"by its dramatic red color and by nineteenth century scientific speculations that its surface conditions not only might support life, but intelligent life. Thus originated a large number of science fiction scenarios, among which is H. G. Wells' ""The War of the Worlds"", published in 1898, in which Martians seek to escape their dying planet by invading Earth. A subsequent US radio adaptation of ""The War of the Worlds"" on October 30, 1938 by Orson Welles was presented as a live news broadcast, and became notorious for causing a public panic when many listeners mistook it for the truth. Influential"
"William S. Paley himself, and with a foe that formidable, even the vast Murrow account would soon run dry. On October 30, 1938, CBS gained a taste of infamy when ""The Mercury Theatre on the Air"" broadcast a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's ""The War of the Worlds"", performed by Orson Welles. Its unique format, a contemporary version of the story in the form of ""faux"" news broadcasts, had panicked many listeners into believing invaders from Mars were actually invading and devastating Grover's Mill, New Jersey, despite ""three"" disclaimers during the broadcast that it was a work of fiction."
"was not visible, suggests his appeal was primarily the personality he applied to his characters. Bergen and McCarthy are sometimes credited with ""saving the world"" because, on the night of October 30, 1938, when Orson Welles performed his ""War of the Worlds"" radio play that panicked many listeners, most of the American public had instead tuned to Bergen and McCarthy on another station and never heard Welles' play. Conversely, it has also been theorized that Bergen inadvertently contributed to the hysteria. When the musical portion of Bergen's show, ""The Chase and Sanborn Hour"", aired approximately 12 minutes into the show,"
"and reports they have presented no evidence to substantiate their statements and claims. According to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry little or no evidence exists to support them despite significant research on the subject by non-governmental scientific agencies. On the night before Halloween in 1938, Orson Welles directed ""The Mercury Theatre on the Air"" live radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's classic novel, ""The War of the Worlds"". By mimicking a news broadcast, the show was quite realistic sounding for its time, and some listeners were fooled into thinking that a Martian invasion was underway in the United States. Widespread"
"also grew common during the Great Depression; in 1937 a group of gravediggers from New Jersey went on strike. In 1938 Orson Welles' produced his infamous ""The War of the Worlds"" radio broadcast from New Jersey. Listeners were told that a ""huge, flaming object, believed to be a meteorite, fell on a farm in the neighborhood of Grover’s Mill, New Jersey, twenty-two miles from Trenton."" It went on to describe extraterrestrial monsters that destroyed massive stretches of lands in New Jersey as well as massacring many people. Although it was announced in advance and at conclusion as a radio play,"
"abandoned in favor of Bram Stoker's ""Dracula"", with Welles playing the infamous vampire. During an all night session at Perkins' Restaurant, Welles and Houseman hashed out a script. ""The Mercury Theatre on the Air"" featured an impressive array of talents, including Agnes Moorehead, Bernard Herrmann, and George Coulouris. ""The Mercury Theatre on the Air"" subsequently became famous for its notorious 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells' ""The War of the Worlds"", which had put much of the country in a panic. By all accounts, Welles was shocked by the panic that ensued. According to Houseman, ""he hadn't the faintest"
"Worlds"". In spite of many pre-broadcast promotions describing the play, and several statements during the program itself, the 1938 broadcast, which featured simulated news reports, was taken seriously by a number of listeners, who thought an actual Martian invasion of Earth was taking place, and reacted in a doomsday fashion. After the 1938 broadcast, some people were critical of Orson Welles for making the broadcast so realistic that some people thought it reflected actual events, but Welles maintained that radio melodrama was supposed to be realistic, over-the-top. Welles said in a press conference the day following the broadcast that he"
"the show in its ""Leading Events of the Week"" (""Tonight – Play: H. G. Wells' 'War of the Worlds'"") and published a photograph of Welles with some of the Mercury players, captioned, ""Tonight's show is H. G. Wells' 'War of the Worlds'"". Announcements that ""The War of the Worlds"" is a dramatization of a work of fiction were made on the full CBS network at four points during the broadcast October 30, 1938: at the beginning, before the middle break, after the middle break, and at the end. The middle break was delayed 10 minutes to accommodate the dramatic content."
