“WAR OF THE WORLDS”

Grey River Argus, 10 December 1938, Page 5

“WAR OF THE WORLDS”

FRIGHT IN AMERICA. A wave of mass hysteria selzec , thousands of radio listeners in tht i United States between 8.15 and 9.3( o’clock last night, when a broadcast o la dramatisation of H.'G. Wells’s fan' tasy, :“The War of the Worlds,” lec thousands to believe that an Inter planetary conflict had started with invailing Martians spreading wide deatl and destruction in New Jersey anc New York, said the “New York Times’ on Monday, October 31. Thd broadcast, which disrupted households, interrupted religious services, created traffic and clogged communications systems,'was made b.y Orson Welles, who as the radio character, “The Shadow,” used to give “the creeps” to countless child listeners. This’ time at least a score of adults required medical treatment for shock and hysteria. In Newark in a single blockat Heddon Terrace. and Hawthorne Avenue,

I more than twenty families rushed nut of their houses with wet handker- | chiefs and towels over their faces to i flee from what they believed, was to be a gas raid. Some began moving household furniture. Throughout New York, families left their homes, some to flee to nearby parks. Thousands of persons called . the police, newspapers, and radio stations, seeking advice, on protective I measures against the raids. The programme was produced by Mr Welles and the Mercury Theatre of the Air over Station WABC and the Columbia Broadcasting System’s coast-to-coast network, from 8 to 9 o’clock. The radio play, as presented, was to stimulate a regular radio programme with a “break-in” for the material of the play. The radio listeners apparently missed or. did not listen to the introduction, which was: “The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air in “The War of the Worlds,” by H. G. Wells.” They also failed to associate the programme with the newspaper listing of the programme, announced as: “To-day: 8-9 —Play: H. G. Wells’s ‘War of the Worlds’—WAßC." They ignored; three additional announcements made during the broadcast emphaising its fictional nature. I Mr Welles opened the programme wltn a description of the series of which it is a park The stimulated programme began. A weather report was given, prosaically. An announcer remarked that the programme would be continued from a hotel, with dance music. For a few minute s a dance programme was given in the usual 'manner. Then there was a breakin” with a “flash” about a professor at an observatory noting a series of gas explosions on_the planet Mars. I News bulletins and scene broadcasts followed, reporting, with the tech-1 nique in which the radio had reported actual events, the landing of a "meteor” near Princeton, New Jersey, “killing” 1500 persons, the discovery that the “meteor” was a “metal cylin-

der” containing strange creatures 'from Mars armed with “death. rays . to open hostilities aagifist the inhabitants of the earth. I Despite the fantastic nature of the reported “occurrences,” the programme coming after the recent war scare in Europe and a period in which the radio frequently had interrupted regularly scheduled programmes to report developments in the Czechoslovak situation, caused fright and panic throughout the area of the broadcast. Telephone lines were tied up with calls from listeners or persons wno, had heard of the broadcasts. Many sought first to verify the reports. But large numbers, obviously in a state of terror, asked how they could follow, the broadcast’s advice and flee from the city, whether they would be safer in the “gas raid” in the cellar or on the roof, how they could safeguard their children, and many'of the questions which had been worrying resl-| dents of London and Paris during the, tense days before the Munich agreement. I

So many calU came to newspapers and so many'newspapers found it advisable to check on the reports despite their fantastic content that the Associated Press sent out the following at 8.48 p.m,:— “Note to Editors: Queries to newspapers from radio listeners throughout the United States to-night, regarding a reported meteor fall which killed a number of New Jerseyites, are the result of a studio dramatisation. The A.P.” Similarly police teletype systems carried notices to all station houses, and police short-wave radio stations notified police radio cars that the event was imaginary. From one New York theatre a manager reported that a throng of playgoers had rushed from his theatre as a result of the broadcast. One of these who called the “New York Times to verify the report said that the wives of two men in the audience, having heard the broadcast, called the theatre | and insisted that their husbands be| paged. This spread the “news" to bfc* in the audience. | Warren Dean, a member of the American Legion living in Manhat-1 tan, who telephoned to verify the, “reports,” expressed indignation which was typical of that of many “I’ve heard a lot of radio pro-, grammes, but I’ve never heard any-| thing as rotten as that,” Mr Dean said. “It was too realistic for com"'fort: They broke into a dance programme with a news flash. Everybody in my house was agitated by tne news.' It went on just like Press raaio news.” - x Harlem (the negro quarter) was shaken by the “news.” Thirty men and women rushed into the West 123rd Street police station and twelve into the West 135th Street station saying they had their household goods packed and were all ready to leave Harlem if the police would tell them where t 0 go to be “evacuated.” One man insisted he had heard “the President’s voice” over the radio advising all citizens to leave the cities. (Another journal reports that Mr Orson Welles, who is an accomplished minpc, I imitated President Roosevelt during ithe broadcast). \ The parlour churches in the negro district, congregations of the smaller sects meeting on the ground fioors of brownstone houses, took the “news" in stride as less faithful parishioners | rushed in with it, seeking spiritual i consolation. Evening services became . “end of the world” prayer meetings in some. , One man ran into the Wadwprth Avenue police station in Washington Heights, white with terror, shouting

