"WE ANNIHILATED THE WORLD BEFORE YOUR VERY EARS"

CBS RADIO PLAY CONVINCES LISTENERS OF MARTIAN INVASION

New York City (JFK+50) On Halloween Eve, October 30, 1938, thousands of listeners tuned in to the CBS Radio Mercury Theater and soon came to believe they were listening to an actual news broadcast of the landing of an invading army from the planet Mars.  The title of the radio play "War of the Worlds" was based on a novel by H.G. Wells.

The play, directed by Orson Welles, was broadcast from the CBS Studios on Madison Avenue here in New York City.  Many of the listeners, who had tuned in after the program begun, missed the following introduction...

"We know now that in the early years of the 20th century, the world was being watched by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own.  Across an immense, ethereal gulf, minds that to our minds as ours are to the beasts in the jungle, intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes and surely drew their plans against us."

As listeners tuned in during the broadcast, they heard news bulletins about the Martian landing and since there were no commercial interruptions, it gave them the impression that this was all really happening.

Mr. Welles prepared his actors for the play by having them listen to Herb Morrison's recorded radio broadcast of the Hindenberg disaster.  That was the effect the director wanted for the play.

During the drama, a Martian "machine" landed near Grover's Mill, New Jersey (no such place existed in the real world), where the "on the scene" reporter gave this graphic description...

"Something's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake.  I can see the thing's body now.  It's large as a bear.  It glistens like wet leather.  I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it...."

Some listeners were so terrified that they jumped in their cars and fled in panic and some also turned off their radios before Welles came on the air at the end of the drama and said...

"This is Orson Welles...out of character to assure you that 'The War of the Worlds' has no further significance than as the holiday offering it was intended to be.  The Mercury Theater's own radio version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying boo.  We couldn't soap all your windows...(so) we did the next best thing.  We annihilated the world before your very ears."  

      "Martian Landing Site" Marker
                         Van Ness Park
 West Windsor Township, New Jersey

ACROSS THE GULF OF SPACE INTELLECTS REGARDED THIS EARTH WITH ENVIOUS EYES

MARTIANS LAND NEAR GROVER'S MILL NEW JERSEY

New York City (JFK+50) This is the headline that some might have expected to see the morning after listening to the CBS Radio Mercury Theater broadcast 80 years ago, October 30, 1938.

Those who tuned in while the program was in progress  thought they were listening to an actual news broadcast of the landing of an invading army from the planet Mars.  The radio play directed by Orson Welles*, War of the Worlds**, was based on the novel by H.G. Wells.  

While, in reality, there were no Martians and no such place as Grover's Mill, an "on the scene" reporter gave this graphic description of what he was "seeing"...

"Something's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake.  I can see the thing's body now.  It's large as a bear.  It glistens like wet leather.  I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it...."

Some listeners were said to be so terrified that they jumped in their cars and fled in panic.

In his novel, H.G. Wells wrote...

"Across the gulf of space...intellects...regarded this earth with envious eyes..."

*George Orson Welles (1915-1985) was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  He graduated from Todd Seminary for Boys in 1931 & made his stage debut in Dublin that same year.  By 1935, he was working on Broadway in New York City & supplementing his income in radio.  In addition to War of the Worlds, he is best known for his performances in the Broadway play Caesar (1937) & the movie Citizen Kane (1941).

**War of the Worlds (1898) was published in 1898 by William Heinemann of London.  The novel inspired Robert H. Goddard who invented the liquid fueled & multi-stage rocket which made possible the landing on the moon in 1969.

The War of the Worlds

Illustration by Frank R. Paul [1]

Amazing Stories 

August 1927

FEWER PEOPLE HEARD THE BROADCAST THAN MOST BELIEVE

DID FAKE MARTIAN INVASION TRIGGER FAKE PANIC? 

New York City (JFK+50) On October 30, 1938, thousands of listeners tuned in to the CBS Radio Mercury Theater, but instead of entertainment they thought that they were listening to an actual news broadcast of the landing of an invading army from the planet Mars.

The title of the radio play directed by Orson Welles*, "War of the Worlds", was based on the novel by H.G. Welles.  During the drama, a Martian "machine" landed near Grover's Mill, New Jersey (no such place in the real world), where the "on the scene" reporter gave this graphic description:

"Something's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake.  I can see the thing's body now.  It's large as a bear.  It glistens like wet leather.  I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it...."

