Mercury Theatre on the Air: Dracula July 11, 1938

Cast and Roles for Mercury Theatre on the Air: Dracula (July 11, 1938)
Orson Welles as Count Dracula / Dr. Arthur Seward

Elizabeth Fuller as Lucy Westenra

George Coulouris as Jonathan Harker

Agnes Moorehead as Mina Harker

Martin Gabel as Dr. Van Helsing

Ray Collins as Russian Captain

Karl Swenson as Mate

Summary
The Mercury Theatre on the Air’s premiere episode, aired on July 11, 1938, adapts Bram Stoker’s Dracula in a brisk, atmospheric radio drama directed and narrated by Orson Welles. The story, presented through documents and journals compiled by Dr. Arthur Seward, follows Jonathan Harker’s harrowing journey to Count Dracula’s Transylvanian castle to finalize a real estate deal. Harker encounters eerie phenomena, including Dracula’s lack of reflection and control over wolves, and becomes a prisoner as Dracula departs for England with coffins filled with earth. In England, a shipwrecked schooner, the Demeter, arrives with its crew dead, and a mysterious dog vanishes into the night. Dr. Seward, treating his ailing fiancée Lucy Westenra, calls upon Dr. Van Helsing, who discovers Lucy’s illness stems from vampire bites. Despite efforts to protect her, Lucy dies and rises as a vampire. Meanwhile, Harker, recovered from his ordeal, joins Seward, Van Helsing, and his wife Mina to confront Dracula. They learn Dracula uses boxes of earth as sanctuaries and track them to Carfax, sterilizing 38 of 50 boxes with holy water to weaken him. As Dracula targets Mina, the group races to thwart his reign of terror, culminating in a tense battle against the vampire’s seductive and deadly power. The production, enhanced by Bernard Herrmann’s score and vivid sound effects, delivers a chilling, fast-paced horror tale faithful to Stoker’s novel