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This is awestin wells, ladies and
gentlemen, out of character to assure you

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that the War of the World has
no further significance, and it's the holiday

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offering. It was intended to be
the Mercury Theater's own radio version of dressing

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up in a sheet and jumping out
of a bush and saying boom. And

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now Audio Theater Central, Hello,
Welcome to Audio Theater Central. This is

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the show that explores family friendly audio
drama through news, reviews and interviews.

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I'm your host, J D.
Setter, and this is a bonus episode

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number one eighty eight. Well,
today is a special bonus episode specifically to

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commemorate and recognize that today is World
Audio Drama Day, and whenever possible,

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we always want to give you a
little extra content to celebrate this day.

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And also today is the eighty fifth
anniversary of the Mercury Theater on the airs

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War of the World's broadcast, and
so it's just a special day all around.

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And so I wanted to share that
episode with you because I know there

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are still many of you in our
community who have never heard that original old

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term radio broadcast. So that's going
to be a little bit later on in

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this episode, but before that,
I'm going to be joined by Matthew P.

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Warner from Audio Imagination seventy seven Productions, and we're going to talk about

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the War of the World's Broadcast and
Orson Welles and some of the other work

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that he did, as well as
Matthew's new show that has just released today

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as well, and it's called Operator
and it is related to this War of

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the World's Broadcast, and so we're
going to talk about that as well.

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So a lot of stuff coming up. As I said, the War of

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the World's Broadcast will be after I
talk with Matthew, and just wanted to

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give you a little heads up that
because we're going to be talking about it,

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there might be a few minor spoilers, But if you're familiar at all

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with the story and it's source material, it is a loan survivor story,

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so it's not going to be anything
too surprising. But we're just going to

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kind of talk about the history and
some of the overall impacts of this broadcast,

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and so that's going to be a
lot of fun. If you are

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interested in more about World Audio Drama
Day, be sure to head over to

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Audio Drama day dot Com and they've
got some great material there that you can

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check out. All right, well, let's bring on. Matthew. Just

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say your name and the role you're
playing in this production. Please excuse me,

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excuse me, the local news station
would like to talk to you.

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Oh and here's a company play right. I'm here to ask you a couple

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of questions. Well, I am
happy to have Matthew P. Warner from

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Audio Imagination seventy seven Productions on the
show today. And we've talked about Matthew

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and the work that he's been doing
over the last few years on the show

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here in the past. He's a
writer, director, and actor. His

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most recent release was The Gift in
twenty twenty one, a Wonderful Christmas Story,

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and today his new show is out
and it's called Operator. We're going

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to talk about that in a few
minutes, but before we get to that,

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there's sort of a prelude that we
have to get to, right Matthew,

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that's correct. Well, I shouldn't
say we have to. We want

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to because there's a tie in to
his new show that is in relation to

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the topic that we want to talk
about. But first of all, thank

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you for coming on. The show. Thank you so much for having me

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a longtime fan of your show.
Well, thanks, thank you so much.

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So today is World Audio Drama Day. And this whole thing started a

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handful of years ago with a group
of people that said, we need to

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have a day to celebrate this awesome
medium of storytelling. And they said,

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what better day to mark that on
the calendar than the day of the original

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War of the World's radio broadcast in
nineteen thirty eight, which was October thirtieth,

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and that show has been redone several
times since then. But that was

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the original adaptation that Orson Wells directed
for the CBS Radio and this was part

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of his Mercury Theater on the Air
series and it is a classic piece of

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broadcast radio history in addition to being
just one of the most well known old

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time radio episodes of all time.
I mean, if you talk to people

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who know old time radio at all, they're likely going to have heard of

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the War of the Worlds and sorry, wrong number, and maybe some of

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the common or Westerns gun smoke or
whatever, but generally people know War of

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the Worlds, And so we're gonna
talk about that a little bit because it

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all ties into operator and this very
day World Audio Drama Day. So it's

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gonna be fun. We're gonna talk
about a little bit about the broadcast and

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some of our thoughts on it before
we do that. Matthew, what are

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some of the other old time radio
shows that you enjoy? Oh, I

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mean all of them. I mean
I've been listening to old time radio since

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I was around eight years old,
and I think the first one I was

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ever introduced to was called and it's
still one of my favorites. I listened

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to it every year. It's called
The Haunting Hour. Not a very well

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known show and it was only on
for two seasons, but I listened to

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that. I love suspense and or
Sanctum obviously. I've listened to several of

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the Mercury Theater on the airs,
but then to step away from the thriller

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horror, I also liked Bergenham,
McCarthy, Avid and Costello. I love

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The Great Gildersleeve is one that I
listened to, especially during the holidays,

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but only listen to the holiday episodes. But yeah, I mean there's not

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a whole lot that I don't like. Yeah, it's so good, and

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Orson Wells is all throughout you know, old time radio history. I mean,

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his adaptation of Leyman's rob Is is
amazing. No, absolutely, And

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of course what was the thriller?
He was the Harry Lymer. Oh yeah,

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I think so. I mean,
but I mean back then he did

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so many I heard a story that
he would go from one play to the

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other by ambulance because he was on
such a tight time crunch. He would

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be in one studio recording The Shadow, and then he would jump into an

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ambulance and they would race him across
town to do the Mercury Theater. And

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then like he'd actually after the radio
show, he would actually have a theater

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production also called the Mercury Theater.
So he would go from A to B

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to C within a matter of hours. I mean he eventually did you know

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Suspense, He did The Black Museum, which he was the host of.

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I don't think that guy even knew
limitations on what he could and couldn't do.

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Yeah, yeah, And he's so
iconic in so many roles too,

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Like I mean, I can't imagine
the Black Museum without him and his just

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the whole persona that he has on
there and the Shadow, I mean,

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his iconic voice for Lamont Kranston in
the Shadow. I mean, there's so

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many shows that he influenced, but
this was this one was very early in

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his career. He was also on
the verge of being canceled. He was

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days away from being canceled when he
pulled this hoax off, and it actually

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saved him for years to come.
And not only that, it made him

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like a household name in a way
because everyone was so fascinated by what he

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had just done. Yeah, and
of course he played it off totally innocent,

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like I don't know what you're all
talking about, and if you're not

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familiar. This is based on the
novel, the science fiction novel by H.

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G. Wells. No relation,
but actually Orson Welles didn't write this

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adaptation. It was written by somebody
else, but he directed it. And

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he also started and I guess,
I mean he's he starts off as the

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narrator and we don't realize who this
narrator is at first until we get later

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on in the story. But it's
just just so good. And I was

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talking with the Austin Peachey ATC contributor
the other day and he was saying that

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even to this day, he's recently
graduated from college and he got a degree

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in media, and they're still talking
about this broadcast in college classes to this

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day. I'm not surprised. I
mean, it really is, Like you

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said earlier, I think it's probably
one of the most prolific titles in audio

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drama. It's and this is a
horrible comparison, but I heard something years

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ago that if you were to ask
in any country about like the names of

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serial killers, the only one that
every country in the world has heard of

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is Jack the Ripper, Okay,
And I feel that this is one of

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those plays that like everyone might not
have heard, you know, people in

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you know, Africa or even you
know, anywhere else you know, might

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not have heard of like Inner Sanctum
or or you know, even shows that

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we do today. But it's like
everyone seems to be very aware of the

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War of the World's broadcast. So
that's why it seems like just one of

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the biggest names out there. Might
not be the greatest audio play ever done,

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but it seems to have such a
huge following and such credibility to its

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name. Yeah. Well, and
there's such a lore surrounding it, and

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I think that's probably part of it. I heard a podcast several years ago,

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and I wish I could remember what
show it was, but I do

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not. But they were talking about
this very the whole phenomenon that this show

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started or incited, and they were
talking about a Central or South American country

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which did a take on this.
Obviously was a different script because you know,

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the original novel is set in London, excuse me, in England,

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and this story, you know,
this adaptation is set in New Jersey and

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New York, you know, the
East Coast. But this radio station in

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Central or South America had done an
adaptation, you know, trying to sort

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of recreate what Wells and Mercury did
in their own language, and you know,

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set in their own location, and
they had a similar thing happened.

