The War of the Worlds - Original Broadcast

Orson Wells - The War of the Worlds - Original Broadcast

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Artist: Orson Wells
Edition: Music CD
Music Label: War of the Worlds - Radio Broadcast
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The War Of The Worlds - Orson Wells

Music reviews of The War of the Worlds - Original Broadcast

Music Review: The Radio Broadcast That Brought Much of America To A Screeching Halt
Rating: 5 Stars

Orson Wells was not particularly enthusiastic when writer Howard Koch delivered an adaptation of H.G. Wells THE WAR OF THE WORLDS to radio's celebrated Mercury Theatre; he believed audiences would find it too implausible for interest. Even so, the production went forward, and on 30 October 1938 the script was broadcast coast-to-coast with Wells in a leading role. Far from finding it implausible, listeners believed it was in fact a news broadcast--and from New York to San Fransico, from Chicago to New Orleans, people believed the United States of America was under attack by the planet Mars.

Subsequent studies suggest that only about twenty percent of listeners failed to recognize the broadcast as a radio play--but that twenty percent was sufficient to give rise to the first instance of media-induced mass hysteria in recorded history. Switchboards were jammed and surprisingly large numbers of people attempted to flee cities along the eastern seaboard. This was particularly true in New York, which the play described as under Martian attack via a cloud of deadly gas.

Heard today, it easy to understand how so many people made such a wild mistake. In the late 1930s America was accustomed to receiving news from the radio--and much of that news, particularly relating to Europe and the rise of Nazi Germany, was bad. "War Jitters" were commonplace. And although it had been widely publicized as a radio play, and although the broadcast began with a CBS and Mercury Theatre identification, the first half hour of the program sounded EXACTLY like the sort of news broadcasts the public was used to. Those who tuned in late, turning the dial from channel to channel in search of something interesting, were stunned to find themselves listening to what seemed to be the end of the world.

Following a brief narrative by Orson Wells, the program seques into what seems a commonplace weather report followed by the announcement of a musical program by "Ramon Raquello and his orchestra" at the "Meridian Room at the Hotel Park Plaza in downtown New York"--precisely the sort of radio fare common to the era. But the music is soon interrupted by a "special bulletin." Flashes of light have been seen on Mars. More special bulletins follow: an interview with a noted astronomer (Wells); reports of fallen a meteor near Trenton, New Jersey. And then, of course, the portion of the program that sent people screaming into the streets: a special report from the scene itself, where hideous creatures with savage weapons emerge from the meteor.

Annoucements and news from various officials follow, with perhaps the single most chilling episode the declaration of martial law and an announcement from "The Secretary of the Interior." Air planes attack, but to no avail. The remainder of the program is very obviously a radio play, a narrative performed by Wells with the aid of one two actors as the play winds down to its end. There follows Wells' famous statement--prompted by the mass hysteria of which CBS was suddenly and most unhappily now aware--that this is just "The Mercury Theatre's own radio version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying Boo!"

The BN Publishing CD release of the broadcast has not been cleaned up and it shows its age--there are plenty of crackles, particularly in the first few minutes of the recording, and a full restoration seems in order. The packaging is sparse; the CD is issued without liner notes. Still, it is an amazing thing, to listen to THE WAR OF THE WORLDS and think about how easily the public was duped, how ready they were to believe that we were indeed being invaded by creatures from the planet Mars. Strongly recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

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