"was also an opening part of an infamous radio drama: ""The War of the Worlds"" an episode of the American radio drama anthology series ""The Mercury Theatre on the Air"". It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on 30 October 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. This was directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles. Many artistic gymnasts have used variations of the song as their floor routine soundtracks including Vanessa Atler (1998–99), Jamie Dantzscher (2000), Oana Petrovschi (2001–02), Elvire Teza (1998), Elise Ray (1997–98), Natalia Ziganshina (2000), Maria Kharenkova"
"with an entirely African American cast, and the political musical ""The Cradle Will Rock"". In 1937 he and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory theatre company that presented a series of productions on Broadway through 1941. Welles found national and international fame as the director and narrator of a 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel ""The War of the Worlds"" performed for his radio anthology series ""The Mercury Theatre on the Air"". It reportedly caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was actually occurring. Although some contemporary sources say these"
"a group of gravediggers from New Jersey went on strike. In 1938, Orson Welles produced ""The War of the Worlds"" radio broadcast. Listeners were told that a ""huge, flaming object ... fell on a farm in the neighborhood of Grover's Mill ... twenty-two miles from Trenton."" It described extraterrestrial monsters that were causing much destruction. Although it was announced in advance that it was a radio play, the broadcast resulted in widespread panic into New Jersey and the surrounding areas. Many people had believed the bulletin to be real, causing them to flee the New Jersey area or to blockade"
"leading to an outcry against the broadcasters and calls for regulation by the Federal Communications Commission. Nevertheless, the episode secured Welles's fame as a dramatist. ""The War of the Worlds"" was the 17th episode of the CBS Radio series ""The Mercury Theatre on the Air,"" which was broadcast at 8 pm ET on Sunday, October 30, 1938. H. G. Wells' original novel tells the story of a Martian invasion of Earth. The novel was adapted for radio by Howard Koch, who changed the primary setting from 19th-century England to the contemporary United States, with the landing point of the first"
"episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel ""The War of the Worlds"" (1898), presented as a series of simulated news bulletins. Although preceded by a clear introduction that the show was a drama, it became famous for allegedly causing mass panic, although the reality of the panic is disputed as the program had relatively few listeners. An investigation was run by The Federal Communications Commission to examine the mass hysteria produced by this radio programming; no law was found broken. This event was an example the early stages of society's dependency on information from print to radio and"
"with its 1938 adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel ""The War of the Worlds"". Cooper was a writer for the Campbell Playhouse, and Chappell was the announcer. They became friends, though Chappell had little (if any) acting experience, Cooper imagined him as the star of a new radio program. Cooper's earlier ""Lights Out"" was famous for its gruesome stories and sound effects, but for ""Quiet, Please"", Cooper would cultivate a subdued, slower-paced, and much quieter atmosphere that could still, at its best, match ""Lights Out"" for frights and thrills. Chappell had ample experience in radio, but mostly as an announcer."
"words ""pan fried"" before Wiggum agrees). The population of Springfield are fooled by Orson Welles' infamous ""The War of the Worlds"" 1938 radio broadcast and believe the world has been invaded. Mass panic breaks out, and the citizens begin rioting. Marge voices her belief that the Martians will only destroy humans, so Sideshow Mel suggests they foil the aliens by cavorting naked in the mud like animals. They do this until the following day, when Lisa tells the citizens that it was all a hoax. Angry at being fooled, the citizens of Springfield vow to never fall for such a"
"The Big Broadcast of 1938 The Big Broadcast of 1938 is a Paramount Pictures musical comedy film featuring W.C. Fields and Bob Hope. Directed by Mitchell Leisen, the film is the last in a series of ""Big Broadcast"" movies that were variety show anthologies. This film featured the debut of Hope's signature song, ""Thanks for the Memory"" by Ralph Rainger. In what is being billed as ""The Race of the Ages,"" the new forty-million-dollar “radio powered” Streamlined Ocean Liner S.S. ""Gigantic"" (“America’s Challenge for Crossing Record”) is about to race its rival, the slightly smaller S.S. ""Colossal"" across the Atlantic"
"by Archibald MacLeish concerning a Wall Street financier whose world crumbles about him when consumed by the crash of 1929. Although the central figure is a man in his late fifties, Houseman became obsessed by the notion that a young man named Orson Welles he had seen in Katharine Cornell's production of ""Romeo and Juliet"" was the only person qualified to play the leading role. Welles consented and, after preliminary conversations, agreed to leave the play he was in after a single night to take the lead in Houseman's production. ""Panic"" opened at the Imperial Theatre on March 15, 1935."
