Mass Hysteria of the War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast
“Something 's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake. Now here 's another and another one and another one. They look like tentacles to me ... I can see the thing 's body now. It 's large, large as a bear. It glistens like wet leather. But that face, it... it ... ladies and gentlemen, it 's indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it, it 's so awful. The eyes are black and gleam like a serpent. The mouth is kind of V-shaped with saliva dripping from its rimless lips that seem to quiver and pulsate"(Eidenmuller). During the golden age of radio, many people tuned their radios to the Sunday night Halloween eve radiobroadcast of Orson Welles’ adaptation of the War of the Worlds. As the sun was setting and the moon began to take its place, listeners all around the country sat on the edge of their seats as Orson Welles orchestrated the greatest hoax radio had ever seen. In fact, this horrifying broadcast twisted believers to its will in such a way that it is still thought to be one of the most significant events in radio history. In 1938, Orson Welles capitalized on the fragile state of naive pre-World War II and mid-depression Americans by broadcasting the War of the Worlds, the broadcast that will forever live in infamy.
Orson Welles’ growing fame and skill together with clever adaptations by his theatre group, led to the now infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast. Time magazine described the 23-year-old Orson Welles as the “brightest moon that had risen over Broadway in years. Welles should feel at home in the sky, for the sky is the only limit his ambitions recognized”; this type of publicity is what helped Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre group obtain the Sunday night premier spot in the CBS line up (Naremore). When the producer first suggested the War of the Worlds as Mercury Theatre’s Halloween broadcast, director and star Orson Welles laughed it off as juvenile and boring. However, after much consideration, it was decided that they
Orson Welles’ growing fame and skill together with clever adaptations by his theatre group, led to the now infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast. Time magazine described the 23-year-old Orson Welles as the “brightest moon that had risen over Broadway in years. Welles should feel at home in the sky, for the sky is the only limit his ambitions recognized”; this type of publicity is what helped Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre group obtain the Sunday night premier spot in the CBS line up (Naremore). When the producer first suggested the War of the Worlds as Mercury Theatre’s Halloween broadcast, director and star Orson Welles laughed it off as juvenile and boring. However, after much consideration, it was decided that they