85 years ago tonight, on October 30, 1938, the CBS radio network broadcast the Mercury Theatre's adaptation of H.G. Wells' #WarOfTheWorlds, adapted by Howard Koch and starring Orson Welles. This radiocast is infamous as the night America was terrorized by its own fears and ignorance. (Sound familiar?)
Here's a link to the original radiocast, but be sure to check my next two posts, because they'll have links to more recent versions that may interest you ... (1/x)
#WarOfTheWorlds Newspaper headlines from 85 years ago tomorrow morning ... If you want to listen in real time, the original CBS Radio broadcast began at 8 PM Eastern Time. Here's the link:
#WarOfTheWorlds The 1988 NPR version is at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwatpUIjF_k
It stars Jason Robards, Steve Allen, Rene Auberjoinois and more.
I'm listening now to the 1988 NPR version of #WarOfTheWorlds ... It's quite the hoot. It's done very much in NPR style, even with a reference to a pledge drive.
The three military jets that intercept the Martians have the call signs Bozo, Voodoo and ... Rosebud. 🤣 Later one, there's a reference to a pilot with the call-sign Maverick. 🤣
Listen in real-time to the original 1938 #WarOfTheWorlds radiocast 85 years ago tonight, starting at 8 PM EDT. Here's the link:
Today's #LATimes on the history of #WarOfTheWorlds and its place today.
"The book can be read as a plea for making common cause, as [Wells'] biographer David C. Smith suggests. In this time of real invasions, terrorist attacks, occupations and counteroffensives, that plea is especially poignant."
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-10-30/halloween-h-g-wells-war-of-the-worlds-science-fiction-space-invaders