"October 30, 1938 and is one of the most famous broadcasts in the history of radio due to the panic which it accidentally caused, after which the Campbell Soup Company signed on as sponsor. ""The Mercury Theatre on the Air"" made its last broadcast December 4, 1938, and ""The Campbell Playhouse"" began December 9, 1938. After the theatrical successes of the Mercury Theatre, CBS Radio invited Orson Welles to create a summer show for 13 weeks. The series began July 11, 1938, initially titled ""First Person Singular"", with the formula that Welles would play the lead in each show. Some"
"its Monday night slot, where it was the summer substitute for the ""Lux Radio Theater"", to a Sunday night slot opposite Edgar Bergen's popular variety show. The early dramas in the series were praised by critics, but ratings were low. A single broadcast changed the program's ratings: the October 30, 1938 adaptation of H. G. Wells' ""The War of the Worlds"". Possibly thousands of listeners thought Martians were in fact invading the earth, due to the faux-news quality of most of the broadcast. Significant publicity was generated, and ""The Mercury Theatre on the Air"" quickly became one of radio's top-rated"
"an earlier point: the previous day in Crossley's first surveys, later modified to a few hours earlier. The survey also divided the day into four listening periods, thus uncovering the fact that most radio listening occurred in the evenings. In the industry, the method was known as ""telephone recall"" and the reports were called the ""Crossley ratings"" or simply the ""Crossleys"". The survey is alluded to during Orson Welles' opening narration for his famous 1938 radio dramatization of ""The War of the Worlds"": ""On this particular evening, October 30th, the Crossley service estimated that thirty-two million people were listening in"
"family, or friends to calm their fears. Reporters who heard of the coincidental blackout sent the story over the newswire, and soon, Concrete was known worldwide. Welles continued with the rehearsal of ""Danton's Death"" (scheduled to open November 2), leaving shortly after dawn October 31. He was operating on three hours of sleep when CBS called him to a press conference. He read a statement that was later printed in newspapers nationwide and took questions from reporters: In its editions of October 31, 1938, the ""Tucson Citizen"" reported that three Arizona affiliates of CBS (KOY in Phoenix, KTUC in Tucson"
"Orson Welles George Orson Welles (; May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, writer, and producer who worked in theatre, radio, and film. He is remembered for his innovative work in all three: in theatre, most notably ""Caesar"" (1937), a Broadway adaptation of William Shakespeare's ""Julius Caesar""; in radio, the legendary 1938 broadcast ""The War of the Worlds""; and in film, ""Citizen Kane"" (1941), consistently ranked as one of the greatest films ever made. In his 20s, Welles directed a number of high-profile stage productions for the Federal Theatre Project, including an adaptation of ""Macbeth"""
"to instigate or amplify the believed panic, officials may wait too long to provide the information on which the populace should act. To avoid contributing to or increasing the level of this mythical panic, officials have also chosen to not share information about preparations for some types of disasters (e.g. chemical and biological attacks). The antithesis of the panic myth was seen with Orson Welles’ The War of the Worlds radio broadcast in 1938, the 1942 Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire, and as Hurricane Carla approached the Gulf Coast areas of Texas and Louisiana in 1961. Rational behavior also dominated after"
"featured insect-like robots designed by roboticist and author Rodney Brooks. Morgan was also inspired by Orson Welles's 1938 radio broadcast of H.G. Wells's book ""The War of the Worlds"" (which had caused mass hysteria), with the episode's title being a direct reference to the novel (with the last part of the episode's title, ""coprophages"", referring to a dung eater). The town featured in this episode also takes place in—Miller's Grove—is a play on Grover's Mill, the setting of Orson Welles's 1938 radio adaptation. Originally, a scene featuring the sheriff discussing a noted case of hysteria from the 1930s was planned"
"a bush and saying, 'Boo!'"" Popular mythology holds the disclaimer was hastily added to the broadcast at the insistence of CBS executives, as they became aware of panic inspired by the program. In fact, at the station break, network executive Davidson Taylor had attempted to prevent Welles, who had added the speech at the last minute, from reading it on air for fear of allowing the network to legal liability, but Welles delivered it anyway. Radio programming charts in Sunday newspapers listed the CBS drama, ""The War of the Worlds"". ""The New York Times"" for October 30, 1938, also included"