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And this was not like back in
the thirties or forties. This was relatively

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recently, in the last decade or
so, and I found it just so

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interesting. You know, this whole
idea is still still in people's consciousness and

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there are still trying to pull off
the same sort of, for lack of

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a better term, a viral sort
of hit, I guess, well back

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back in the nineties. Just to
touch on that, that just reminded me

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back in the when I was in
high school, back in the nineties.

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Not to age myself too much,
but I remember around this time, me

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and a couple friends were in the
kitchen in my parents' house carving pumpkins,

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and my mom had this little box
TV up on the counter and it was

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showed this TV footage of this little
girl whose face was badly burnt from an

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asteroid that had just landed in New
Jersey, and we're trying to carve our

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pumpkins, but we keep watching it, and we keep watching it, and

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as we're driving home later, we're
talking about it and we're like, what

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if, you know, what if? What is going on? Blah blah

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blah. And then I got home
and my mom was just rolling. She

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was like, now it was like
the sixtieth anniversary of the War of the

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World's broadcast. They were doing a
little TV mock up and we're like,

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so immediately I call my buddy and
he answers. He's like it was a

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fake and I'm like I know,
and then we're you know, back then,

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three way calling was really popular,
so we tried to call someone else

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and then they're calling someone else,
so there's a whole group of us.

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Still we felt like total idiots,
but I mean it just shows the it's

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I mean, here they're you know, fifty years later, they're still touching

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base on it, and you know, and it fooled us. But again,

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you know, I'd love to play
it off as we're dumb high schoolers,

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but nope, they got us.
Yeah, yeah, well it's it

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comes down to that, you know, that news bulletin style format of telling

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the story, and you know,
it really does pull you right in.

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And this is not the only audio
drama adaptation of War for the World,

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so it's been done by others.
I mean, there was one that I

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heard a few years ago by a
production house in the UK that did a

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really faithful adaptation from the novel and
it was phenomenal quality. But you know,

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this is a very different approach.
And this actual broadcast War of the

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Worlds from Mercury has been spoofed again
and again too, and even in Adventures

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and Odyssey we have it may not
be a spoof, but it's more of

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an homage to it. With the
episode Terror from the Skies, which was

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written by Paul McCusker and Portlite Family
Media's own show that we did several years

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ago, a Christmas show of all
things called Babe of the Worlds, which

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was written by Jeffrey Adams of Icebox
Radio Theater, and that is sort of

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turning that story around, and it
tells the birth of Christ from the perspective

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of news bulletins if Bethlehem had had
a radio station. And so it's very

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patterned after War of the World.
I mean even the character's names. We

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have a Carla Phillips is our main
character, the main reporter, and we

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have a Professor Pearson in it.
And so this has become a part of

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audio drama history again and again,
and I think it's just a cool thing.

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So when did you first hear this
particular show and what are what are

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your thoughts on it overall? Like
what is it that draws you to this

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episode? So, like I said, like I was introduced to it from

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my parents when I was six years
old. I was a huge fan of

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old black and white movies and silent
films. I mean, at six,

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Charlie Chaplin was my hero, and
so I would watch Charlie Chaplin, Laurel

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and Hardy Marx Brothers. And I
want to say. When I was about

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eight, my dad came in and
said, hey, because you're such a

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fan of old movies, you should
try these, and he gave me two

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sets of cassettes. One said comedies
and one said thriller. So I was

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like, hmm, let's start with
the thrillers because that seems more interesting than

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the comedies. And War of the
Worlds was the was the third one I

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listened to. Wow, I listened
to the like I said earlier, the

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Haunting Hour, and then on the
other side was the Hall of Fantasy.

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And then I was like, oh, War of the World is an entire

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cassette. And I remember finding it
really interesting at eight years old, but

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I don't think I understood it like
the impact. And it was shortly after

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I had heard it for the first
time that my grandfather actually told me that

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it had caused a panic, which
again at eight wasn't really comprehending. And

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then it actually, I really do
have a long run with long history with

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this play. When I was you
know, in ten to twelve, my

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cousins would come over and we'd turn
into a game where we'd actually have it

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00:15:39,519 --> 00:15:43,120
in the background, acting like we
were minding our own business, and then

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we'd hear the first broadcasts and they
were like, what are we going to

206
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do? And then we'd start acting
like we were boarding up the windows and

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securing the doors and then grabbing our
toy guns and staring at the windows,

208
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and you know, as kids,
we'd lose interest relatively quickly, so we

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never really saw the whole game through, but it was something that we did

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on multiple occasions. They'd come over, is you want to play that Alien

211
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Invasion game? Like, yeah,
I'll go grab the cassette. I love

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that. Yeah, it was fun. It was It was totally fun.

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In fact, i'd do it now
if they were available. But and then

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in college I started listening to it. I kind of got back into it.

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I'd start, you know, over
the years, I'd start listening and

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branching out to way many other audio
old time radio plays, and then in

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the last ten years, I started
revisiting the ones from when I was younger,

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and then I think I just had
more of an understanding of this one

219
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because I'd listened to it and I'd
start understanding more of what they were trying

220
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to do. And then like there's
even scenes that I'd start getting chills and

221
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I'm like, wow, I've heard
this probably one hundred plus times, and

222
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now it's actually affecting me because I
tried to also imagine what people back then

223
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were thinking and hearing, and it
definitely gives you chill if you really think

224
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about what's happening and the way he
directs it, And there's several scenes that

225
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stick out that just just even think
of it now kind of gives me a

226
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little chills, just because what he
was aiming to do. But yeah,

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I listened to it every year,
especially on the thirtieth, which I didn't

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even know that that was World Audio
Drama Day until a few years ago,

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so I was always I always considered
it war the World's Day in my mind.

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But yeah, no, I enjoy
the show. It's definitely one of

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my favorites. And the older I
get and the more I listen to it,

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the more I appreciate the story.
And then of course reading about everything

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they went through to get it going, and all the different rumors of what

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it could have been, what it
might not have been, how impactful it

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was, how it might not have
been impactful at all. It's just it's

236
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all fascinating to me. Oh yeah, yeah, And there's just little things.

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So I just listened to it and
I picked up on some things that

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it had been Actually, it had
been a couple of years since I've heard

239
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it, and so it was really
interesting to me as I was, you

240
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know, trying to prep for this
conversation and so I was really listening to

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the little details and it was so
genius. And I don't know if this

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is in the script. I don't
know if you've ever seen a script,

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I haven't, so this this may
have been part of the script, or

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this just may have been the actors
themselves. But that particular scene, you

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know, we have the press conference
with the military commander, and he's adding

246
00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:36,799
in these uz and these little you
know, verbal crutches into what he's saying

247
00:18:36,839 --> 00:18:40,480
that made it sound so real,
Like how many times have you heard a

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00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:45,440
press conference where they speak every single
word clearly like no, they they stumble,

249
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they and so working those little things
into it, and then the reporter

250
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at one point he's like they go
from the studio to him and he's like,

251
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am I on? You know,
those little things like that made it

252
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sound like this is really an actual
happening right now, And you know,

253
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it did not sound like a play. No, it did. In fact,

254
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when the first time they go to
the farm at Grover's Mill, he's

255
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talking to the one that witnessed the
asteroid or the crash, and even starts

256
00:19:15,839 --> 00:19:18,799
to talk to him, and as
he starts talking, he interrupts him.

257
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He says, a little closer,
a little closer to the microphone. So

258
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I mean, yeah, so it's
it's really well done. And I have

259
00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:27,440
seen the script obviously, that part
with the farmer is in the script.

260
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As far as how many ums from
the military, I don't know if I

261
00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:34,160
can't recall off the top of my
head, but yeah, no, it's

262
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it's it really does sound real.
And when you think about the time that

263
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all this started, from like eight
o'clock to by eight point fifteen, you

264
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know, I mean, all of
a sudden, Jersey is under attack.

265
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It must have gotten people so confused
and terrified for them not to realize this

266
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:57,720
is a lot of things happening for
fifteen minutes. And that guy sure does

267
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sound an awful lot like well,
you know, I mean, who had

268
00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:06,319
a very distinctive voice for twenty three
years old. Yeah, yeah, And

269
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maybe because it was still early on
in his career, then he wasn't the

270
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no. I don't know, but
maybe he wasn't quite the well known actor,

271
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certainly, not that he was or
that he is today, but maybe

272
00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:23,839
he, you know, his voice
hadn't quite reached everybody yet at that point.

