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
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
