70th anniversary of great radio show coming up!

[HiredGoon]

The War of the Worlds is an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween special on October 30, 1938 and aired over the CBS Radio network. Directed by 23 year old Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' classic novel The War of the Worlds.

The first half of the 60 minute broadcast was presented as a series of news bulletins, and suggested to many listeners that an actual Martian invasion was in progress. There was public outcry against the episode, but it launched Welles to great fame. There is controversy about whether people panicked in the streets, and a series of urban legends have grown up around the production which suggest that major disturbances took place.

Welles' adaptation is arguably the most well-known radio dramatic production in history.

MP3 version of complete show

[PA Rifleman]

Mom and Dad mentioned it, and recited that a few folks that tuned in mid-show panicked & committed suicide.

One point to remember is we have the benefit of hindsight. I grew up surrounded by the W.W.II generation, I was one of the few kids that still listened to AM radio shows*. With radio shows (particularly horror shows), they would use your imagination like a lever, in many ways more frightening than today's movies. Perhaps it was the added factor of the fear of the unknown.

I heard it in my youth (1960s) and it was scary even knowing it was fiction.

Nice link, thanks, brings back memories.


* Vacuum tubes all the way -- I didn't get a transistor radio until the mid 1970s.

[HiredGoon]

Mom and Dad mentioned it, and recited that a few folks that tuned in mid-show panicked & committed suicide.

One point to remember is we have the benefit of hindsight. I grew up surrounded by the W.W.II generation, I was one of the few kids that still listened to AM radio shows*. With radio shows (particularly horror shows), they would use your imagination like a lever, in many ways more frightening than today's movies. Perhaps it was the added factor of the fear of the unknown.

I heard it in my youth (1960s) and it was scary even knowing it was fiction.

Nice link, thanks, brings back memories.


* Vacuum tubes all the way -- I didn't get a transistor radio until the mid 1970s.

Glad you enjoyed it...I always found it a very interesting show, I first heard it as a kid in the 1970s. There's lots of stuff on the web about it if you do a search. Orson was very creative with his production. And some say he planned it all to make people think we were actually being invaded...since he used the newscast format. Excellent!