273
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I don't know, but it's just
interesting. And there's this that moment

274
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where they say that they're going to
turn the the station over to the military

275
00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:37,359
or some kind of so they can
have their milicia. Yeah, so you

276
00:20:37,759 --> 00:20:41,200
hear their broadcasts back and forth and
stuff like that, and then we get

277
00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:45,559
that moment where there's just silence and
he's like, is anybody on the air.

278
00:20:45,079 --> 00:20:49,319
That moment is chilling. But that's
not till forty minutes in, and

279
00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:55,240
so this is all building up,
and and it's right after that that we

280
00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:59,240
that's like the end of the first
act. And then we get the announcement

281
00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:02,359
saying, oh, this is a
radio play, blah blah blah, we'll

282
00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:06,359
be back after this or whatever it
is. I can totally see how some

283
00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:08,640
people might have been a little bit
concerned. I mean, you're forty minutes

284
00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:12,039
into this thing before they ever I
mean, if you listen to the very

285
00:21:12,079 --> 00:21:18,480
beginning, they say the Mercury Theater
presents whatever. But right after that,

286
00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:23,119
you know, it goes into this
whole news bulletin, as you alluded to

287
00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:29,400
earlier, starts off with the musical
interludes and then goes into these news bulletins,

288
00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:33,440
breaking into the music, and for
thirty five minutes at least, you're

289
00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:37,960
hearing this stuff and you're like,
wow, I can totally see because you

290
00:21:37,039 --> 00:21:42,000
mentioned also think about the timeframe nineteen
thirty eight, Like, you know,

291
00:21:42,279 --> 00:21:47,880
these days, we're very much more
skeptical about things like this, Oh yeah,

292
00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:49,960
you know, yeah so, but
back then, you know, they're

293
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:52,839
just like, this is the radio, you know, this is where we

294
00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:57,680
get all of our information. Yeah, exactly. And that's a great point

295
00:21:57,759 --> 00:22:03,680
because back then, obviously the depression
was only you know, was still people

296
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:06,680
were still suffering from the depression,
even though it had been you know,

297
00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:11,240
almost ten years. It was such
a time of innocence and there was so

298
00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:15,279
much, so much, you know, people are so naive back then,

299
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:22,319
and I don't think radio was that
old. I mean I don't have I

300
00:22:22,319 --> 00:22:23,880
mean, I'm sure there was,
you know, something here and something there,

301
00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:27,680
But it was the thirties that it
really started to pick up. And

302
00:22:27,759 --> 00:22:33,680
with all of the possible uprising of
the like what was going on in Germany

303
00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:37,960
and over in Europe with the Nazi
uprising and stuff like that. People were

304
00:22:37,039 --> 00:22:41,319
so fascinated by what was going so
as they change the station and they hear

305
00:22:41,839 --> 00:22:47,640
this really gradual build up, and
it was a very gradual build up because

306
00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:52,000
it was just you know, gaseous
explosions on the planet Mars, like it

307
00:22:52,039 --> 00:22:56,400
was nothing. And then all of
a sudden they come back and they mention

308
00:22:56,519 --> 00:22:59,720
it again, and then the next
thing, which you know, everyone's gonna

309
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:02,359
be like, minute, this is
something something must be going on, because

310
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:07,359
now they're going to Princeton and they're
talking to some famous astrologists, and then

311
00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,519
all of a sudden, now it's
in the farm. So it was a

312
00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:14,160
really well done build up. And
even though it was over a fifteen minute

313
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:18,000
period, just to the build up
for when the Martians finally come out and

314
00:23:18,039 --> 00:23:21,720
attack, it's it really does.
Even listening to it now, it does

315
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:25,880
seem like a much bigger, longer
build up. So I can see where

316
00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:29,880
back then people being a little bit
more naive and a little bit more nervous

317
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:32,920
about what was happening on the other
side of the world, and whatnot.

318
00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:37,680
That it would be really easy to, I guess, manipulate them that way,

319
00:23:37,799 --> 00:23:40,799
because who would have thought anything different, especially with the way they did

320
00:23:40,839 --> 00:23:45,319
it. Yeah. Yeah, And
like you said in the moment, I'm

321
00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:52,000
sure those minutes felt like hours,
you know, absolutely, But to touch

322
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:55,720
on that scene you were saying,
that's one of the scenes that still gives

323
00:23:55,720 --> 00:24:00,880
me chills. When they're on the
broadcast building and he's talking about the Martians

324
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:04,119
coming closer and being fifty yards away
twenty five. Then he starts coughing because

325
00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:07,880
of the gas, and then all
of a sudden, there's a sound of

326
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:12,880
him collapsing, and then it it
goes on for nothing other than traffic and

327
00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:18,799
the mayhem down below for a good
five ten seconds. So it's it really

328
00:24:18,839 --> 00:24:22,319
is like is it is it all
done? And then all of a sudden,

329
00:24:22,759 --> 00:24:26,400
the same voice you hear her earlier
with the two x two L calling

330
00:24:26,519 --> 00:24:30,599
you know CQ, because earlier in
the play you hear it, and when

331
00:24:30,599 --> 00:24:33,559
there's so many people alive and activity
happening, it's he's like two x two

332
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:37,640
L calling CQ, two x two
L calling CQ. But now he's doing

333
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:42,359
it again, much slower, much
more concerned, and it's you know,

334
00:24:42,559 --> 00:24:47,400
it's very creepy, you know,
because it's very spread out, and then

335
00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:49,799
he just ends it, you know, with is there anyone? And then

336
00:24:49,799 --> 00:24:53,480
there's a long pause, and then
all of a sudden, like you said,

337
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:57,640
they announce that it's a play.
But then after that it actually becomes

338
00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:03,720
your typical old time radio drama.
Now there's music built into it and there's

339
00:25:03,839 --> 00:25:07,400
narration, and it's still great from
start to the end. But when I

340
00:25:07,519 --> 00:25:11,440
was talking to my cast, I
was saying, at least listen to the

341
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:15,160
first forty minutes. I highly recommend
the whole play, but if you listen

342
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:21,000
to nothing else, at least the
first forty minutes to understand what people were

343
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,079
going through. Right, Yeah,
because you're right, it totally does take

344
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:26,640
a turn. And that's why I
said, it's sort of like the first

345
00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,000
act, even though they're not like
equally, they're not equal in duration,

346
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:34,480
but it totally takes a turn,
and then it feels a little bit more

347
00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:38,920
like the original novel. You know, you have this loan survivor kind of

348
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:45,240
just sharing his sort of diary or
his journal as he's living out his days

349
00:25:45,279 --> 00:25:48,480
or whatever, and that's very much
like the novel. But yeah, the

350
00:25:48,559 --> 00:25:52,759
build up up to that point,
it's like edge of the seat type of

351
00:25:52,799 --> 00:25:56,000
stuff. Absolutely, it's intense,
and they did such a good job.

352
00:25:56,079 --> 00:26:00,640
And then when you start to read
about all the stories behind it, it

353
00:26:02,079 --> 00:26:06,559
just becomes even more to me more
genius some of the stuff they did.

354
00:26:06,799 --> 00:26:11,480
And again, if the stories are
true, you know, some of the

355
00:26:11,519 --> 00:26:15,160
stuff. I read one way that
they kind of anticipated this was going to

356
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:19,519
happen, so they had kind of
barricaded the doors to the recording studio.

357
00:26:19,759 --> 00:26:22,119
I don't know if that's true.
It was just one of the stories I

358
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:29,000
read. And I actually also heard
John Housman in an interview talking about years

359
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:33,880
ago saying that Orson had, you
know, we knew what we were doing.

360
00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:37,119
Even though he claimed he didn't,
there's always that did he know or

361
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,839
did he not know? Was his
plan? Was it just an accident?

362
00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:45,079
Yeah? So yeah, so I
like to think that he knew and that

363
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,559
you know that, you know,
I heard something that the police were even

364
00:26:48,599 --> 00:26:53,240
trying to call in and tell them
that they need to break the show and

365
00:26:53,599 --> 00:26:57,680
announce it right there, but they
just hung up and they refused to do

366
00:26:57,759 --> 00:27:02,240
all this stuff like no, we're
in this through you know, they probably

367
00:27:02,279 --> 00:27:04,160
knew that they were at the end
of their rope and they needed to save

368
00:27:04,279 --> 00:27:07,880
their show, and what a way
to do it. Yeah, well,

369
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:11,920
I mean he was an entertainer,
he was a showman. He knew you

370
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,079
know, he knew what he was
doing. I think. Yeah, it's

371
00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:19,880
fascinating. And if you haven't heard
this show yet or haven't looked into the

372
00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:23,279
history, in the show notes is
a link to the Wikipedia page, which

373
00:27:23,279 --> 00:27:27,039
has a ton of information and of
course links elsewhere to check that out.