"Panic (play) Panic is a 1935 verse play by Archibald MacLeish. A tragedy that is one of the author's least-known works, it was written during the sixth year of the Great Depression. The drama is set during the bank panic of 1933 and concerns the fall of the world's richest man, a banker named McGafferty. First presented March 14–16, 1935, at the Imperial Theatre in Manhattan, the production featured Orson Welles's first leading performance on the American stage. ""Panic"" was produced by John Houseman and Nathan Zarkin as the first project of their new Phoenix Theatre. Sets and lighting were"
"York) and Jan Cicero (Chicago), and universities throughout the United States. Hopkins had a major retrospective exhibition at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum in the summer of 2017. The Whitney Museum, Washington Gallery of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, the British Museum, include Hopkins' work in their permanent collections. As a child, Hopkins experienced, firsthand, Orson Welles' 1938 radio play ""The War of the Worlds"". This both terrified Hopkins and his family and left psychic scars. He considered the radio play a dramatic, theatrical hoax and, because of his childhood"
"Welles succeeded Readick. He later played the doomed CBS reporter Carl Phillips in the 1938 radio production of ""The War of the Worlds"". Readick modeled his performance on WLS reporter Herbert Morrison's coverage of the Hindenburg disaster the previous year. Readick would later appear alongside his ""War of the World""s co-star and Mercury Theatre director Orson Welles in ""Citizen Kane"" (1941) and ""Journey into Fear"" (1943). He was also known for ""House of Mystery"" (1931) and ""A Burglar to the Rescue"" (1931). He died in 1965 in the USA. Frank Readick Frank Marvin Readick Jr. (November 6, 1896, Seattle, Washington"
"in which the broadcasts on them have survived, and they are one of the reasons why recordings of entertainment broadcasts from the 1940s still exist in abundance. Well-known live broadcasts which were preserved on lacquer transcription discs include ""The War of the Worlds"" dramatized as breaking news by the Orson Welles anthology program ""The Mercury Theatre on the Air"", heard over the CBS radio network on 30 October 1938. Before magnetic tape recorders became available in the U.S., NBC Symphony Orchestra concert broadcasts were preserved on transcription discs. After its conductor Arturo Toscanini retired, he transferred many of these recordings"
"The Night America Trembled ""The Night America Trembled"" is a top-rated television dramatization of the public reaction to the 1938 radio broadcast of ""The War of the Worlds"" that aired September 9, 1957, as an episode of the CBS series ""Studio One"". Hosted by Edward R. Murrow, the live documentary play was written by Nelson S. Bond and uses excerpts of the radio script copywrighted by Howard E. Koch. The film centers on the panic created when ""The Mercury Theater on the Air"" presented a radio adaptation of an 1897 H. G. Wells science fiction novel, ""The War of the"
"Dracula (radio drama) ""Dracula"" is an episode of the American radio drama anthology series ""The Mercury Theatre on the Air"". It was performed as an episode of the series on Monday, July 11, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel ""Dracula"" (1897). ""Dracula"" was the first episode of the CBS Radio series ""The Mercury Theatre on the Air"", which was broadcast at 8 pm ET on Monday, July 11, 1938. Recalling Welles's sound-effects preparations for the series debut"
"The Night That Panicked America ""The Night That Panicked America"" tells the story of the 1938 broadcast from the point of view of Welles and his associates as they create the broadcast live, as well as from the points of view of a number of different fictional American families, in a variety of locations and from a variety of social classes, who listened to the broadcast and believed the imaginary Martian invasion was actually occurring, with some people even committing suicide. This telefilm starred, among others, Vic Morrow, Cliff DeYoung, Michael Constantine, Eileen Brennan, Meredith Baxter, Tom Bosley, Will Geer,"
"The Night That Panicked America ""The Night That Panicked America"" tells the story of the 1938 broadcast from the point of view of Welles and his associates as they create the broadcast live, as well as from the points of view of a number of different fictional American families, in a variety of locations and from a variety of social classes, who listened to the broadcast and believed the imaginary Martian invasion was actually occurring, with some people even committing suicide. This telefilm starred, among others, Vic Morrow, Cliff DeYoung, Michael Constantine, Eileen Brennan, Meredith Baxter, Tom Bosley, Will Geer,"