The Orson Welles Show, sponsored by Lady Esther Co., made its debut on the Columbia Broadcasting System on September 15, 1941.
The live Monday night radio series, which ran through February 2, 1942 when Welles departed for South America to film It’s All True, is memorable for a number of reasons.
Many of the shows were broadcast while Welles was filming The Magnificent Ambersons for RKO Pictures. As a result, Welles is joined in some episodes by Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Tim Holt, Anne Baxter, Ray Collins and Erskine Sanford. (Paul Stewart, Everett Sloane and other Mercury Theatre regulars also made appearances).
Steady girlfriend Dolores del Rio and future wife Rita Hayworth were guests on the live show, as were stars like Lucille Ball, Ginger Rogers, Merle Oberon, Gerladine Fitzgerald and John Barrymore.
Orson Welles Show mixed drama, music and comedy with Almanac, a commentary delivered by Welles.
The series also marked the debut of The Hitch-Hiker, a classic radio play Louis Fletcher, wife of composer Bernard Hermann.
The final episode, which featured the Norman Corwin story Between Americans, concluded with Welles telling listeners of his plans to travel to Brazil and shoot the ill-fated It’s All True, “Tomorrow night the Mercury Theatre starts for South America. The reason, put more or less officially, is that I’ve been asked by the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to do a motion picture especially for Americans in all the Americas, a movie which, in its particular way, might strengthen the good relations now binding the continents of the Western Hemisphere.”
Downloads of several episodes of the Orson Welles Show are available at http://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/drama/mercury-theater-lady-esther-presents-orson-welles
Listen to streaming audio highlights of Welles’ radio career at https://www.wellesnet.com/audio-orson-welles-the-radio-years/
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