374
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:30,240
And then also in the show notes
is a link to a post from a

375
00:27:30,279 --> 00:27:36,680
few years ago on the ATC blog
where we shared an embedded player where I

376
00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:42,079
found some audio of Orson Welles talking
about that night for several years after after

377
00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:45,799
the fact. So you definitely want
to check that out. It's only a

378
00:27:45,839 --> 00:27:48,240
couple of minutes long, but it's
worth hearing. So we're going to give

379
00:27:48,279 --> 00:27:53,599
you an opportunity to listen to that
show right here in this episode in just

380
00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:59,359
a few minutes. But we have
alluded to this throughout the conversation. But

381
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:03,480
your new production Operator, which is
out today over at dramafi dot com,

382
00:28:04,039 --> 00:28:10,599
is very much influenced by or tied
into this War of the World. So

383
00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:15,599
tell the listener what is the premise
of operator and what is the tie in

384
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:19,119
here to War of the worlds.
Well, it's about that night during the

385
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:26,440
broadcast from pretty much the perspective of
the telephone operator. In every documentary I

386
00:28:26,559 --> 00:28:33,599
watched on this show, there was
very little mentioned about the telephone operator other

387
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:37,480
than that they were inundated with panic
calls all evening, and to me,

388
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:41,319
in some ways they were like the
real heroes of this panic. And so

389
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:45,839
I thought the fact that no one's
ever touched on this other than I did

390
00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:51,240
see a six minute little short video
that AT and T did back in I

391
00:28:51,319 --> 00:28:56,920
think it was nineteen eighty eight where
they brought four telephone operators in and talked

392
00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:02,720
very vaguely about that night from their
point of view, And so I thought,

393
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:04,559
I was, like, what a
great idea for a story to tell

394
00:29:04,559 --> 00:29:10,160
it from the point of view of
the telephone operator. So it's about that

395
00:29:10,359 --> 00:29:17,279
night from their point of view,
especially from one character in particular named Fay

396
00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:23,160
Rogers, and it's just her retelling
her experience and everything she went through with

397
00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:29,559
three other women, how they held
that night and did the best that they

398
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:36,519
could during this potential panic and how
they kind of overcame it and worked through

399
00:29:36,559 --> 00:29:40,440
it. And in many ways,
it's kind of a woman's empowerment story,

400
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:44,960
I guess. In other ways,
it's just a fun way to touch upon

401
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:49,160
a really fascinating evening back in nineteen
thirty eight. Yeah. Yeah, And

402
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:55,400
I also enjoyed it too, just
because again the era of that time and

403
00:29:55,920 --> 00:30:00,319
the way the telephone switchboards worked and
you know, plug things in and moving

404
00:30:00,319 --> 00:30:04,200
that that's how you would reconnect the
calls, and just the whole way that

405
00:30:04,319 --> 00:30:10,400
worked. I've always just I find
that stuff interesting. And so it's getting

406
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:14,559
sort of a look into the process
of what it might have looked like.

407
00:30:15,599 --> 00:30:18,480
Even in the beginning of your show, it's very much like it's a normal

408
00:30:18,519 --> 00:30:22,160
evening, and so that we might
see a little bit of what it would

409
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:26,680
look like on the floor there as
they're just taking calls. Then of course

410
00:30:26,759 --> 00:30:30,920
the things start getting ratcheted up when
this broadcast starts, But just that whole

411
00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:37,799
look into that side of things is
interesting. And so this is about an

412
00:30:37,839 --> 00:30:41,960
hour and a half long, and
you had a cast of twenty five people,

413
00:30:41,839 --> 00:30:48,640
and so this is your most ambitious
projects so far. And also if

414
00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:52,480
I'm not mistaken. I think this
is your first time working with remote talent.

415
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:56,759
So what was that process like for
you? All? In all,

416
00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:00,400
it went really well. I mean
I had reached out to the the one

417
00:31:00,519 --> 00:31:03,720
actress that I knew I was going
to use, as I've used in every

418
00:31:03,759 --> 00:31:07,400
one of my productions, was Annie
di Martino. She's always kind of my

419
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:12,480
leading lady, but she wasn't this
time. I had a specific character who

420
00:31:12,559 --> 00:31:18,359
I really really loved writing about,
Missus Taylor, because she kind of oversees

421
00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:23,480
and takes control over the situation.
But I'd reached out to several people from

422
00:31:23,599 --> 00:31:30,039
various production companies to see if they
wanted to lend voices, and then of

423
00:31:30,079 --> 00:31:33,000
course I got you know, Jonathan
Cook in there and Alicia Hansen, and

424
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:38,759
I did do several auditions, going
to everyone's home to do them, just

425
00:31:38,799 --> 00:31:42,640
to try and keep it, you
know, more personable. And then when

426
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:48,079
Alicia sent me her, I called
them one liners because they were just a

427
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:52,000
series of panic phone calls. And
as soon as I got hers, I

428
00:31:52,079 --> 00:31:56,680
reached back out to her and said, hey, are you at all interested

429
00:31:56,759 --> 00:32:00,799
in reading for someone else and an
actual part? And she was right on

430
00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:06,319
board and she did it, and
I had one character specifically in mind for

431
00:32:06,359 --> 00:32:08,359
her, and then when I heard
her lines, I said, so,

432
00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:14,000
how would you like the main,
main part and she was like, oh,

433
00:32:14,079 --> 00:32:21,960
yeah, that's great. But her
living in Florida between conversations and sending

434
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:25,480
her lines pre recorded to kind of
not that there was any doubt in her

435
00:32:25,519 --> 00:32:30,240
ability, but it was kind of
hard to direct from across the country.

436
00:32:30,359 --> 00:32:37,200
So giving her lines because they talked
very specifically back in the nineteen thirties,

437
00:32:37,519 --> 00:32:40,200
the voice never went down, it
always went straight, or it went up

438
00:32:40,359 --> 00:32:45,359
at the end, kind of like
very similar to an Australian accent. How

439
00:32:45,359 --> 00:32:50,640
it always kind of ends with the
last syllable tuning up. And so I

440
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,119
would send her a series of lines
and then you know, like say it

441
00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:57,039
kind of like this and then make
it your own. And she did just

442
00:32:57,119 --> 00:33:00,680
that, so that was fantastic.
In fact, there was not a single

443
00:33:00,759 --> 00:33:04,200
line that she sent me that I
needed her to re record, wow,

444
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:10,319
because she is professional through and through. And then Jonathan sent me several different

445
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:15,720
takes and said that guy's got amazing
voices, and so he sent me several

446
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:21,440
different voices and then those are the
only two that I didn't actually get to

447
00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:25,720
see in person or or talk to. I knew Jonathan was gonna be fantastic.

448
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:29,319
Just so here you go, play
with it, do whatever you want,

449
00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:35,279
just make it panicked. And he
delivered constantly, and then everybody else

450
00:33:35,839 --> 00:33:39,640
lived Johansson, Logan, and Annie. I got the pleasure of having them

451
00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:44,519
in the studio. So that was
that was fun, Yeah, just to

452
00:33:44,559 --> 00:33:45,960
actually get to work with them,
and you know, it's always fun to

453
00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:51,519
be in the studio, right right, So how much research did you have

454
00:33:51,599 --> 00:33:57,160
to do before you actually started writing. I spent about eight months doing research.