that enemy planes were crossing the Hudson River and asking what he should do. A man came in to the West 152nd Street station, seeking traffic directions. The broadcast became a rumour that spread through the district, and many persons stood I on street corners hoping for a sight >' of the “battle” in the skies. II One man living in the vicinity : the Vanderveer Park police station ■' in Brooklyn walked into the stationhouse, shaking with terror. He asked .'if the police thought it advisable for ■ I him to take his family out of the city. I Shown the teletpne reassurance, he left, shamefaced. In Queens the principal question I asked of the switchboard operators at police headquarters was whether “the I wave of poison gas will reach as far ' a<= Queens.” Many said they were all ' packed up and ready to leave Queers 'when told to do so. 1 Samuel Tishmnn, of 100 Riverside Drive was one of the multitude that fled into the street after hearing part of the programme. He declared that I hundreds of persons evacuated theii 1 homes fearing that the “city was being ' bombed.” | Patrolman John Morrison was on duty at the switchboard in the Bloiix police headquarters when, as he afterwards expressed it, all the lines became busy at once. Among the first i who answered was a man who informed him: — ! “They're bombing New Jersey!

I “How do you know?” Patrolman I Morrison inquired. 1 'I heard it on the radio,’ tne I voice at the other end of the wire replied. “Then I went to the roof ana [ could see the smoke from the bomns, drifting over towards New York. What shall I do?” The patrolman calmed the caller as well as he could, then answered othei • inquiries from persons who wanted to know whether the reports, of a bombardment were true, and if so where they should take refuge.. , x D A flickering of electric lights m Bercren County from about 6.15 to 6.30 in the evening provided a build-up roi the terror that was to ensue wnexi the radio broadcast started. Without going out entirely, tne lights dimmed and brightened alternately and ladio reception was aiso affected. The Public Service Ga s and Electric Company was mystified ny the behaviour of the lights, mg that there was nothing wijong at tnexr power plants or in their distributing system. A spokesman for the sei’vice department said a call was made to Newark and the same situation was reported. He believed, he said, tiiai the condition was general throughout the State. The radio “war scare shocked thousands of men, women, and children m the big cities throughout the country. Newspaper offices, police stations, and radio stations v> ere besieged with calls from anxious relatives of New Jersey’’residents, and in some places anxious groups dlscusseu the impending menace of a disastrous war. Most of the listeners who sought more Information' were widely confused over the reports they had, heard, and many were indignant when | they learned that fiction was the cause of their alarm. . - Scholastic calm deserted Princeton University briefly following the wide-

