Communication

Happy Halloween: War of the Worlds

This blog entry was inspired when I started reading Broadcast History by A. Brad Schwartz and thought it would be fun to try and find some of the primary sources he used. Some are from Auburn Libraries' collections and some are publicly available on the web. 

Broadcast Hysteria by A. Brad Schwartz

Also, if you would like to see Mr. Schwartz's Book Talk about Broadcast Hysteria on C-SPAN. It was originally broadcast on May 28, 2015, and you can view it here: https://www.c-span.org/video/?326380-1/a-brad-schwartz-broadcast-hysteria.

 

"WHEN THEY TOLD IT ON THE RADIO . . . IT TERRIFIED THE WHOLE COUNTRY"

One of the most famous pranks for Halloween was the 1938 Mercury Theatre on the Air radio adaptation of H.G. Well's War of the Worlds. The illustration on the right is the cover from the 1938 re-issue of War of the World published by Dell. It is obvious Dell is capitalizing on the aftermath of the broadcast. 

 

 

 

 

This was the farmer William Dock from Grover's Mill who posed for this photograph for a New York Herald photographer and later reprinted in the Nov. 14, 1938, issue of Life.

 

You can listen to the broadcast below, but you can also down the recording as an mp3 (there are also other formats) from the Internet Archive. 

 

 

Formal Citation

Gallup Organization. Gallup Poll (AIPO), Dec, 1938 [survey question]. USGALLUP.38-141.Q07E. Gallup Organization [producer]. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, iPOLL [distributor], accessed Oct-31-2019.

Acknowledgement

The survey results reported here were obtained from searches of the iPOLL Databank and other resources provided by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.

Before there was Welles' "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast there was Ronald Knox's "A Forgotten Interlude". Knox broadcast this in January 1926, on BBC Radio and some listeners were also taken in by the faux news much like those for "War of the World". Knox parodied the BBC news broadcasts of the day, and introduced the idea that there was a riot in London where eventually the Savoy hotel was bombed. I was unable to find a free copy of Knox's parody, but if you are interested, you may read it in his collected works Essays in Satire.

Essays in Satire by Ronald A. Knox

Although there is some discussion of where Welles got the idea to utilize news bulletins as part of a radio drama, he claimed that it was Knox's piece that influenced him. This was from interviews he did with Peter Bogdanovich which were published in 

If you're interested in H.G. Wells' novel itself, we have an edited copies as well as access to copies in the public domain.

The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells; Martin A. Danahay (Editor)

Call Number: PR 5774 .W3 2003

ISBN: 1551113538

Publication Date: 2003-06-01

H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, the first story to speculate about the consequences of aliens (from Mars) with superior technology landing on earth, is one of the most influential science fiction books ever written. The novel is both a thrilling narrative and an elaboration of Wells's socio-political thought on the subjects of imperialism, humankind's treatment of other animals, and unquestioning faith in military technology and the continuation of the human species. This edition's appendices include other related writings by Wells; selected correspondence; contemporary reviews; excerpts from works that influenced the novel and from contemporary invasion narratives; and photographs of examples of Victorian military technology.

 

1898 public domain copy of H.G. Wells War of the World is available through Hathitrust.

 

 

 

 

The radio broadcast is in The Mercury Theatre on the Air which is part of our collection through Naxos Spoken Word, other broadcasts are in the public domain.

 

The Mercury Theatre on the Air, Volume 1 by Hollywood 360; Orson Welles (Read by)

ISBN: 148300869X

Publication Date: 2014-08-01

The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman, who is best known for his Oscar-winning performance as Professor Charles Kingsfield in the The Paper Chase. After a series of acclaimed stage productions, Welles and his Mercury Theatre were offered their own weekly hour-long radio program over the CBS radio network. Here Welles--along with Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, Joseph Cotten, Alice Frost, Martin Gabel, and others--presented powerful adaptations of literary classics with Bernard Herrman as composer and conductor. Considered by many critics as the finest dramatic hour on radio, The Mercury Theatre on the Air was without a sponsor until a single broadcast changed all that: The War of the Worlds. Episodes include "Dracula," starring Martin Gabel, Agnes Moorehead, George Coulouris, Ray Collins, and Karl Swenson; "A Tale of Two Cities," starring Martin Gabel, Ray Collins, Edgar Barrier, Frank Readick, and Kenny Delmar; "Abraham Lincoln," starring Orson Welles as Lincoln, plus Ray Collins, George Coulouris, Karl Swenson, Agnes Moorehead, Carl Frank, and William Allen; "The Count of Monte Cristo," starring Orson Welles, Ray Collins, Eustace Wyatt, George Coulouris, and Edgar Barrier; "The Immortal Sherlock Holmes," starring Orson Welles, Ray Collins, Edgar Barrier, Alfred Shirley, William Allen, and Arthur Anderson; "Around the World in Eighty Days," starring Orson Welles, Al Swenson, Arlene Francis, Edgar Barrier, Frank Readick, and Ray Collins.

 

There are many Orson Welles' recordings on the Old Time Radio channel of the Internet Archive. Including the Mercury Theatre On The Air episode of "War of the Worlds" first broadcast October 30, 1938 and embedded below. Other recordings include episodes of "The Shadow" and "Sherlock Holmes." 

There is a copy of Howard Koch's War of the Worlds Radio Script you can view online. Koch's script is also available in:

The Invasion from Mars: A Study in the Psychology of Panic by Hadley Cantril; Albert H. Cantril (Introduction by)

Call Number: PN1991.77 .I5 1966

ISBN: 1412804701

Publication Date: 2005-05-30

On Halloween night 1938, Orson Welles broadcast a radio adaptation of the H. G. Wells fantasy, The War of the Worlds. What listeners heard sounded so realistic that at least a million were frightened by word that "strange creatures" from Mars had landed in central New Jersey and were "unleashing a deadly assault." Several thousand were so terrified they ran into the streets, drove away in their cars, or called the police for information about how to escape. Why did so many panic when the circumstances reported were so improbable? That is just the question Hadley Cantril, then a young social psychologist, set out to answer. Originally published in 1940, The Invasion from Mars remains a classic. The broadcast provided a unique real-life opportunity to explore why the relatively new medium of radio could have such an effect. Using a mix of research methods, Cantril shows that the impact of the broadcast had less to do with what went out over the air than with the "standards of judgment" people did or did not use in evaluating what they were hearing. This book is of continuing value to those interested in communications and mass behavior. ver the air than with the "standards of judgment" people did or did not use in evaluating what they were hearing. This book is of continuing value to those interested in communications and mass behavior.

 

Howard Koch himself, with an introduction by Arthur C. Clarke, published a book that includes the radio script:

The Panic Broadcast: Portrait of an Event by Howard Koch

Call Number: PN 1991.77 .I5 K6

Publication Date: 1970

Find out more with these databases from our library resources:

• Discovery 
• New York Times (Historical) [Note: search will expire after 10/31/2020]
• Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive II, Cinema, Film and Television [search this database to find articles in Variety and Broadcasting]
• Roper IPOLL Databank