Some listeners were so terrified, they jumped in their cars and fled in panic, or so we were told.  NPR's Mark Memmott says that according to Slate...

"Far fewer people heard the broadcast...than most people believe today."

A rating service called 5000 households and learned only 2% listened to "War of the Worlds".  The rest listened to other programs such as the Chase & Sanborn Hour or did not listen to the radio at all.

Slate blames newspapers for misrepresenting the effect of the broadcast in order to condemn radio management and discredit radio news.

*George Orson Welles (1915-1985) was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  He graduated from Todd Seminary for Boys in 1931 & made his stage debut in Dublin that same year.  By 1935, he was working on Broadway in New York City & supplementing his income in radio.  In addition to War of the Worlds, he is best known for his performances in the Broadway play Caesar (1937) & the movie Citizen Kane (1941).

SOURCE

"75 Years Ago 'War Of The Worlds' Started a Panic, or Did It?", by Mark Memmott, October 30, 2013, NPR, www.npr.org

\

Orson Welles

Photo by Carl Van Vechten

Library of Congress Photo (1937)

WAR OF THE WORLDS

JFK+50:  Volume 5, No. 1759

MERCURY THEATER RADIO SHOW SPOOKS THE NATION

New York City (JFK+50) Seventy-seven years ago tonight, October 30, 1938, thousands of listeners tuned in to the CBS Radio Mercury Theater, but instead of entertainment they thought that they were listening to an actual news broadcast of the landing of an invading army from the planet Mars.

The title of the radio play directed by Orson Welles*, "War of the Worlds", was based on the novel by H.G. Welles.  Adding to their confusion, apparently many of the listeners tuned in after the program had begun.

During the drama, a Martian "machine" landed near Grover's Mill, New Jersey (no such place in the real world), where the "on the scene" reporter gave this graphic description:

"Something's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake.  I can see the thing's body now.  It's large as a bear.  It glistens like wet leather.  I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it...."

Some listeners were so terrified, they jumped in their cars and fled in panic.

*George Orson Welles (1915-1985) was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  He graduated from Todd Seminary for Boys in 1931 & made his stage debut in Dublin that same year.  By 1935, he was working on Broadway in New York City & supplementing his income in radio.  In addition to War of the Worlds, he is best known for his performances in the Broadway play Caesar (1937) & the movie Citizen Kane (1941).

\

Orson Welles

Photo by Carl Van Vechten

Library of Congress Photo (1937)

"I SAW THE THING COMING OUT OF THE SKY..."

October 30, 2013

"I SAW THE THING COMING OUT OF THE SKY, IT HAD ONE LONG HORN, ONE BIG EYE..."*

New York City (JFK+50) 75 years ago on the eve of Halloween, October 30, 1938, thousands of listeners tuned in to the CBS Radio Mercury Theater and soon came to believe they were listening to an actual news broadcast of the landing of an invading army from the planet Mars.

1927 Illustration

   by Frank R. Paul 

The title of the radio play, "War of the Worlds", was based on the 1898 novel by H.G. Welles.**

The play, directed by Orson Welles,*** was broadcast from the CBS Studios on Madison Avenue here in New York City.  

Many of the listeners, who had tuned in after the program begun, missed the following introduction...

"We know now that in the early years of the 20th century, the world was being watched by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own.  Across an immense, ethereal gulf, minds that to our minds as ours are to the beasts in the jungle, intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes and surely drew their plans against us.

In the 39th year of the 20th century  came the great disillusionment.  It was near the end of October.  Business was better.  The war scare was over.  More men were back at work.  

On this particular evening, October 30, the Crosley service estimated that 32 million people were listening in on radios."

"War of the Worlds" Recording

Photo by PhantomS (1998)

As listeners tuned in during the broadcast, they heard news bulletins about the Martian landing and since there were no commercial interruptions, it gave them the impression that this was all really happening.

Mr. Welles prepared his actors for the play by having them listen to Herb Morrison's recorded radio broadcast of the Hindenberg disaster.  That was the effect the director wanted and achieved for the play.