spread iiiibuiiuci I Dr. Arthur F. Buddington, chairman of the Department Geology, and Dr. Harry Hess, Professor of Geology, received the first alarming reports in a form indicating that a meteor had fallen near Dutch Neck, some five miles away. They armed themselves with the necessary equipment, and sei out to find a specimen. All they found was a group of sightseers, searching like themselves for the meteor. I At least a dozen students received * telephone calls from their parents, alarmed by the broadcast. The "Daily Hrincetonian,” campus newspaper, re--1 ceived numerous calls from students and alumni. I In San Francisco the general impression of listeners seemed to be that an overwhelming force had invadeo the United States from the air, was l in the process of destroying New 1 York, and threatening to move westI ward. “My God,” roared one inquirer ! into a telephone, "where can I vo:unteer my services? We’ve got to stop this awful thing.” Newspaper offees and radio stations in Chicago were swamped with telephone calls about the "meteor” that had fallen in New Jersey. Some said they had relatives in the “stricken area” and asked if the casualty list was available. In parts of St. Louis men and women clustered in the streets in residential areas to discuss what iney should do in the face of the sudden war. One suburban resident drove fifteen miles to a newspaper office to verify the radio "report.” In New Orleans a general impression prevailed that New Jersey had Deen devastated by the "invaders,” but fewer inquiries were received than in other cities. The Associated Press gathered the following reports of reaction to the broadcast: I A message from Providence, Rhode I Island, said: “Weeping and hysterical 'women, swamped the switchboard ox I the “Providence Journal’ for details.of ' the massacre and destruction at New I York, and officials of the electric comI pany received scores of calls urging 1 them to turn off lights so that trie city would be safe from the enemy. Mass hysteria mounted so high in some cases that people told the police and newspapers they “saw” the in- ! vasion. The “Boston Globe” told ox one woman who claimed she could "see the fire,” and said he and many others in her neighbourhood were “getting out of here.” Minneapolis and St. Paul police switchboards were deluged with calls from frightened people. The “Times-Despatch” in Richmond Virginia, reported - that some of then telephone calls came from people wnc said they were “praying.” The Kansas City bureau of the Associated Press received inquiries or the “meteors” from Los Ang-eies, Sail Lake City, Beaumont, Texas, and St Joseph, Missouri, in addition to having its local switchboards flooded will calls. One telephone informant san he had loaded all his children into an car, had filled it with gasoline, am ' was going somewhere. “Where l s I safe?” he wanted to konw. Atlanta reported that listener ‘ throughout the south-east “had It tna a planet struck in New Jersey, wxtf monsters and almost everything ant 1 anywhere from 40 to 7000 people reported killed.” •

In Birmingham, Alabama, pcopsa gathered in groups and prayed, ano Memphis had its full quota or weeping women- calling in to • learn me facts.

In Indianapolis a woman ran into a church screaming: “New York destroyed; it’s the end of the world. - iou might as well go home to die. I just heard it on the radio.” Services were dismissed immediately. X s Five students at Brevard College. North Carolina, ■ fainted, ana panic gripped the campus for a half-hour with many students fighting for telephones to ask their parents to come and get them. A man in Pittsburgh said he returned home in the midst of the broadcast and found‘his wife in Lie bathroom, a bottle of poison in her hand, and screaming: “I’d rather die this way than like that.” He calmed her, listened to the broadcast, and then rushed to telephone to get an explanation. The Columbia Broadcasting System issued a statement saying the adaptation of Mr Well’s novel which was broadcast “followed the original close-, ly, but to make the imaginary details] more interesting to American listeners the adapter, Orson Welles, substituted an American locale for the English scenes of the story. | Pointing out that the fictional char- i acter of the broadcast had been announced four times, and had been previously publicised, it continued: “Nevertheless, the programme apparently was produced with such vividness that some listeners who may have heard only fragments thought the broadcast was fact, not fiction. Hundreds of telephone calls reaching CBS stations, city authorities, newspaper offices, and police headquarters in various cities testifies to the mistaken belief.

“Naturally, it was neither Columbia’s nor the Mercury Theatre's intention to mislead any one, and when it became evident that a . part of the audience had been disturbed by the performance, five announcements were read over the network later in the evening to reassure those listeners.” Expressing profound regret that his dramatic efforts should cause such consternation, Mr Welles said: “I don’t think we will choose anything like this again.” He hesitated about presenting it. he disclosed, because “it was our thought that perhaps people might be bored or annoyed at hearing a tale so improbable.” The “Christian Science Monitor” recalls that the British Broadcasting Corporation swore off news hoaxes twelve years ago, when in a famous 'broadcast £he Rev. Ronald Knox, priest, humorist, and detective story writer, dramatised a Red revolution in London, with sensational after-ef-fects.

The broadcast told of a revolutionary army capturing London. Listeners heard that famous buildings had been laid in ruins; they heard the crash of the Nelson pillar in Trafalgar Square, the collapse of Parliament Buildings, the shrieks of combatants; and were told of massacres of people in St. James’s Park. The broadcaster was trying to satirise Red scares and Red-baiting. IHs remarks were interlarded with humorous quibs and give-aways which made it almost incredible —beforehand —to think that anybody would take the thing seriously. But the 8.8. C. soon learned that manv people do not grasp satire or see through hoaxes, and that the spoken word coming into their, homes over the new medium of radio was itseit so incredible as to render any sort of sensational event credible wnen announced by that means. The 8.8. C. programme early m 1926, came late on Saturday night, ter Sunday papers were printea. Snowstorms held up the delivery of Moriday papers in the remoter parrs of Great Britain; so th e industr-a. north of England was for 30 hours without an independent check-up, ana many people tnought London naa really been devastated. The police were kept busy answering inquiries and soothing people for several days.