Mercury Theatre on the Air: The War of the Worlds

Perhaps the most famous Halloween radio broadcast of all time, The War of the Worlds. 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 actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells's 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), adding to the program's 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 and panic by certain listeners who believed the events described in the program were real. 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. The episode secured Welles's fame. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Click PLAY below to listen to the original 1938 broadcast.



BONUS: This is a rare meeting between the author of The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells, and the brilliant Orson Welles who adapted his story to the radio. Enjoy!





Orson Welles apologizes for the The War of the Worlds broadcast (October 31 1938)



More info regarding the 75th Anniversary - http://mashable.com/2013/10/30/orson-welles-war-of-the-worlds/

And an interesting article disputing the validity of the original reports of panic that fateful night - http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/history/2013/10/orson_welles_war_of_the_worlds_panic_myth_the_infamous_radio_broadcast_did.2.html

This brand new 'War of the Worlds' documentary, 'War of the Welles' goes behind the scenes of the 1938 radio classic - http://www.scpr.org/programs/offramp/2013/10/25/34299/new-war-of-the-worlds-documentary-peeks-behind-the/