Tomorrow night is the 75th anniversary of War of the Worlds, the radio broadcast that set off a panic, if we are to truly believe that, and set the world of entertainment firmly on their ear and sternly shuffled our world in to the 20th Century. What Orson Welles and his band of merry makers did that evening was prove that channel surfing could be hazardous and used in the right way, radio was not a toy to be played with, it was an instrument, used in the correct way, could cause panic and change the way we 'trusted' the news. People listened to the news and trusted every word. Before radio it was the newspaper, "all the truth that's fit to print". Trust was a big part of your daily news broadcast. Remember, 1938 Hitler was starting his push, the world was sitting up but not startled. The Mercury Theater players firmly set our normally calm country on their ears that night, literally.
Let me set this up for you. It was late October and the weather was typical. Chilly, crisp, in the Northeast, at least. And Wisconsin where my story takes place. Maybe there was a little snow on the ground there, stranger things have happened. People were settling down to a nice evening listening to "Charlie McCarthy" and getting a few laughs. The newspapers had listed the radio log, it was all there, clearly in print. NBC - Edgar Bergen 8pm. CBS, a radio dramatization by the Mercury Players of H.G. Wells novel, "The War of the Worlds". People were settling down, it was a night like any other in the fall. Cool, maybe with a cup of coffee after dinner, settling in with the paper or a magazine and listening to that nice ventriloquist on NBC....as many people have said, how could we have a number one show where a guy is talking to himself? Well, because it was a magic time and you believed the dummy talked. And it was funny, too. And a Hallowe'en show! Good for the kids, everyone.
Aside from Orson Welles and his friends, no one was really sure what was being cooked up at CBS. Another dry Mercury Theater show, perhaps some stiff thing those people in New York thought was entertaining. Mercury Theater was not doing well in the ratings, and yes, they had ratings then. The ax was not far from falling, or so I've read. Maybe something dramatic was about to happen and no one was more dramatic than Orson Welles.
He was a young man and a genius. Fatuous, droll, brilliant, self assured (not egotistical--there is a difference) and from the time he was born carefully held in the palm of the Gods. Nothing could touch him. Twenty three years old and at the Zenith of his powers. His Mercury Theater was this miracle that only comes around once in a millenium. Like the Beatles. Only these voices combined into something like the same miracle but with radio waves and a whiff of ozone. Those dark eyes drew you in and were full of just a spark of this imp. Oh he was up to something, and if you believe the myth (and I like to think I do) no one at the network or in his cast was at all aware of what was about to happen.
Watched it? Good.
Dad told me this story a very long time ago. Dad was funny, some thing would evoke a memory and he would tell a drip of a story. I had seen a tv-film about the broadcast, "The Night That Panicked America". I wanted to know more about this thing that happened in 1938. My dad would have been about 34 years old.
Funny, my grandparents were listening to "Charlie McCarthy". I imagine Grandma thought it was funny, Grandpa Librande (and I really didn't know him very well) really didn't have the same sense of humor she had. There they were, maybe having an apple or popcorn or Grandma sewing and Granpa sharpening a knife or something. Minding their own business. A station break perhaps, like the rest of the country, Granpa got impatient. He probably reached over to the dial and spun it around to hear something else. Grandma probably complained, wanted to hear the rest of the show. Well, he hit CBS and, you see, all heck was breaking out.
They say now that Orson had it timed, he knew when to start killing people. Yes, I'm sure he did. Thousands of folks on the East coast and Midwest were spinning their dials to get away from the commercials, Chase and Sanborn coffee as they were pushing that night on NBC.
That very moment when Granpa hit CBS a reporter was screaming something about aliens landing from Mars and when that reporter was cut off and it went back to the studio it was enough to convince Granpa that yes, indeed, the world was coming to an end. Grab the shotguns and get the women down in the basement! Grandma and maybe Aunt Palma and if Aunt Irma was there, get the women folk downstairs! And the menfolks go outside with the shotguns and wait for the invasion from the sky.
They had a radio, it was hooked up to a car or truck battery. At least this is what I was told. I imagine Granpa turned it up full gain and waited. The folks in New York were saying the aliens were dropping all over the country, it was only a matter of time. I'm sure outside they could see their breath frost as they anticipated the end of life as they knew it, waiting for the glowing globes fall from the sky. Maybe they were the only ones to defend Northern Wisconsin. God help us.
Something happened--the announcer clearly said, "This is a dramatization of H.G.Welles War of the Worlds..." Dad said Granpa shot that radio dead. Aimed that gun right into the house and shot the damned thing dead. Then Dad laughed, that ho, ho, ho laugh like he did. Was it true?
I like to think it happened. It was a part of my family history and I reveled in it. And I've told it over and over through the years.
Listen to the broadcast and keep the lights low, the TV off. Please. It will chill you and it will hold up. Just dispel the reality we have now of CNN and MSNBC and all the 24 hour, 365 video. Suspend disbelief, please. It's amazing and you will be afraid. Just a little.
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