The War of the Worlds (radio)

The war of the worlds (radio)

Adapted by Orson Welles

On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles (1915-1985) and the Mercury Theater, under the CBS label, adapted the classic War of the Worlds, science fiction novel by H.G. Wells, to a radio script.

The story is an adaptation of the book The War of the Worlds. The events were reported in the form of newsreels, chronicling the fall of meteorites that would later correspond to the containers of Martian ships that would defeat the American forces using a kind of "heat ray" and poisonous gases. The introduction of the program explained that it was a dramatization of the work of H. Wells; At 40:30 approximately the second clarifying message appeared, followed by Orson Welles' third-person narration, fifteen minutes after the country's general alarm, which came to believe that it was actually being invaded.

Orson Welles had gained some prestige by dramatizing some of the works such as The Miserables on radio programs, so that in July 1938 the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) offered him a weekly show in the chain dramatizing works. In this way, Howard Koch, who later wrote the script of Casablanca, adapted works like Dracula or The Count of Monte Cristo and Welles interpreted them. In the broadcast of The War of the Worlds Welles played Professor Pierson, the scientist who explained what happened, while also participated an actor imitating the journalist Carl Philips. The broadcast began like this: Ladies and gentlemen, we present the last newsletter of Intercontinental Radio News. From Toronto, Professor Morse of McGill University reports that he has observed a total of three explosions on the planet Mars between 7:45 p.m. And 9:20 P.M.

The listeners who tuned the broadcast and did not hear the introduction thought that it was a real news broadcast, which caused the panic in the streets of New York and New Jersey (where the reports allegedly originated). The police station and the newsrooms were blocked by calls from terrified and desperate listeners trying to protect themselves from the Martian's fictitious gas attacks. The following day protests erupted demanding responsibility, the head of Orson Welles and An explanation, so that Orson Welles himself apologized for the Halloween joke, considered a mockery by the listeners.

Collective hysteria demonstrated the power of the mass media, and this curious episode also catapulted to the top Welles' career.

The program lasted almost 59 minutes. The first forty corresponded to the fake news program, which ended with the announcer on the roof of the CBS dying because of the gases and continued with the narration in third person of Professor Pierson, who described the death of the invaders.