The Original War Of The Worlds Radio Broadcast

The War of the Worlds was an episode of a public radio series called Mercury Theatre. The book from which the story was taken was written by H.G. Wells and adapted for radio by Howard Koch and Anne Froelich, with input from Orson Welles. The radio show was directed and narrated by Orson Welles and originally aired on the night before Halloween in 1938.

The show aired despite reservations by Orson Welles that the public would find the story unbelievable. Performers (who included Orson Welles) pretended that they were REALLY witnesses to horrible alien invasions and they were quite convincing.

People today still listen to War of the Worlds and are sometimes scared by it. However, when War of the Worlds first aired, people really BELIEVED what they were hearing, which is a credit to the talented voices and the fact that the program aired on the much respected radio station, CBS. Of the estimated six million people who listened to the show, it is believed that 1.7 million people thought that the broadcast was real and 1.2 million of them were actually SCARED.

Life was different in those days and the radio played an important role in people's lives. After listening to this radio show, some people were actually scared enough to commit suicide, demonstrating the power of the human voice and the power of persuasion. Much discussion occurred immediately after the broadcast about the responsibilities of the media to the public and of course, we still talk about that impact today.

H.G. Wells was the author of War of the Worlds.

H.G. (Herbert George) Wells lived from September 21, 18tt to August 13, 1946. He was a British author who is particularly well known for his science fiction works. Two years after the infamous radio broadcast, Orson Welles interviewed H.G. who admitted that he was surprised by the panic that followed the show and said that he was thankful to Orson who increased the sales of all of his work.

Learn more about H.G. Wells on Wikipedia by by clicking right here.

See more of H.G. Wells works on Amazon by by clicking right here.

Orson Welles was the director and narrator of The War of the Worlds.

Orson Welles or rather George Orson Welles was an American film director, a film and theatre director, actor, screenwriter and producer. He was born on May 6, 1915, and sadly died on October 10, 1985, just 20 days before the anniversary of the premier of War of the Worlds.

Definitely a man who will be remembered.

Do you think that The War of the Worlds radio broadcast abused the power of the radio? Or did the radio show simply provide good, solid entertianment value?

This is the first movie version, which starred Gene Barry and Ann Robinson.

The broadcast from October 30th, 1938, inspired a number of movies including this 1953 version, which starred Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It was the first of several movies and is considered one of the best science fiction movies of the 1950s. It won an Oscar for Best Special Effects and delivers, for a movie of its time, plenty of thrills, action and suspense.

This is the Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise version of the movie.

This is the Steven Spielberg version of the movie, featuring narration by Morgan Freeman and starring Tom Cruise. It is a modern take on H.G. Wells' story, which features current effects and a huge budget. Some consider it a horror movie as well as a science fiction movie. However, it isn't a slasher movie but rather one in which the aliens are determined to wipe out the human race from the planet earth...Order your copy of War of the Worlds on DVD or blu-ray disc.

The t.v. series starred Jared Martin, Lynda Mason Green and Philip Akin.

This War of the Worlds series was a television program that had two seasons, starting in 1988. It is considered an addition to the original movie in 1953 and it used the same war machine and included some bits from the original movie, radio show and book. It features, of course, the Martian invaders set to eradicate human life from Earth. However, the invaders are captured and quarantined and then forgotten. When they break out of captivity, they are determined to continue their mission and meet resistance from a small group of human fighters...Click here to order the first or final seasons of the War of the Worlds television series.