455
00:33:57,240 --> 00:34:00,880
That's why I did not release anything
in twenty twenty. Towards the end,

456
00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:07,119
right before I released A gift,
I started thinking about this play,

457
00:34:07,159 --> 00:34:10,760
and so I just started reading it. Obviously, I listened to it,

458
00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:15,800
and like I said before, I
was listening to it alongside The Chasing Sanborn

459
00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:21,639
Hour to make sure that their musical
interludes timing lined up with the timing of

460
00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:24,480
broadcasts, to see if it would
actually make sense that someone would have switched

461
00:34:24,519 --> 00:34:29,719
the station to actually hear something that
would draw them in. And now,

462
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:32,880
so for the listener, explain the
connection there to The Chasing Sanborn. What

463
00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:38,119
was absolutely Yeah, so back in
nineteen thirty eight, the Chasing Sanborn Show,

464
00:34:38,679 --> 00:34:44,480
which starred Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy
The Little Ventriloquist Puppet was the number

465
00:34:44,519 --> 00:34:49,360
one show on the air at the
time, and The Mercury Theater, which

466
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:54,719
was on CBS, was like ranked
number forty or something along those lines,

467
00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:59,679
and it wasn't doing well and it
was on the verge of being canceled,

468
00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:04,960
and so when they decided to do
the War of the worlds. Rumor has

469
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:09,440
it that they had been kind of
following along the Chas and Samborn Show for

470
00:35:09,599 --> 00:35:15,039
weeks, taking times to kind of
on average around four minutes and thirty seconds

471
00:35:15,159 --> 00:35:17,760
is when they do their musical interlude, and they would do it. They

472
00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:22,000
would they kind of monitored it for
a couple of weeks just to see,

473
00:35:22,159 --> 00:35:24,119
knowing that that was the War of
the World is coming up, and they

474
00:35:24,159 --> 00:35:30,599
wanted to time it that by the
time people switch stations, because I guess

475
00:35:30,719 --> 00:35:36,440
it was quite common that during musical
interludes people would switch the stations to see

476
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:40,719
what else was on the air,
and so they wanted to time that when

477
00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:46,559
people would switch over to CBS that
there was some very vague mentioning of gaseous

478
00:35:46,639 --> 00:35:52,000
explosions on the planet Mars and describing
what it was like, just to make

479
00:35:52,039 --> 00:35:54,400
it kind of well, this is
happening, not a big deal, but

480
00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:58,800
we're going to keep an eye on
it. But then, if you know

481
00:35:59,079 --> 00:36:04,119
the stories are true, people were
so fascinated by outer space, let's tune

482
00:36:04,159 --> 00:36:07,360
into this. So that's how it
kind of started. But that was I

483
00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:10,840
mean, you have the number forty
show against the number one show. I

484
00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:14,360
guess, yeah, they go big
or go home, and they went big.

485
00:36:15,559 --> 00:36:17,280
Yeah, So thank you for clarifying
that, because I'm sure there are

486
00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:22,199
some people who didn't realize that.
And that also goes that's another element on

487
00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:29,079
that probably helped to heighten the panic, was because they were just catching snippets

488
00:36:29,079 --> 00:36:34,239
of these things as they were bouncing
between stations. So right, So yeah,

489
00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:37,320
so back to operators, So you
were listening to this to try to

490
00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:42,239
make sure that as you're telling your
story, it's unfolding in a reasonably close

491
00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:46,199
timeframe to what was going on in
the real broadcast. That yeah, absolutely

492
00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:50,599
that, And also I wanted to
make sure that what I was going to

493
00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:53,559
have happening, because when they listened
to it, there's obviously, you know

494
00:36:53,599 --> 00:36:57,599
their telephone operators, so there's going
to be a series of calls, and

495
00:36:57,679 --> 00:37:01,119
so I wanted to keep the as
it gradually gets worse, I wanted to

496
00:37:01,199 --> 00:37:07,039
keep it in line with what was
actually happening in the broadcast. And so

497
00:37:07,159 --> 00:37:13,000
there'll be moments where they'll be on
a regular phone call helping a customer out

498
00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:15,880
or subscribers they would call him back
in the thirties, and then the next

499
00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:20,039
one is just a little odd,
like what a strange question, Okay,

500
00:37:20,079 --> 00:37:22,840
here's the number for the police station
in Grover's Mill. And then the next

501
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:28,679
one is, you know, what
happened an earthquake in the field out there,

502
00:37:28,679 --> 00:37:30,599
and you know, so there would
just be it was just a very

503
00:37:30,599 --> 00:37:34,320
gradual build up. So I wanted
to make sure as I was listening to

504
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:37,880
it that what was happening in operator
was falling in line with that up until

505
00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:44,599
that moment where New York is destroyed
and he's on that you know two x

506
00:37:44,639 --> 00:37:47,679
two L calling Zekiu, is there
anyone on the air. Wanted to make

507
00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:52,079
sure it all lined up to that
exact moment, So that's why I had

508
00:37:52,119 --> 00:37:55,760
to listen to it. And then
of course the fascination of how many of

509
00:37:55,800 --> 00:38:00,400
these rumors are true, of what
they did to pull off display and stuff,

510
00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:04,800
and then it almost kind of became
an obsession. I just it's such

511
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:08,559
a fascinating story, you know,
even how they chose Trenton, New Jersey.

512
00:38:08,559 --> 00:38:10,760
They spun a globe and said where
are we doing it? And they

513
00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:14,639
stuck their finger on it to stop
it, and they said Trenton, New

514
00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:17,599
Jersey. You know, it's just
everything about it. I heard this was

515
00:38:19,559 --> 00:38:22,519
they actually had a script written and
Orson Wells did not care for it,

516
00:38:22,639 --> 00:38:27,599
and so between him, John Husman, and one other writer who they gave

517
00:38:27,639 --> 00:38:34,320
all their credit to, they spent
literally the night before rewriting it as a

518
00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:38,920
series of broadcasts. So yeah,
that's pretty much. Yeah, it was

519
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:44,280
just a ton of endless research and
also making sure I had notebook after notebook

520
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:47,679
of notes, and also hearing it
gave me ideas when writing my script.

521
00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:52,840
Sure, yeah, yeah, do
you know how to pronounce that guy's name.

522
00:38:53,039 --> 00:38:59,119
It's spelled koc h. And I've
heard that surname pronounced several different ways

523
00:38:59,159 --> 00:39:02,119
over the years. I've heard it
coke and and oh I've always I always

524
00:39:02,159 --> 00:39:07,199
thought it was Robert Kott. Is
it about Robert Kotch? Well, according

525
00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:09,719
to Wikipedia, it's Howard. Oh, Howard Cotch. I'm sorry, Yes,

526
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:14,159
that is correct. I believe the
last name is Cotchutch Okay, yeah,

527
00:39:14,559 --> 00:39:16,400
yeah, I had I've never heard
the name spoken, so I wasn't

528
00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:21,280
sure. And yeah, so he's
the one who is credited with with the

529
00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:24,079
script. But it's I mean,
that's a ton of work to spend that

530
00:39:24,199 --> 00:39:30,000
many months of your life working on
this, and that's before you ever even

531
00:39:30,039 --> 00:39:36,119
started the actual production process. Yeah, it's correct. I'd actually pitched the

532
00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:42,239
idea just to see what I have
a friend who's also very into audio drama

533
00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:45,280
and old time radio, and she
has a podcast called The Bitter Sweet Life.

534
00:39:45,679 --> 00:39:51,039
We met for lunch years ago and
we would just throw ideas around and

535
00:39:51,079 --> 00:39:52,679
I just said, in passing,
it's like, what do you think of

536
00:39:53,079 --> 00:39:57,239
this is probably almost ten years ago, Oh wow, And I said,

537
00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:00,920
what do you think of the idea
of a story about the war of the

538
00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:04,920
World's from the point of view of
the telephone operator? And I just remember

539
00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:07,079
her mouth kind of dropping. I
mean, like, man, I wish

540
00:40:07,159 --> 00:40:09,679
i'd thought of that. And then
that was the other part of the research

541
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:17,719
was has anyone done a story from
that point of view and really has anything

542
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:22,880
other than because like you said earlier, it's been redone time and time again.

543
00:40:22,039 --> 00:40:28,480
In fact, I think I saw
on social media several audio companies are

544
00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:30,360
going to be releasing their own adaptation
on the thirtieth of this month, you

545
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:34,159
know, so, I think there's
at least three to five new versions of

546
00:40:34,199 --> 00:40:38,960
it every year. But I was
curious if there was anything original based around

547
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:43,280
it and not a retelling of it. Yeah, And so that was more

548
00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:47,280
like a always so cool to do
something original, and so I just wanted

549
00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:52,400
to see if there was anything out
there. And you pulled it off,

550
00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:57,239
and it's very enjoyable to listen to. And I loved the nod to your

551
00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:04,119
previous release with the appearance of the
DJ again. Oh yeah, hopefully that's

552
00:41:04,199 --> 00:41:06,559
not too much of a spoiler for
the listener, but not at all.

