War of the World Radio Broadcast

On October 30th, 1938 Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater company broadcast an audio version H.G. Wells’ 19th Century science fiction novel War of the Worlds on CBS radio. 

Unfortunately a lot of people missed the intro and disclaimer at the beginning of the show at 8pm on a Sunday because they were listening to a more popular show on NBC radio.  

They tuned in a little later to what sounded like an actual radio show with periodic news reports of strange happenings on the planet Mars, the small town of Grover Mills, New Jersey and subsequently across the country. 

Since we seem to believe everything we see in the media a reported 1.2 million Americans believed that what they were hearing was reality and panic ensued. 

Orson Welles and H.G. Wells

Also on this date:

Michael Chrichton’s Looker was released in 1981

Related:

Gene Roddenberry (and Jonathan Frakes)

Yvette Vickers

Dick Tracy

The Outer Limits

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Ed Wood