DescriptionMercury-Theatre-Radio-Rehearsal-1938.jpg	English: Photograph of a rehearsal of CBS Radio's The Mercury Theatre on the Air, printed in many US newspapers following the broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" Subjects include Orson Welles, with arms upraised; Bernard Herrmann, conducting the CBS Radio orchestra; actor Ray Collins at the CBS microphone; Richard Wilson (white shirt) beside him; William Alland to Wilson's left; and Arthur Anderson. Caption reads as follows: Producer Welles—In Action While he rehearsed the cast of the Mercury Theater of the Air in the H. G. Wells story "War of the Worlds," Producer Orson Welles little thought that their acting skill would send the nation into a panic. Welles is shown, with hands upraised, directing the actors who are gathered, scripts in hand, around the microphone in the foreground. So realistic was the Welles production of the utterly imaginative tale of a descent upon earth of monstrous people from Mars, that radio listeners from New York to San Francisco and Canada to the Gulf of Mexico believed the catastrophe was really happening. Many were injured in the widespread panic that ensued. Snipe on reverse side of original photo distributed October 31, 1938, reads as follows: Awe-Inspiring Mercury Theater Group In Rehearsal New York City—A rehearsal session of the Mercury Theater radio group which threw the nation into a panic with its radio dramatization of H. G. Wells' novel, "The War of the Worlds," is pictured above. Standing with his arms upraised is Producer Orson Welles. This is not a picture of the rehearsal of the startling presentation, but is a typical Mercury Theater rehearsal shot. The highly realistic arrangment of the novel, with Welles acting in the role of a news commentator reporting catastrophic happenings in New Jersey where a band of warriors from Mars, according to the story, were spreading destruction and death with weapons invulnerable to human attack, sent thousands of listeners into hysteria. Many listeners believed they were hearing an actual news broadcast. Your credit line must read (Acme Telephoto)
Date	3 November 1938
Source	The Gastonia Daily Gazette (North Carolina), November 3, 1938 (page 8)
Author	Acme Telephoto
Permission (Reusing this file)	Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States between 1929 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice. For further explanation, see Commons:Hirtle chart as well as a detailed definition of "publication" for public art. Note that it may still be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works (depending on the date of the author's death), such as Canada (50 p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 p.m.a.), Mexico (100 p.m.a.), Switzerland (70 p.m.a.), and other countries with individual treaties. العربية ∙ беларуская (тарашкевіца) ∙ čeština ∙ Deutsch ∙ Ελληνικά ∙ English ∙ español ∙ français ∙ Bahasa Indonesia ∙ italiano ∙ 日本語 ∙ 한국어 ∙ македонски ∙ Nederlands ∙ português ∙ русский ∙ sicilianu ∙ slovenščina ∙ ไทย ∙ Tiếng Việt ∙ 中文（简体） ∙ 中文（繁體） ∙ +/−
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The photograph is printed with no copyright notice and no credit line. )

• Original copyright registrations were checked in artwork for the year 1938 and there were no listings for Acme News Photos.
• The Library of Congress noted the following regarding Acme News Photos: "In an attempt to determine if ACME registered any copyrights and if those copyrights were renewed, Specialists in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress searched the Copyright Office files. It was found that only a few images were registered for copyright and those copyrights were not renewed."