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Words of Wisdom

"Time is what we want most, but what we use the worst."
~William Penn

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Original 1938 broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" by H.G. Wells

Happy Halloween everyone!!
This has always been one of my favorites to kick back and listen to.  It never gets old.
It's the original broadcast from 1938 featuring Orson Welles.  Run time about an hour.
Kick back and let the kiddos listen in, it makes for great family time!
They don't do radio like this anymore.
~Jeff/TOR
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The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 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 H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds.
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The first two thirds of the 60-minute broadcast were presented as a series of simulated "news bulletins", which suggested to many listeners that an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress. Compounding the issue was the fact that the Mercury Theatre on the Air was a "sustaining show" (it ran without commercial breaks), adding to the program's realism. Although there were sensationalist accounts in the press about a supposed panic in response to the broadcast, the precise extent of listener response has been debated.

In the days following the adaptation, however, there was widespread outrage and panic by certain listeners who believed the events described in the program were real.  The program's news-bulletin format was decried as cruelly deceptive by some newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the perpetrators of the broadcast. The episode secured Welles's fame.
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The modern remake doesn't hold a candle to this one! Agree?
Sorry Tom Cruise.

I've allowed downloads on this podcast, share it with family and friends for years to come!

Posted by Jeff - 10.27.2011
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2 comments:

  1. J A BakerOctober 31, 2011 at 10:34:00 PM CDT

    Thanks for posting this Jeff! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AdminOctober 31, 2011 at 10:52:00 PM CDT

    You bet Judith... isn't that cool? They don't make radio like that any more.

    ReplyDelete

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