The War of the Worlds (radio drama)
Orson Welles tells reporters that no one connected with the broadcast had any idea it would cause panic (October 31, 1938)
|
|
| Genre | Radio drama, science fiction |
|---|---|
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Home station | CBS Radio |
| Hosted by | The Mercury Theatre on the Air |
| Starring | |
| Announcer | Dan Seymour |
| Written by |
|
| Directed by |
|
| Produced by |
|
| Executive producer(s) | Davidson Taylor (for CBS) |
| Narrated by | Orson Welles |
| Recording studio | Columbia Broadcasting Building, 485 Madison Avenue, New York |
| Air dates | since October 30, 1938 |
| Opening theme | Piano Concerto No. 1, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky |
"The War of the Worlds" is an episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on Sunday, October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds (1898). It became famous for allegedly causing mass panic, although the reality of the panic is disputed as the program had relatively few listeners.
The first two-thirds of the one-hour broadcast was presented as a series of simulated news bulletins, which suggested an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress. The illusion of realism was furthered because the Mercury Theatre on the Air was a sustaining show without commercial interruptions, and the first break in the program came almost 30 minutes into the broadcast. Popular legend holds that some of the radio audience may have been listening to Edgar Bergen and tuned in to "The War of the Worlds" during a musical interlude, thereby missing the clear introduction that the show was a drama, but recent research suggests this only happened in rare instances.
In the days following the adaptation, widespread outrage was expressed in the media. The program's news-bulletin format was described as deceptive by some newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the perpetrators of the broadcast and calls for regulation by the Federal Communications Commission. The episode secured Welles's fame as a dramatist.
H. G. Wells's original novel tells the story of a Martian invasion of Earth. The novel was adapted by Howard E. Koch for the 17th episode of the CBS Radio series The Mercury Theatre on the Air, broadcast at 8 pm ET on Sunday, October 30, 1938. The program's format was a simulated live newscast of developing events. The setting was switched from 19th-century England to contemporary Grover's Mill, an unincorporated village in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, in the United States.
...
Wikipedia