks for reminding me about Ruth Warrick. I forgot to put her on the list, even tho she was just an auxillery member of the Mercury. And I also forgot another short-time member, Norman Lloyd. Looking at Jeff's logo just finally jarred my memory about that. I've made the corrections, along with adding Dorothy Cumingore. I'm sure they won't be the last corrections.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

ok.

the title is "the confessions of phoebe tyler"

and about information on mr. arthur anderson, i've only got the few pages from the book that comes with an Orson Welles Radio Set. i've scanned those pages, and can send them to you.

bye now!

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

Just about the only information i can find on these guys comes from their obituaries.

have got: paul stewart; william alland; so far

i think george coulouris and martin gabel can be found in "search"

bye now!

[mteal]

That's great, Natalie. Just post whatever you feel is relevant to Welles. I'd like to eventually do a brief, maybe 1 to 2 paragraph biography of all the major Mercury players. If you want to do one on Arthur Anderson or any of the others, feel free. I think the imdb data base has info on the film appearances of even the most obscure actors and actresses.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

William Alland:

As an actor, Alland's only other film was a version of "Macbeth" (orson's)

But he went on to produce 28 feature films, primarily low-budget science fiction and cult genre "quickies" sometimes called the "nine-day wonders"

His output also included the respected "The Lady Takes A Flyer" with Lana Turner in 1958 and his last film, "The Rare Breed" with James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara in 1966.

Science fiction favorites produced by Alland include "It Came From Outer Space," "This Island Earth" and "Creature From The Black Lagoon" and two sequels.

Defending such films to Times entertainment writer Philip K. Scheuer in 1958, Alland said: "They inevitably have a thematic idea, a scientific way of affirming the dignity and permanence of man."

Among Alland's other films were "The Mole People," "Tarantuala," "Raw Wind In Eden," "The Livley Set," "Too Young For Love" and "The Party Crashers."

After ending his Hollywood career, Alland developed and manufactured sailboats. For the past 10 years he had worked part time for the Los Angeles Times Poll.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

Paul Stewart:

Born in New York City, Stewart began his stage career there as a teen-ager. In 1938, he joined with Welles as associate producer of the notorious Mercury Theatre production "War of the Worlds."

Welles became a household name as a result. But the "Martian invasion" also served as a powerful professional credit for Stewart, who ultimately played in or directed some 5,000 radio and television shows and had a role in more than 50 films.

Stewart, a founder of the American Federation of Radio Artists, and Welles became friends and, in 1941, he made his screen debut in Welles' movie classic, "Citizen Kane," playing the role of Charles Foster Kane's valet.

Respected in the acting profession as an actor's actor, Stewart became sought after as someone who had "that big town look"---a guy with a lot of angles to his profile who could project a cold-blooded look and who was cast as the shifty crook in "The Window," the harassed medic in "Twelve O'Clock High," or the fight manager in "Champion."

But Stewart was always the first to say that "people know my face but not my name."

Stewart and his wife, known professionally as Peg LaCentra, a popular vocalist who sang for a time with Artie Shaw's band, were married in 1939. The two were on radio together a good deal, notably as members of the original daily "March of Time" program.


Dreamed Of Starring Roles

With his meteoric career start, Stewart once reminisced that, with his tough good looks, he had ideas of becoming another Gable, Bogart or Cagney.

"I thought I'd have a chance," he said. "But I came along on the cusp of that trend. It was going out of fashion and I got stuck as a heavy. I played subtle heavies, assistant heavies, stylish, rich heavies."

In the 1950's, Stewart began directing for television, but also continued working as an actor, in television, film and on the stage.

His television directing and acting credits included "The Defenders," some of the "Twilight Zone" productions, "Hawaiian Eye," "Streets Of San Francisco" and "Cannon."

On the screen, he had roles in a number of films, including "The Greatest Story Ever Told," "In Cold Blood" and "Revenge Of The Pink Panther."

His last stage performance was in "Mr. Roberts," in the role of Doc opposite Henry Fonda.

Stewart was on the board of the Screen Actors Guild, a member of the Directors Guild of America and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

Richard Wilson:

Born in McKeesport, PA, the son of a steel executive, Wilson moved to Denver with his parents and studied drama there, winning honors as an actor and announcer while in high school.

He went to New York in 1936 and a year later joined Orson Welles in the founding of the Mercury Theatre, where he was an actor and stage manager for a production of "Julius Caesar".

While staging plays he also worked on the Mercury Theatre on the air.

During WWII, he worked as chief of the operations division of the Office of Strategic Services and was head photographic officer for the United Nations at its opening conference in San Francisco in 1945.

After the war, when Orson went abroad to work, Wilson joined Universal International producing "The Golden Blade" and some Ma and Pa Kettle films.

His other writing and directing credits include: "Man With a Gun," "A Raw Wind In Eden" and "The Big Boodle," one of Errol Flynn's last movies.

He also taught directing at USC.

Wilson, after working with Orson, established his own credits for film directing such as: "Al Capone," "Invitation To A Gunfighter," and "Pay or Die," a Mafia-centered drama which he wrote himself. That picture was said to have influenced the work of Martin Scorsese and Francis Coppola.

He was producing a film based on the reconstruction of "It's All True" at the time of his death.

In 1963, Wilson looked back on his years-long affiliation with Orson. "Orson is the world's greatest living director," he said, years before Orsons' death, "but he doesn't always make the best films."

[Store Hadji]

Norman Foster directed several episodes of the Adam West Batman series, which guest starred such Mercury alumni as Burgess Meredith, Vincent Price, and Anne Baxter.

Another music composer for the First Person Singular series was Victor Young.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

nothing fancy about him yet, but found out that Mr. Gus Schilling, who was waiter in Citizen Kane and "Goldie" in lady from shanghai was also in Macbeth and Touch of Evil.

uncredited though. i'll have more on him later on.

bye now!

[mteal]

Store Hadji,
Anne Baxter guest starred on the Batman TV show? What part did she play?