553
00:41:07,079 --> 00:41:09,840
I thought that was pretty cool.
No, we threw in a we threw

554
00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:15,840
in a Hopefully old time radio fans
will catch them. There are a couple

555
00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:19,840
easter eggs in there. One you
mentioned earlier, there's a shout out to

556
00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:23,480
sorry wrong number in there twice,
and another one of my favorites the house

557
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:29,920
on Cypress Canyon from uh suspense.
There's a shout out to that in there,

558
00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:32,960
and then there's a couple of little
easter eggs about Orson Wells in there

559
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:37,800
as well, just to see if
anyone you know catches them. I missed

560
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:40,719
the Cypress Canyon reference. I'm gonna
have to listen again. Yeah, it's

561
00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:45,199
I think it's a phone number.
Okay, Okay, I think Jonathan says

562
00:41:45,239 --> 00:41:50,960
it. I think Jonathan says it. The phone number goes, I need

563
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:53,960
to reach my number Cypress Canyon,
and then he gives the house address that's

564
00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:57,960
mentioned in the play. Oh,
I love that kind of stuff. That's

565
00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:00,480
so cool. Yeah, and then
there's a like, uh, I guess

566
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:05,599
this isn't really spoiling the show.
But a phase station is twenty three,

567
00:42:06,159 --> 00:42:09,159
which is how old Orson Wells was
when he did The War of the Worlds.

568
00:42:09,639 --> 00:42:15,760
And then one caller who happened to
be my wife, asks if they've

569
00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:19,719
been spotted in Kenosha, and that's
where Orson Wells was from. Okay,

570
00:42:20,039 --> 00:42:22,519
I did I remember that because I
used to live in Wisconsin, so I

571
00:42:22,559 --> 00:42:25,880
definitely picked up on that, but
I wasn't sure why it was mentioned,

572
00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:30,039
so that's cool. Yeah, there's
just a couple of little Easter eggs out

573
00:42:30,039 --> 00:42:34,360
there. So I love it.
I love it. So is there I

574
00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:37,639
mean, we don't want to give
away any spoilers, because there are some.

575
00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:42,159
There is a little bit of a
twist in this one, but it

576
00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:47,199
is primarily just as you said,
it's the hearing this whole story go down

577
00:42:47,599 --> 00:42:52,559
from the perspective of this of these
operators, and so you're that's primarily what

578
00:42:52,599 --> 00:42:57,239
you're following, so like it doesn't
deviate too much off of that, and

579
00:42:57,280 --> 00:43:00,519
so there's not like this huge whole
plot that's going on. But there is

580
00:43:00,599 --> 00:43:05,639
a little bit of a twist in
there that I thought was kind of cool.

581
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:09,599
But anything else that the listener might
want to know before they give this

582
00:43:09,639 --> 00:43:15,320
one to listen, I highly recommend
they listened to The War of the World's

583
00:43:15,679 --> 00:43:22,039
First for sure, just because if
I even my little Orson Wells monologue at

584
00:43:22,079 --> 00:43:27,760
the end type monologue that I give
right at the close, as far as

585
00:43:28,039 --> 00:43:30,159
it's just just I hope they enjoy
it. I hope they have fun with

586
00:43:30,199 --> 00:43:35,079
it. I hope it makes sense, and I hope it does. The

587
00:43:35,119 --> 00:43:38,800
War of the World's I guess I
would hope that Orson Wells would be proud

588
00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:43,760
of it. Nice. Nice,
Yeah. I loved how you came on

589
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,320
at the end and delivered the credits
in that you know, it's sort of

590
00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:51,239
in a character and oh man,
that that was just a really cool way

591
00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:54,719
to wrap it up. And as
as I've already said, as soon as

592
00:43:55,079 --> 00:44:00,039
we finish here, we're going to
roll the episode and let let people listen

593
00:44:00,039 --> 00:44:05,400
to the original broadcast. And after
you finished that, yeah, you definitely

594
00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:09,639
want to head over to Dramafy give
this a listen and just see what it

595
00:44:09,719 --> 00:44:14,960
might have been like for these people. As Matthew said, we don't have

596
00:44:15,039 --> 00:44:20,760
a whole lot of documentation about what
actually went down in this place, so

597
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:25,079
there's there's some speculation, but it
seems pretty plausible to me the way this

598
00:44:25,079 --> 00:44:30,960
this unfolds. So kudos to you
for putting this project together. And I

599
00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:37,119
think this is the perfect day to
have it release and have people go enjoy

600
00:44:37,159 --> 00:44:39,960
it. No. Absolutely, yeah, And all those phone calls, there's

601
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:46,239
a couple montages of phone calls.
All of them are loosely based on actual

602
00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:52,519
calls. None we're obviously recorded,
but based on newspaper articles I read they're

603
00:44:52,559 --> 00:44:59,599
all loosely based on these possible phone
calls. That's cool they got I like

604
00:45:00,079 --> 00:45:01,800
that was that was a fun scene
to write. That was one of my

605
00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:06,840
favorite scenes is the phone called montage. You know. When I first heard

606
00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:12,000
about this, I wondered if you
were going to use any actual clips from

607
00:45:12,079 --> 00:45:17,079
the broadcast, and you didn't,
and you actually had You recreated some of

608
00:45:17,119 --> 00:45:20,719
the moments with your own cast,
and I thought that was a really cool

609
00:45:20,719 --> 00:45:24,960
way to do it, rather than
relying on the clips that's been done in

610
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:30,079
others. On the shows before,
they'll use clips of previous broadcasts or whatever.

611
00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:34,440
So I kind of just expected that
you would do that at some point,

612
00:45:34,519 --> 00:45:37,199
and I liked that you didn't,
and it was a really cool idea

613
00:45:37,239 --> 00:45:45,360
to recreate those and it sounds really
great. Ryan Duke did the retelling of

614
00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:51,159
most of them in Austin Simmons did
the main announcement of the attack from Mars

615
00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:54,199
and those were so fun. Then, plus to edit them and put on

616
00:45:54,239 --> 00:45:57,760
the filter that makes them sound like
they're on the radio, and then add

617
00:45:57,760 --> 00:46:00,440
the crackling and yeah, and even
with the even with the montage at the

618
00:46:00,519 --> 00:46:05,199
end. I wanted to do it
to because the one thing about Orson Wells

619
00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:08,079
is obviously I didn't know the man, but I felt that he loved to

620
00:46:08,239 --> 00:46:12,719
hear himself and he loved to announce
who he was, because it was always

621
00:46:13,159 --> 00:46:16,960
this is Orson Wells, as if
we didn't know. But he loved to

622
00:46:17,079 --> 00:46:21,519
call himself out and he loved to
So I thought, what a fun way

623
00:46:21,559 --> 00:46:24,639
to try and to impersonate it and
give a little closing monologue because he either

624
00:46:24,719 --> 00:46:29,440
always started his show with the monologue
or he would end it with like now

625
00:46:29,519 --> 00:46:34,199
for the real you know, creme
de la creme me. So I thought

626
00:46:34,199 --> 00:46:37,480
it'd be fun to kind of do
that, and then using Alicia, I

627
00:46:37,559 --> 00:46:40,880
said, hey, I'll give you
a shout out about your upcoming plays like

628
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:45,920
they used to do on Suspense when
they would announce who the star up and

629
00:46:45,960 --> 00:46:47,519
coming. So so yeah, that
was fun. And then just to add

630
00:46:47,559 --> 00:46:52,360
the crackle and do the little different
voices and stuff. And I don't know

631
00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:55,920
if even on the trailer we did. We did it very much to sound

632
00:46:55,960 --> 00:47:00,519
like an old time radio broadcast.
It's fun. It's fun to travel back

633
00:47:00,519 --> 00:47:07,960
in time. And that's the one
thing I enjoyed most about this was when

634
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:12,760
I do these plays, I have
to feel like I'm there, and I

635
00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:15,880
have to feel when I'm listening to
it, just with a gift when they

636
00:47:15,880 --> 00:47:21,079
first walk into Goodwin's Goods, I
actually had to get that christmasy feeling.

