The Night America Trembled (4/6)

On the night of October 30, 1938, one of the most bizarre experiences in the history of radio occurred. It might be argued that nothing of this nature happened before or since.

On that night, the CBS radio network aired the Halloween episode of Mercury Theatre on the Air. Narrated by Orson Welles, this compelling story of Martians invading earth captured the attention of listeners nationwide. Despite disclaimers issued during the broadcast, many people took the broadcast literally and panicked. The broadcast was actually an adaptation of H. G. Welles' novel, The War of the Worlds.

In this Studio One recreation of the story, renowned newsman Edward R. Murrow brings us the story of what happened that most unusual night. Look for some familiar faces among the cast!

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Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• the
• night
• america
• trembled
• orson
• welles
• edward
• r.
• murrow
• documentary
• sci-fi
• science
• fiction
• war
• of
• worlds
• martian
• invasion
• aliens

[LadyDragonsblood]

Was that Warren Beatty as Buzz?? Also, my mom remembers when this happened...she loved the Murcury Theater and she always listened. She remembers the panic that this caused...it was interesting to hear her tell about it when I was a kid. Thanks for posting this...Edward R. Murrow was the top of the field.

[hwy61media]

Yes it was Susan! The following comes from the description at archivedotorg.

Among the young stars included were, "John Astin, Ed Asner, Warren Beatty, Warren Oates, James Coburn." Quite a line-up.

It's good to hear from you again. Thanks for commenting.

[no8do2008]

hooray! thank you so much for putting this up!

[hwy61media]

Your welcome! It's a great documentary. I'll check on "Judgement at Nuremberg."

For movies go to hwy61movies. I will announce it in the near future but feel free to let anyone else know. Thanks

[niflap]

I knew there was a WotW scare, but I had no idea that a reencted drama was made about it. When did this movie come out?. Westinghouse commercial suggests 1958.

[Zarathustra799]

I want that washer and dryer!

[LoudCitizen]

@hwy61media Don't forget Vincent Gardenia.

[profane1972]

Thanks a lot for the upload. The documentary is surprisingly interesting, and the commercials are fascinating documents in themselves.

[Songsmirth]

@LadyDragonsblood Interesting. I wonder if your mother could talk them into the fact it was just a program? In my experiance people will believe what they want to. Panic is catching. I think we would have had to be there to comprehend how this effected people. Their acting/voices must have convinced people. Had they been bad and messed up their lines a lot, then they wouldn't have been taken so seriously. A lot of public weren't readers, let alone Wells. Good example of a perfect storm.

[LadyDragonsblood]

@Songsmirth Yes, she actually knew it was a radio play, but several of her friends didn't ....she thought that was funny though because it was not on any other station, and people knew when Murcury Theatre came on the air..lol guess my mom is just naturally levelheaded. I am lucky in the fact that my greatgrandmother kept a small notebook diary every day and I have managed to keep 2 of them.....my mom however was not a diary keeper, but yes, I do write these things down! History is important!

[Songsmirth]

So they advertised during the performance? I didn't know that. What did people think of that? Interesing. What would we have thought? That it was pre-recorded? If people were freaking out, maybe they just were just waiting for a continuance of the story. A million?  I didn't realize there were that many. We are over 320,000,000 now. How many Americans then? I know that most Americans listened to the radio for entertainment and news. The window to the outside world.

[Songsmirth]

@LadyDragonsblood Wow. I'd enjoy hearing her thoughts of the event. It really must have frightened people to have the impact of the story. Did your mother listen from the beginning? Did she believe it was real? Write it down so you have it for your families history if you haven't already done it. Thanks for commenting. I was listening when Martin L. King was murdered and I will never forget it. I was at college and had been in my political science class and ran back to my teacher. Shocking.