It was on this night, October 30, 1938 that an
episode of the American radio drama anthology series, The Mercury Theater on
the Air performed an episode which was an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel “The
War of the Worlds.” (1898)
The Columbia Broadcasting System radio network
aired the program which was directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker
Orson Welles.
The Mercury Theater on the Air was radio program
that played without commercial breaks and had a program playing that was
repeatedly interrupted as the main show was presented as simulated news
broadcasts for the first two thirds of the 60 minute broadcast, which suggested
to many listeners that the news broadcasts were of an actual alien invasion by
Martians that was currently in progress.
In the days following the broadcast there was
widespread outrage and panic by many listeners of the program who had believed
the events described in the program were real.
The program used a news bulletin format that was later described as
cruelly deceptive by some newspapers and public figures. This episode made Orson Welles famous despite
the outcry and rage focused at the perpetrators of the program.
Orson Welles had played recordings of Herbert
Morrison’s radio reports of the Hindenburg disaster for actor Frank Readick and
the rest of the cast to demonstrate the mood he wanted to portray with the
broadcast.
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