by Bob Walsh
Eighty years ago tonight Martians did NOT land at Grover's Mill, New Jersey, but a fair number of people thought they did. Orson Welle's broadcast of the War of the Worlds by the Mercury Theater On The Air by CBS caused a bit of panic here and there when people thought the one hour radio show was an actual news broadcast.
It is not likely that such a simplistic thing would sucker in people today over the age of 13, but audiences were less technically sophisticated back then. The international zeitgeist no doubt contributed to people being suckered. The documentary style without commercials had a certain feel to it. The fact that the time compression was clearly way, way off did not register on people. It caused a huge stink and a congressional inquiry. It also made Orson Welles, the director and chief actor, a star.
It could have been much worse. In Quito, Ecuador, in 1949 a local radio station broadcast the same play, altered as appropriate for the local residents. When they found out it was a "hoax" they rioted and burned down the radio station, killing seven people.
Every October 30 I play back a recording of it (it is available on DVD) just for my own amusement.
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