637
00:47:21,679 --> 00:47:24,239
So when you go and you hear
the sound of the fire and the toy

638
00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:29,800
train and the music box, like
okay, I feel warm, And then

639
00:47:30,400 --> 00:47:34,679
in the control the switchboard room,
when I hear it, I feel cold,

640
00:47:35,280 --> 00:47:37,320
which is how I very much imagine
one of those rooms would be,

641
00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:44,920
especially back then, because you know, their technology wasn't like it is today,

642
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:50,320
so you know, and they had
strict rules to follow, and back

643
00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:52,960
then there wouldn't have been a buzzer. There would have been a flashing light.

644
00:47:52,039 --> 00:47:54,880
So I was like, well,
we can't hear a flashing light.

645
00:47:55,360 --> 00:47:59,679
So we had to get creative,
and so I created this buzz It's like,

646
00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:02,559
well, they hear the buzz now
they see the light. Yeah.

647
00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:07,400
Yeah. And so it was fun
to kind of come up with all this

648
00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:12,920
stuff because all the footage of switchboard
rooms that I found from the thirties are

649
00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:15,599
silent because there's narration over him,
so I can't hear the sounds. So

650
00:48:15,639 --> 00:48:20,639
we legit had to make our own
sounds from the pulling of the chords of

651
00:48:20,679 --> 00:48:27,000
the plugging into the chairs, scooching, and background crowd talking and yeah,

652
00:48:27,079 --> 00:48:30,880
the buzzers. Yeah it was It
was fun and so you know, it

653
00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:35,880
takes me there, so yeah,
hopefully it takes everybody listening. Yeah,

654
00:48:35,920 --> 00:48:42,559
and that's true about the environments and
trying to give the impression of where where

655
00:48:42,599 --> 00:48:46,000
the listener is observing these scenes taking
place. And so yeah, I think

656
00:48:46,039 --> 00:48:50,360
you did a good job that.
And to your point about Wells, you

657
00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:53,559
know, I don't think he was
a stranger to a bit of pomposity,

658
00:48:53,639 --> 00:48:59,960
you know. So right, he's
kind kind of known for that, especially

659
00:49:00,519 --> 00:49:04,840
later on in his career. He
kind of just did whatever he wanted to

660
00:49:04,880 --> 00:49:08,079
do, right, And I mean, in a way I get it because

661
00:49:08,119 --> 00:49:13,840
I think when he was eighteen,
he was already classified as a genius because

662
00:49:13,880 --> 00:49:17,320
he did some theater version of a
Shakespeare play, but he did it in

663
00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:24,840
a like Ahitian voodoo style, and
the reviews about this play that he had

664
00:49:24,920 --> 00:49:30,320
done, in this twist he had
done on a Shakespeare play was just through

665
00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:35,360
the roof, like he was this
boy genius and nobody had ever seen anything

666
00:49:35,440 --> 00:49:37,280
like it, and so I totally
get where he got his ego from.

667
00:49:37,320 --> 00:49:40,719
And he just never seemed to lose
it, never got humble with it.

668
00:49:42,719 --> 00:49:46,440
Oh goodness. Well, I'm glad
that you got this project finished. I

669
00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:50,400
know you had some challenges to get
it out in time, but I'm so

670
00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:54,800
glad you overcame those and got this
out. So of course link is in

671
00:49:54,840 --> 00:50:00,679
the show notes to head over to
dramafy and check that out. And thank

672
00:50:00,719 --> 00:50:02,800
you so much for taking the time
to chat with me about old time radio

673
00:50:02,840 --> 00:50:06,440
and about Operator. This has been
a lot of fun. Oh it's been

674
00:50:06,480 --> 00:50:08,800
my pleasure. And seriously, JD, thank you so much for everything you've

675
00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:15,000
done for us and even the audio
drama community. You've made a lot of

676
00:50:15,079 --> 00:50:17,559
us. I mean, you spread
the word of what we're working on,

677
00:50:17,719 --> 00:50:22,280
and I think a lot of us. I don't think you'll ever realize how

678
00:50:22,360 --> 00:50:25,880
much you mean to all of us
and how much we appreciate everything you've done

679
00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:30,119
for us and the audio drama community. Well, that's very kind of you,

680
00:50:30,159 --> 00:50:34,760
and it's my pleasure. I love
audio drama and whatever I can do

681
00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:38,840
to help spread the word is my
pleasure. And hey, it's a world

682
00:50:38,840 --> 00:50:43,360
audio drama day, So go listen
to War of the Worlds, listen to

683
00:50:43,639 --> 00:50:46,519
Operator, and then go listen to
anything else you want, because it is

684
00:50:46,559 --> 00:50:51,840
the perfect day to celebrate. And
thank you for celebrating with us here at

685
00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:59,360
atc absolutely well, thanks again to
Matthew for joining the show. And now

686
00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:02,280
here is the moment you've been waiting
for a chance to listen to the War

687
00:51:02,320 --> 00:51:06,760
of the Worlds. And even if
you've already heard this, this is the

688
00:51:06,760 --> 00:51:13,440
perfect day to revisit that story.
So let's jump into the original nineteen thirty

689
00:51:13,440 --> 00:51:17,920
eight radio broadcast of the War of
the Worlds from Mercury Theater on the Air.

690
00:51:19,800 --> 00:51:24,119
The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated
stations present Orson Wells and the Mercury

691
00:51:24,159 --> 00:51:28,480
Theater on the Air in the War
of the World by H. G.

692
00:51:28,679 --> 00:51:53,119
Wells, Ladies and gentlemen, the
director of the Mercury Theater and star of

693
00:51:53,159 --> 00:51:58,800
these broadcasts, Orson Wells. We
know now that in the early years of

694
00:51:58,840 --> 00:52:06,800
the twentieth century, this world was
being watched closely by intelligences greater than man's

695
00:52:07,840 --> 00:52:13,119
and yet as mortal as his own. We know now that as human beings

696
00:52:13,239 --> 00:52:20,440
busy themselves about their various concerns.
They were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost

697
00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:25,239
as narrowly as a man with a
microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm

698
00:52:25,320 --> 00:52:31,280
and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complaisance, people went to

699
00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:37,119
and fro of the earth about their
little affairs, serene in the assurance of

700
00:52:37,159 --> 00:52:43,400
their dominion over this small spinning fragment
of solar driftwood, which, by chance

701
00:52:43,559 --> 00:52:47,480
or design man is inherited out of
the dark mystery of time and space.

702
00:52:50,760 --> 00:52:57,800
Yet across an immense ethereal gulf minds
that are to our minds as ours are

703
00:52:57,800 --> 00:53:04,559
to the beasts in the jungle,
intellects, vast, cool and unsympathetic,

704
00:53:05,920 --> 00:53:10,679
regarded this first with envious eyes,
and slowly and surely drew their plans against

705
00:53:10,719 --> 00:53:15,639
us. In the thirty ninth years
the twentieth century came the Great Disillusionment.

706
00:53:17,920 --> 00:53:23,920
Near the end of October. Business
was better, the war scare was over,

707
00:53:25,239 --> 00:53:30,519
more men were back at work,
sales were picking up. On this

708
00:53:30,639 --> 00:53:37,679
particular evening, October thirtieth, the
Crosley Service estimated that thirty two million people

709
00:53:38,039 --> 00:53:43,800
were listening in on radio. For
the next twenty four hours. Not much

710
00:53:43,880 --> 00:53:47,960
change in temperature. It's like atmospheric
disturbance of undetermined origin is reported of the

711
00:53:49,000 --> 00:53:52,199
nova Scotia, causing a low pressure
area to move down rather rapidly over the

712
00:53:52,199 --> 00:53:58,239
Northeastern States, bringing a forecast of
rain accompanied by winds of light gale forts.

713
00:53:58,599 --> 00:54:02,079
Maximum temperature sixty six, minimum forty
eight. This weather report comes to

714
00:54:02,119 --> 00:54:06,920
you from the Government Weather Bureau.
We take you out of the Murdian Room

715
00:54:06,920 --> 00:54:09,519
in the Hotel Park plaZma in downtown
New York, where you will be entertained

716
00:54:09,519 --> 00:54:30,679
by the music of Raymond Richuelo and
his orchestra. Good evening, ladies and

717
00:54:30,719 --> 00:54:34,880
gentlemen, from the Meridian Room in
the Park Plaza Hotel in New York.