During the drama, a Martian "machine" landed near Grover's Mill, New Jersey (no such place existed in the real world), where the "on the scene" reporter gave this graphic description:

"Something's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake.  I can see the thing's body now.  It's large as a bear.  It glistens like wet leather.  I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it...."

Some listeners, it has been said, were so terrified that they jumped in their cars and fled in panic.

Unfortunately some listeners also turned off their radios before Orson Welles came on the air at the end of the drama and said...

"This is Orson Welles, ladies and gentlemen, out of character to assure you that "The War of the Worlds" has no further significance than as the holiday offering it was intended to be.

The Mercury Theater's own radio version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying boo.

We couldn't soap all your windows...(so) we did the next best thing.  We annihilated the world before your very ears.

You will be relieved...to learn that we didn't mean it.

So goodbye and remember the terrible lesson you learned tonight.  That grinning, glowing globular invader of your living room is an inhabitant of the pumpkin patch and if your doorbell rings and nobody's there, that was no Martian, its Halloween."

      "Martian Landing Site" Marker
                         Van Ness Park
 West Windsor Township, New Jersey

*lyrics from the 1958 #1 hit 'Purple People Eater' by Sheb Wooley.

**H.G. Welles (1866-1946) was born in Bromley, Kent, England and graduated from the Royal College of Science.  Welles' novels include The Time Machine and The Invisible Man.

H.G. Welles at Sandgate

***Orson Welles (1915-1985) was born in Kenosha, WI.  He was awarded a scholarship at Harvard but decided to travel and attend the Art Institute of Chicago.

During the 1930s, Welles was part of the Federal Theater Project
and co-wrote produced, directed and starred in the 1941 movie Citizen Kane. 

Orson Welles in Citizen Kane

SOURCE

www.sacred-texts.com

SOVIETS EXPLODE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL ATOMIC BOMB

October 30, 1961


SOVIETS EXPLODE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL ATOMIC BOMB


Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) The White House announced today the news that the Soviet Union has exploded the most powerful atomic weapon in history.


The 50 megaton atomic bomb was detonated at the Soviet Arctic testing site.


President Kennedy said:


"The Soviet Union has shown its complete disregard for the welfare of mankind."


The White House also issued this statement:


"The Soviet explosion was a political rather than a military act.  Any such weapon would be primarily a mass killer of people in war & the testing of this device primarily is an incitement to fright & panic in the cold war."

October 30, 1962


U THANT GETS NOWHERE WITH CASTRO


Havana, Cuba (JFK+50) A United Nations delegation, headed by Secretary-General U Thant, had discussions with Premier Fidel Castro today concerning the UN observation of the dismantling & removal of Soviet missiles in Cuba.


Castro stated his government's position but was unwilling to make any agreement concerning a UN role in the process.*


*On November 1, 1962, Castro announces he will not allow the UN to inspect.

    Castro & Khrushchev at the Kremlin


October 30, 1953


IKE GIVES O.K. FOR NSC PAPER #16212


Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) President Dwight D. Eisenhower today gave his approval of NSC Paper #16212 which makes clear the maintenance of the nuclear armaments of the United States as well as their expansion to meet the challenges of the cold war.


The Eisenhower administration sees the expansion of the U.S. nuclear arsenal as both sensible as well as being a cost-effective approach to military defense.

           President Dwight D. Eisenhower


October 30, 1938


CBS RADIO DRAMA SPOOKS THE NATION


New York City (JFK+50) Thousands of listeners on this Halloween eve tuned in to the "CBS Radio Mercury Theater", but instead of entertainment they believed that they were listening to an actual news broadcast of the landing of an invading army from the planet Mars.


The title of the radio play, "War of the Worlds", is based on the novel by H.G. Welles.


Orson Welles is the director of the play.

                             Orson Welles
             Photo by Carl Van Vechten
      Library of Congress Photo (1937)


Adding to their confusion, apparently many of the listeners tuned in after the program had begun.


During the drama, a Martian "machine" landed near Grover's Mill, New Jersey (no such place in the real world), where the "on the scene" reporter gave this graphic description:


"Something's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake.  I can see the thing's body now.  It's large as a bear.  It glistens like wet leather.  I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it...."


Reports are that some listeners were so terrified, they jumped in their cars & fled in panic.

      "Martian Landing Site" Marker
                         Van Ness Park
 West Windsor Township, New Jersey