I love old time radio.
Forget Tom Cruise and his new movie, War of the Worlds. Listen instead to the 1938 radio broadcast based on the 1898 novel by H.G. Wells. Download the broadcast here. If that link doesn’t help you, try this one, although it takes forever to download. Or you can read the script.
The radio show about aliens from Mars landing on earth to wipe out earthlings, performed by director Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater on the Air, produced mass hysteria. I’ve listened to the show and find it difficult to imagine why it caused people to panic. The immediacy of radio at the time and pre-WWII jitters probably had a lot to do with it.
So save your money and listen to old time radio. But if you’re compelled to part with cash, buy the book.
Sources: Screen shot of the New York Times front page and the story itself below; Orson Welles’s obituary; more links; and Wikipedia, of course.
Speaking of radio, don’t forget to tune in to Pundit Review radio this Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. EDT.
Addendum: Read about Citizen Kane (with Orson Welles), considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time. Also visit the Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia, of course.
