Post by Jude on Apr 16, 2015 15:28:05 GMT -6
After receiving a request from a fellow HH member to bring this certain thread over from TOS, I have of course obliged while being humbled at the same time. I'm glad it was enjoyed and would like to share it here with all of you as a result.
In its entirety...Enjoy!
For some reason I woke up today with this on my mind. No idea as to why. Strange huh?
So off I went in search for the original radio broadcast of Orson Welles and "The World of The Worlds". It worked so well that panic was the order of the day!
The newspapers were of course already in full sell mode:
People were in fear for their lives!
Read the rest here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_%28radio_drama%29#Public_reaction
Many of you have probably heard the broadcast, not live of course but I believe there are also many that haven't had a chance. And there are most likely those that are unaware of the event.
It's a long broadcast but well worth the entertainment value for a Sunday morning or afternoon listening. Just hit play and go about your day while listening. Keep in mind that in those days, the radio was actually the authority on news so who could deny that we were actually being invaded? It was after all, on the radio!
Orson Welles - War Of The Worlds - Radio Broadcast 1938 - Complete Broadcast.
And of course, his apology the next day:
I'm listening to it now, the language, voices, writing, etc still pull the listener in. Especially when you realize that it was all done inside a studio using nothing but a few mics, a script and cheap noise effects. And to imagine how gullible, perhaps even innocent we were just a short time ago is actually refreshing.
Enjoy!
Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening HH!
Jude
In its entirety...Enjoy!
For some reason I woke up today with this on my mind. No idea as to why. Strange huh?
So off I went in search for the original radio broadcast of Orson Welles and "The World of The Worlds". It worked so well that panic was the order of the day!
The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938 and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds.
The first two thirds of the 60-minute broadcast were presented as a series of simulated "news bulletins", which suggested to many listeners that an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress. Compounding the issue was the fact that the Mercury Theatre on the Air was a 'sustaining show' (it ran without commercial breaks), thus adding to the program's quality of realism.
Although there were sensationalist accounts in the press about a supposed panic in response to the broadcast, the precise extent of listener response has been debated. In the days following the adaptation, however, there was widespread outrage. The program's news-bulletin format was decried as cruelly deceptive by some newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the perpetrators of the broadcast, but the episode secured Orson Welles' fame. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_%28radio_drama%29
The first two thirds of the 60-minute broadcast were presented as a series of simulated "news bulletins", which suggested to many listeners that an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress. Compounding the issue was the fact that the Mercury Theatre on the Air was a 'sustaining show' (it ran without commercial breaks), thus adding to the program's quality of realism.
Although there were sensationalist accounts in the press about a supposed panic in response to the broadcast, the precise extent of listener response has been debated. In the days following the adaptation, however, there was widespread outrage. The program's news-bulletin format was decried as cruelly deceptive by some newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the perpetrators of the broadcast, but the episode secured Orson Welles' fame. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_%28radio_drama%29
The newspapers were of course already in full sell mode:
The building was suddenly full of people and dark-blue uniforms. Hustled out of the studio, we were locked into a small back office on another floor. Here we sat incommunicado while network employees were busily collecting, destroying or locking up all scripts and records of the broadcast. Finally the Press was let loose upon us, ravening for horror. How many deaths had we heard of? (Implying they knew of thousands.) What did we know of the fatal stampede in a Jersey hall? (Implying it was one of many.) What traffic deaths? (The ditches must be choked with corpses.) The suicides? (Haven't you heard about the one on Riverside Drive?) It is all quite vague in my memory and quite terrible.
People were in fear for their lives!
Some listeners heard only a portion of the broadcast and, in the tension and anxiety prior to World War II, mistook it for a genuine news broadcast.[21] Newspapers reported that panic ensued, with people across the Northeastern United States and Canada fleeing their homes. Some people called CBS, newspapers, or the police in confusion.
Read the rest here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_%28radio_drama%29#Public_reaction
Many of you have probably heard the broadcast, not live of course but I believe there are also many that haven't had a chance. And there are most likely those that are unaware of the event.
It's a long broadcast but well worth the entertainment value for a Sunday morning or afternoon listening. Just hit play and go about your day while listening. Keep in mind that in those days, the radio was actually the authority on news so who could deny that we were actually being invaded? It was after all, on the radio!
Orson Welles - War Of The Worlds - Radio Broadcast 1938 - Complete Broadcast.
And of course, his apology the next day:
I'm listening to it now, the language, voices, writing, etc still pull the listener in. Especially when you realize that it was all done inside a studio using nothing but a few mics, a script and cheap noise effects. And to imagine how gullible, perhaps even innocent we were just a short time ago is actually refreshing.
Enjoy!
Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening HH!
Jude