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This evening in 1938 occurred something which it is difficult to believe could happen these days. It was the evening that CBS aired Orson Welles’ adaptation of H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds and which brought short-lived panic to some American homes.
Published in 1898, Wells’ The War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel describing the invasion of London and the southern counties by alien creatures who set out to destroy life on earth. At the time of its publication it was considered to be a scientific romance, though that changed on the evening of 30 October 1938 when nervousness about German ambitions in Europe gave it another slant and some folk believed the US had actually been invaded by aliens.
Orson Welles adapted Wells’ novel, set it in America and treated it as if it were a news broadcast, though an announcement was made at the outset and during a mid-programme station identification break making it clear that it was just an episode of Mercury Theatre On The Air. Those announcements, however, were thought to have been missed by those who juggled their listening between the CBS Welles’ programme and NBC’s Chase and Sanborn Hour hosted by Don Ameche or just plain misunderstood.
In the Welles adaptation, the Martians landed in Grover’s Mill, a village in New Jersey. After the introduction, the programme proceeded with a weather report, then a dance band which was interrupted by a news flash about strange explosions on Mars. The news reports then grow more frequent and ominous, reporting meteorite strikes in Grover’s Mill which are then seen to be spacecraft housing tentacled Martians with death rays. The news becomes more and more desperate until Welles, in the guise of an astronomer and university professor describes the aftermath of the attacks with the Martians finally falling victims to earthly germs.
Newspapers gleefully reported that mass panic ensued, that people were fleeing the area and that some could smell poison gas or see flashes of lightning in the sky, etc. Large crowds had even congregated at Grover’s Mill Within a month, it was estimated that there had been 12,500 newspaper articles about the broadcast or its impact, though later studies suggested that there had been far less panic than had first been suggested.
The play propelled Orson Welles into stardom, though he was censured for the way in which apparent news broadcasts were used as its story line. Welles and Wells met only once, in San Antonio, Texas, where a local radio station interviewed them in joking fashion about the Halloween adaptation of the novel.
Of course, it is clever to say that people listening to the Welles’ play had overactive imaginations though, of course, there are always those who implicitly believe that what they see or hear is real. As witness the national heartbreak caused in 1955 when Grace Archer was killed in the barn fire or those who thought the Panorama piece two years later about the spaghetti harvest was true.
Happy Halloween!
.
This evening in 1938 occurred something which it is difficult to believe could happen these days. It was the evening that CBS aired Orson Welles’ adaptation of H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds and which brought short-lived panic to some American homes.
Published in 1898, Wells’ The War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel describing the invasion of London and the southern counties by alien creatures who set out to destroy life on earth. At the time of its publication it was considered to be a scientific romance, though that changed on the evening of 30 October 1938 when nervousness about German ambitions in Europe gave it another slant and some folk believed the US had actually been invaded by aliens.
Orson Welles adapted Wells’ novel, set it in America and treated it as if it were a news broadcast, though an announcement was made at the outset and during a mid-programme station identification break making it clear that it was just an episode of Mercury Theatre On The Air. Those announcements, however, were thought to have been missed by those who juggled their listening between the CBS Welles’ programme and NBC’s Chase and Sanborn Hour hosted by Don Ameche or just plain misunderstood.
In the Welles adaptation, the Martians landed in Grover’s Mill, a village in New Jersey. After the introduction, the programme proceeded with a weather report, then a dance band which was interrupted by a news flash about strange explosions on Mars. The news reports then grow more frequent and ominous, reporting meteorite strikes in Grover’s Mill which are then seen to be spacecraft housing tentacled Martians with death rays. The news becomes more and more desperate until Welles, in the guise of an astronomer and university professor describes the aftermath of the attacks with the Martians finally falling victims to earthly germs.
Newspapers gleefully reported that mass panic ensued, that people were fleeing the area and that some could smell poison gas or see flashes of lightning in the sky, etc. Large crowds had even congregated at Grover’s Mill Within a month, it was estimated that there had been 12,500 newspaper articles about the broadcast or its impact, though later studies suggested that there had been far less panic than had first been suggested.
The play propelled Orson Welles into stardom, though he was censured for the way in which apparent news broadcasts were used as its story line. Welles and Wells met only once, in San Antonio, Texas, where a local radio station interviewed them in joking fashion about the Halloween adaptation of the novel.
Of course, it is clever to say that people listening to the Welles’ play had overactive imaginations though, of course, there are always those who implicitly believe that what they see or hear is real. As witness the national heartbreak caused in 1955 when Grace Archer was killed in the barn fire or those who thought the Panorama piece two years later about the spaghetti harvest was true.
Happy Halloween!
.
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