MERCURY THEATRE ON THE AIR: FIRST PERSON SINGULAR:
DRACULA {PREMIERE} (RADIO)
Summary
The premiere of this dramatic anthology series -- featuring adaptations of well-known novels, plays, and films -- produced, directed, written, hosted, and performed by Orson Welles, with the Mercury Theatre Company. This adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic horror story, "Dracula" -- recounted by various characters in the first person -- begins with the journal of Jonathan Harker, who arrives at the eerie castle of Count Dracula on a business matter and soon finds himself a prisoner of his pallid client. The frightened Harker is left alone at the castle when the Count departs for England in a carriage filled with coffins. Dr. Allen Seward picks up the tale, recalling the story of a schooner which crashed near the English shore with the captain's corpse lashed to the helm. A huge dog was seen leaping ashore as it crashed, and the ship's log releases the captain's voice: he writes of the ship's strange cargo and of the loss of his crew to a nocturnal creature. Later, Seward sends an urgent telegram to his old teacher, Professor Van Helsing, asking him to see him immediately. Seward's fiancŽe, Lucy, has taken gravely ill, and Van Helsing notices puncture wounds on her throat. Lucy soon falls prey to another visit from Dracula, and dies in Seward's arms. Later, the papers begin to report odd stories of children who return home with wounds to their throats after being lured by a beautiful woman. Van Helsing convinces Seward to spend the night at the churchyard where Lucy is buried. They make a shocking discovery, and Van Helsing informs Seward of the grisly act they must perform. When Harker is found wandering on the border of Transylvania in a state of delirium, he is nursed back to health by Seward. Harker's wife, Mina, recalls a meeting with Seward, Van Helsing, and her husband during which Van Helsing tells them of the existence of vampires. They make a solemn pact to destroy Dracula, and as they search for his coffins, Mina too, is bitten and grows ill. Van Helsing hypnotizes her and learns of Dracula's plans. The friends race to save Mina from the fate of the un-dead. Includes promos.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: July 11, 1938 Monday 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: N/A
- CATALOG ID: R86:0027
- GENRE: Radio - Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama
- SERIES RUN: CBS - Radio series, 1938-1940
- COMMERCIALS:
- Radio - Promos - "Mercury Theatre: Treasure Island"
CREDITS
- Orson Welles … Producer, Director, Adapted by
- Davidson Taylor … Production (Misc.), Production Supervisor for CBS
- Bram Stoker … Writer, Based on the novel "Dracula" by
- Bernard Herrmann … Composer, Conductor, Original music composed and conducted by
- Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky … Composer, "Piano Concerto no. 1 in B-Flat Minor"
- Orson Welles … Host, Cast, Dr. Arthur Seward and Count Dracula
- Dan Seymour … Announcer
- Martin Gabel … Cast, Dr. Van Helsing
- George Coulouris … Cast, Jonathan Harker
- Ray Collins … Cast, the Russian Captain
- Karl Swenson … Cast, the Mate
- Agnes Moorehead … Cast, Mina Harker
- Elizabeth Farrell … Cast, Lucy Westenra