TERRE HAUTE — In a time before Twitter and the 24-hour television news cycle, families huddled around radios as their link to the world.
But on a Sunday evening, Oct. 30, 1938, a simple misunderstanding turned into national hysteria when millions of listeners switched their dials mid-broadcast into Orson Welles’ reading of “The War of the Worlds” and believed with horrified certainty that Martians had invaded Grover’s Mill, N.J., the night before Halloween.
“Oh, I could see how it would have caused quite a bit of mayhem with the technology that was available at the time,” Roger Aleshire, owner of The Indiana Theatre, said Monday as preparations are finalized for a live radio re-creation of the event there Friday. “You didn’t have your CNN or what we have, or cell phones, to verify. It was just what was coming through the box in the living room.”
Friday evening at 8 p.m., on the 71st anniversary of what turned into a national panic, the Crosley Radio Players will host a re-creation in the theater at Seventh and Ohio streets. The performance will include a 17-piece band composed of members of the West Vigo High School Jazz Band to play the same songs that accompanied the radio broadcast that Great Depression night.
Jerry Arnold of the Crosley Radio Players said the story of the “show that panicked America” is a reminder to take what one hears, sees and reads with a grain of salt.
“It did cause quite a bit of panic in the American populace,” Arnold said, adding that some urban legends such as the one involving mass suicide are erroneous. However, at least one case was documented in which a woman was attempting to commit suicide when stopped by police. The fear of Martians invading New Jersey, as it was being read live in news bulletin format by Welles, was simply too much for some to take, he said.
What happened, he explained, was then as now, people “surfed” stations during various points in a program. The dominant Sunday evening show was the “Chase and Sanborn Hour” on NBC, hosted by Don Ameche with comic ventriloquist Edgar Bergen.
“How you do a ventriloquist over the radio, I don’t know,” Arnold quipped.
But it was big at the time, so big that when Bergen’s skit was done and the program switched over to singer Nelson Eddy, many listeners began surfing. That’s when they ventured upon “Mercury Theatre” on CBS. Both programs began at 8 p.m., but those listening to the ventriloquist dummy on the “Chase and Sanborn Hour” missed the first 14 minutes of Welles’ program. That 14 minutes included the explanatory disclaimer that informed listeners that the reading was taken from H.G. Wells’ novel “The War of the Worlds,” Arnold said. Adding to the confusion was the fact that “Mercury Theatre” was a “sustaining show,” meaning that no commercial breaks were taken. This, compounded by Welles’ news bulletin style delivery, made millions of listeners believe that Martians were in fact invading the real town of Grover’s Mill, he said.
The actual broadcast lasted about 53 minutes, and after rehearsals, Arnold said the current cast has the re-creation down to the minute. “Less than an hour, certainly,” he said.
Aleshire said while many movie adaptations have been made in the seven decades since, he’s not aware of radio re-creations. “So it should be very interesting,” he said.
The Crosley Radio Players will sell compact discs containing the performance at the event. The group performed radio shows such “The Lone Ranger” at Victory Days last year, and have done numerous broadcasts of shows such as “The Shadow,” “Dragnet” and “The Green Hornet.”
The company that made Crosley radios was founded by Paul Crosley in 1919 in Cincinnati and once owned the Cincinnati Reds, who played on Crosley Field.
“They were very big in World War II,” Arnold said, explaining that the company also made televisions, refrigerators, cars and, during wartime, defense-related products.
“The War of the Worlds” is a G-rated show. Tickets are $5 for adults, and each paying adult can bring three children free, he said.
Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.
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Indiana Theatre taking trip back in time with 'War of the Worlds'
Actual broadcast lasted about 53 minutes; re-creation down to the minute
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