On October 30, 1938, 69 years ago, Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre on the Air troupe broadcast their radio adaptation of War of the Worlds. Infamously, his production was a bit too realistic. Many listeners thought the broadcast was real and that the earth was actually being invaded by martians.
Click on the link and go on over. It is, of course all sound so you can let it play in the background as Brian Saint-Paul suggests. [InsideCatholic has the link to Part 1 (above) of a seven part group needed to enjoy the entire War of the Worlds radio show. All the parts are posted on YouTube by huisoflondon at huisoflondon's Videos.]
If I remember the story as to why so many were sucked into this fiction correctly, it was because another very popular radio show on a different network ran late and people didn’t tune in until after Welles finished his intro. Having missed the set-up, they believed the broadcast to be real. Thus, when the newscaster begins to “interrupt” the music with “bulletins” they were sucked into the fictional “war” and panic ensued.
Remember, too, that back in 1939, there was no TV. People were encouraged to use their imagination when listening to radio dramas. Just two years earlier, at Lakehurst, New Jersey, the dirigible Hindenburg burned as live broadcasts carried the action to all the world but especially the east coast. ("Oh! The humanity!") The President of the United States regularly used the radio to address the nation in his “Fireside Chats.” The nation was conditioned to believe what they heard as news when it was broadcast via the radio. And Orson Welles’ crew did a great job of imitating the normal broadcasts of the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment