October 30, 1938: Welles scares nation
Orson Welles causes a nationwide panic with his
broadcast of "War of the Worlds"—a realistic radio
dramatization of a Martian invasion of Earth.
Para ver esta pelcula, debe
disponer de QuickTimeª y de Orson Welles was only 23 years old when his
un descompresor . Mercury Theater Company decided to update H.G.
Wells' 19th-century science fiction novel War of the
Worlds for national radio. Despite his age, Welles
had been in radio for several years, most notably as
the voice of "The Shadow" in the hit mystery program
of the same name. "War of the Worlds" was not planned as a radio hoax, and Welles had little
idea of the havoc it would cause.
The show began on Sunday, October 30, at 8 p.m. A voice announced: "The Columbia
Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater
on the air in 'War of the Worlds' by H.G. Wells."
Sunday evening in 1938 was prime time in the golden age of radio, and millions of Americans
had their radios turned on. But most of these Americans were listening to ventriloquist Edgar
Bergen and his dummy "Charlie McCarthy" on NBC and only turned to CBS at 8:12 p.m. after
the comedy sketch ended and a little-known singer went on. By then, the story of the Martian
invasion was well underway.
Welles introduced his radio play with a spoken introduction, followed by an announcer reading a
weather report. Then, seemingly abandoning the storyline, the announcer took listeners to "the
Meridian Room in the Hotel Park Plaza in downtown New York, where you will be entertained
by the music of Ramon Raquello and his orchestra." Putrid dance music played for some time,
and then the scare began. An announcer broke in to report that "Professor Farrell of the Mount
Jenning Observatory" had detected explosions on the planet Mars. Then the dance music came
back on, followed by another interruption in which listeners were informed that a large meteor
had crashed into a farmer's field in Grovers Mills, New Jersey.
Soon, an announcer was at the crash site describing a Martian emerging from a large metallic
cylinder. "Good heavens," he declared, "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."
The Martians mounted walking war machines and fired "heat-ray" weapons at the puny humans
gathered around the crash site. They annihilated a force of 7,000 National Guardsman, and
after being attacked by artillery and bombers the Martians released a poisonous gas into the air.
Soon "Martian cylinders" landed in Chicago and St. Louis. The radio play was extremely
realistic, with Welles employing sophisticated sound effects and his actors doing an excellent
job portraying terrified announcers and other characters. An announcer reported that
widespread panic had broken out in the vicinity of the landing sites, with thousands desperately
trying to flee. In fact, that was not far from the truth.
Perhaps as many as a million radio listeners believed that a real Martian invasion was
underway. Panic broke out across the country. In New Jersey, terrified civilians jammed
highways seeking to escape the alien marauders. People begged police for gas masks to save
them from the toxic gas and asked electric companies to turn off the power so that the Martians
wouldn't see their lights. One woman ran into an Indianapolis church where evening services
were being held and yelled, "New York has been destroyed! It's the end of the world! Go home
and prepare to die!"
When news of the real-life panic leaked into the CBS studio, Welles went on the air as himself
to remind listeners that it was just fiction. There were rumors that the show caused suicides, but
none were ever confirmed.
The Federal Communications Commission investigated the program but found no law was
broken. Networks did agree to be more cautious in their programming in the future. Orson
Welles feared that the controversy generated by "War of the Worlds" would ruin his career. In
fact, the publicity helped land him a contract with a Hollywood studio, and in 1941 he directed,
wrote, produced, and starred in Citizen Kane—a movie that many have called the greatest
American film ever made.
1- Answer the following questions and give reasons:
1. Who caused panic across USA in 1938? How did he do that?
2. Was the story new?
3. Did the story work out as Welles had imagined?
4. Did they pretend that the story was real?
5. Why did people miss the beginning of the story?
6. Where did the meteor come from? What happened with it?
7. What were the creatures in the meteor like? Did the people who first saw them like them?
How do you know?
8. Were the creatures from space peaceful?
9. Why did people believe the story was real?
10.What did people do when panic broke out?
11.What did the radio company do when they found out about the panic caused by the
broadcast?
12.Were either Welles or the radio company found guilty?
13.Was the incident negative for Welles’s career?
14.Was “War of the worlds” Orson Welles’ masterpiece?
2- Match the words and the definitions:
1. Panic a. Sudden uncontrollable fear
2. Downtown b. Make more modern
3. Break out c. Without being affected by something
4. Dummy d. A humorous or malicious deception
5. Wriggle e. Great confusion or disorder
6. Hoax f. A model or replica of a human being
7. Update g. Central area of a town or city
8. Release h. Twist and turn with quick movements
9. Havoc i. Shine brilliantly with reflected light
10. Ruin j. Small and weak
11. Gleam k. Allow to escape from confinement
12. Remind l. Start suddenly
13. Yell m. Crowd onto a road so as to block it
14. Puny n. Give a loud cry
15. Despite o. Cause to remember
16. Jam p. Cause great and usually irreparable damage
3- Fill in the gaps with words from the previous exercise:
1. He was very mature, __________________ his youth.
2. We went ________________ to meet our friends outside the mall.
3. He started to __________________ when the robber attacked him.
4. He was accused of making ________________ calls pretending he was a
policeman.
5. The ________________ was completely destroyed during the test.
6. He always __________________ me of my first teacher: He looks like him!
