As a child, ever since my grandfather played me the album he had (cover pictured on this post) and told me his recollections of the night people thought Mars was invading the world, I’ve been fascinated with this story. He said that he got home from work that evening, turned the radio on after the broadcast had started, found what he was listening to to be “silly” and turned it off. He didn’t realize until next day that the broadcast had been taken seriously.
Grandpa belonged to the Longinnes Symphonette Society in the 1970s and received their albums periodically, so that’s how he happened to have this one. Many years later, I got my own Longinnes edition.
Mom remembered the panic differently and said someone she knew had kind of flipped out. She would never tell us kids who it was, so we figured that it must have been someone we knew as well.
Time passed, but my interest in the broadcast and its aftermath never really dimmed. I bought every version I found of the broadcast because the packaging changed from company to company. In more recent years, I continue to find repackagings and celebratory books on each major anniversary of the broadcast.
One of the more interesting books I’ve read on it is Max Allan Collins’ historical mystery THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MURDER (cover pictured on this post). Mr. Collins, whom I get to call “Al”, met Walter Gibson (magician, author and creator of “The Shadow”) at a convention in the 1970s. Apparently Mr. Gibson was peripherally involved in the broadcast and told Al the story that would become THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MURDER many years later.
There are many interesting things about this book, but I was tuned in on a fictional little boy in the story who kept his head while those around him were freaking. The boy kept insisting that the voice of the Professor on the broadcast (Orson Welles) was also the radio voice of “The Shadow”. Therefore, he knew that none of what he was hearing was real and tried to tell people.
If you happen to run across this book, do yourself a favor and pick it up. I was sad, though, that both my grandfather and my mom were no longer around because I know that they would have really enjoyed reading it.
The other book pictured, THE PANIC BROADCAST, is by Howard Koch who wrote the script used in the broadcast. The script is recreated in the book, plus there are stories of what happened before, during and after the broadcast. Quite riveting reading.
The last couple of things pictured are a WOTW cardboard standup and the other is a photo of the commemorative plaque which rests in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey. This, according to the broadcast, was where the first Martian cylinder landed. Orson Welles and a typical American family listening to the radio are also engraved on the plaque. From what I can see of it, it really does tell quite a story.
I hope this posting has piqued your interest in The Mercury Theatre’s version of WAR OF THE WORLDS. The broadcast is available for download from the internet at: archive.org. Type in the program’s title in the search engine and you will find it.
Grandpa belonged to the Longinnes Symphonette Society in the 1970s and received their albums periodically, so that’s how he happened to have this one. Many years later, I got my own Longinnes edition.
Mom remembered the panic differently and said someone she knew had kind of flipped out. She would never tell us kids who it was, so we figured that it must have been someone we knew as well.
Time passed, but my interest in the broadcast and its aftermath never really dimmed. I bought every version I found of the broadcast because the packaging changed from company to company. In more recent years, I continue to find repackagings and celebratory books on each major anniversary of the broadcast.
One of the more interesting books I’ve read on it is Max Allan Collins’ historical mystery THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MURDER (cover pictured on this post). Mr. Collins, whom I get to call “Al”, met Walter Gibson (magician, author and creator of “The Shadow”) at a convention in the 1970s. Apparently Mr. Gibson was peripherally involved in the broadcast and told Al the story that would become THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MURDER many years later.
There are many interesting things about this book, but I was tuned in on a fictional little boy in the story who kept his head while those around him were freaking. The boy kept insisting that the voice of the Professor on the broadcast (Orson Welles) was also the radio voice of “The Shadow”. Therefore, he knew that none of what he was hearing was real and tried to tell people.
If you happen to run across this book, do yourself a favor and pick it up. I was sad, though, that both my grandfather and my mom were no longer around because I know that they would have really enjoyed reading it.
The other book pictured, THE PANIC BROADCAST, is by Howard Koch who wrote the script used in the broadcast. The script is recreated in the book, plus there are stories of what happened before, during and after the broadcast. Quite riveting reading.
The last couple of things pictured are a WOTW cardboard standup and the other is a photo of the commemorative plaque which rests in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey. This, according to the broadcast, was where the first Martian cylinder landed. Orson Welles and a typical American family listening to the radio are also engraved on the plaque. From what I can see of it, it really does tell quite a story.
I hope this posting has piqued your interest in The Mercury Theatre’s version of WAR OF THE WORLDS. The broadcast is available for download from the internet at: archive.org. Type in the program’s title in the search engine and you will find it.
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