# Orson Welles - Mercury Theater - 1938 recordings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-welles-mercury-theater-1938-recordings/853363 "2020-05-07T22:38:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-welles-mercury-theater-1938-recordings/853363/1 "2020-05-07T22:38:48Z")
22 shows, about an hour each. So far I have listened to Dracula and A Tale of Two Cities. Both very good. [https://archive.org/details/OrsonWelles-MercuryTheater-1938Recordings/MercuryTheater38-07-25ATaleOfTwoCities.mp3](https://archive.org/details/OrsonWelles-MercuryTheater-1938Recordings/MercuryTheater38-07-25ATaleOfTwoCities.mp3) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-welles-mercury-theater-1938-recordings/853363/2 "2020-05-07T22:54:44Z")
It’s been years since I listened to it, but I remember thinking they did a pretty good adaptation of _the Man Who Was Thursday_. Of course, the most (in)famous show they did was _The War of the Worlds_. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-welles-mercury-theater-1938-recordings/853363/3 "2020-05-07T23:48:20Z")
The same source also provides _The Lives of Harry Lime_ (1951-52) radio show with Welles: “Orson Welles reprised his role of Harry Lime from the celebrated 1949 film adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel _The Third Man_. The radio series is a “prequel” to the film, and depicts the many misadventures of con-artist Lime in a somewhat lighter tone than the character’s villainy in the film.”