718
00:54:34,920 --> 00:54:37,400
Today we bring you the music of
Raymond Roquelo and his orchestra with the Dutch

719
00:54:37,440 --> 00:55:01,480
of the Spanners. Raymond Rochello leads
off with Laura Kampasita. Ladies and gentlemen,

720
00:55:01,519 --> 00:55:05,679
we interrupt our program of dance music
to bring you a special bulletin from

721
00:55:05,679 --> 00:55:09,639
the Intercontinental Radio News. At twenty
minutes before eight Central Time, Professor Farrell

722
00:55:09,719 --> 00:55:15,599
of the Mount Gunnings Observatory, Chicago, Illinois, reports observing several explosions of

723
00:55:15,599 --> 00:55:21,360
incandescent gas occurring at regular intervals on
the planet moors. The specroscope indicates the

724
00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:25,320
gas to be hydrogen and moving towards
the Earth with enormous velocity. Professor Pearson

725
00:55:25,320 --> 00:55:31,079
of the observatory at Princeton confirms Farrell's
observation and describes the phenomenon as quote like

726
00:55:31,119 --> 00:55:36,119
a jet of blue flame shot from
a gun unquote. We now return you

727
00:55:36,159 --> 00:55:38,639
to the music of Ramon Rochello playing
for you in the Meridian room of the

728
00:55:38,679 --> 00:56:10,159
Park Claza Hotel situated in downtown New
York, and now a tune that never

729
00:56:10,239 --> 00:56:42,280
loses favor the ever popular starda Raymond
Rockelo and his art ladies and gentlemen.

730
00:56:42,360 --> 00:56:45,440
Following on the news given in our
bullet in the moment ago, the Government

731
00:56:45,519 --> 00:56:50,679
Meteorological Bureau has requested the large observatories
of the country to keep an astronomical watch

732
00:56:50,679 --> 00:56:54,400
on any further disturbances occurring on the
planet Mars. Due to the unusual nature

733
00:56:54,400 --> 00:56:58,960
of this occurrence, we have arranged
an interview with a note astronomer, Professor

734
00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:00,960
Pearson, who will give us his
views on this event. In a few

735
00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:05,239
moments, we will take you to
the Princeton Observatory at Princeville, New Jersey.

736
00:57:05,880 --> 00:57:08,360
We return you until then for the
music of Ramon Racchello and his Orchid.

737
00:57:32,239 --> 00:57:36,519
We are ready now to take you
to the Princeton Observatory at Princeton,

738
00:57:36,719 --> 00:57:40,559
where Carl Phillips, our commentator,
will interview Professor Richard Pearson, famous astronomer.

739
00:57:40,960 --> 00:57:46,719
We take you now to Princeton,
New Jersey. Good evening, ladies

740
00:57:46,719 --> 00:57:51,440
and gentlemen. Carl start up speaking
to you in the observatory at Princeton.

741
00:57:52,440 --> 00:57:55,920
I'm standing in a large center secular
room, pitch blacking steps for noblong split

742
00:57:57,000 --> 00:58:00,639
in the series. Through this opening, I can see a sprinkling stars that

743
00:58:00,760 --> 00:58:04,400
cast a kind of faustic glow over
the intimate mechanism of the huge telescope.

744
00:58:05,280 --> 00:58:09,719
The ticking sound you hear is the
vibration of the potwork. Professor Pearson stands

745
00:58:09,719 --> 00:58:15,760
directly above me on a small platform, peering through the giant lane. I'll

746
00:58:15,800 --> 00:58:19,000
ask you to be patient, ladies
and gentlemen, during any delay the Mayor

747
00:58:19,039 --> 00:58:22,639
rollers during our interial, besides to
ceaseless watch of the heavens. Professor Pearson

748
00:58:22,639 --> 00:58:28,559
may be interrupted by telephone or other
communications during this period, he is in

749
00:58:28,639 --> 00:58:32,400
constant touch with the astronomical centers of
the world. Professor may I be Ginnard

750
00:58:32,480 --> 00:58:38,400
questions any times, Bess, would
you please tell our radio audience exactly what

751
00:58:38,440 --> 00:58:43,760
you see as you observe the planet
Mars through your telescope. I think unusual

752
00:58:43,760 --> 00:58:47,239
at the moment, mister Philip,
a red disc swimming in a blue sea.

753
00:58:47,719 --> 00:58:52,639
Transverse stripes throught the disc quite distinct
now because Mars happen to be at

754
00:58:52,639 --> 00:58:57,519
the point nearest the Earth in opposition, as we call it. In your

755
00:58:57,599 --> 00:59:02,000
opinion, what are these transverse stripes
signified? President Huh, not canals,

756
00:59:02,079 --> 00:59:07,079
I can assure you, mister Phillips, see, although that's the popular conjecture

757
00:59:07,079 --> 00:59:10,920
of those who imagine Mars to be
inhabited, from a scientific viewpoint, stripes

758
00:59:10,960 --> 00:59:15,519
the merely the result of atmospheric condition
pecuriar to the planet. Then you're quite

759
00:59:15,519 --> 00:59:21,039
convinced as a scientist that living intelligence
as we know it does not exist on

760
00:59:21,159 --> 00:59:24,639
Mars. Say the chances against it
or a thousand to one. And yet,

761
00:59:25,239 --> 00:59:29,320
how do you account for these gas
eruptions occurring on the surface of the

762
00:59:29,320 --> 00:59:34,599
planet at regular intervals, Philip's I
cannot account for it. By the way,

763
00:59:34,639 --> 00:59:37,800
Pessa, for the benefit of our
listeners, how far is Mars from

764
00:59:37,840 --> 00:59:43,599
the Earth, Approximately forty million miles. Well, that seems a safe enough

765
00:59:43,639 --> 00:59:46,880
distance. Just a moment, ladies
and gentlemen, someone has just handed Professor

766
00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:51,800
Pearson a message. While he reads
it, let me remind you that we

767
00:59:52,519 --> 00:59:54,639
are speaking to you from the observatory
in Princeton, New Jersey, where we

768
00:59:54,679 --> 01:00:00,920
are interviewing the world famous astronomer Professor
Pierson. One moment, please, Professor

769
01:00:00,960 --> 01:00:04,679
Pearson has passed me a message which
he has just received. Professor may I

770
01:00:04,760 --> 01:00:07,400
read the message to the listening audience. Certain ladies and gentlemen, I shall

771
01:00:07,440 --> 01:00:12,960
read you a wire addressed Professor Pearson
from doctor Gray of the Natural History Museum,

772
01:00:13,159 --> 01:00:19,639
New York. Quote nine fifteen pm
Eastern Standard Times. Seismograth registered shock

773
01:00:19,679 --> 01:00:24,679
of almost earthquake intensity occurring within a
radius of twenty miles of Princeton. Please

774
01:00:24,719 --> 01:00:31,039
investigate, signed Lloyd Gray, Chief
of Astronomical Division. Unquote Fessor Pearson.

775
01:00:31,320 --> 01:00:36,119
But this occurrence possibly has something to
do with the disturbances observed on the planet

776
01:00:36,159 --> 01:00:39,559
Mars. Hardly, mister Phillips,
this is probably a meteorite of unusual size

777
01:00:39,599 --> 01:00:45,280
and it's arrival at this particulous time. It's merely a coincidence. However,

778
01:00:45,360 --> 01:00:47,599
we shall conduct your search as soon
as daylight permits. Thank you, professor.

779
01:00:47,800 --> 01:00:51,719
Ladies and gentlemen. For the past
ten minutes we've been speaking to you

780
01:00:51,760 --> 01:00:54,880
from the Observatory of Princeton, bringing
you a special interview with Professor Pearson,

781
01:00:55,199 --> 01:01:00,159
noted astronomer. This is Carl Phillips
speaking. We are telling you now throughout

782
01:01:00,199 --> 01:01:15,519
New York studio. Ladies and gentlemen, here is the latest bulletin from the

783
01:01:15,519 --> 01:01:22,360
Intercontinental Radio News, Toronto, Canada. Professor Morris of McMillan University reports observing

784
01:01:22,360 --> 01:01:25,159
a total of free explosions on the
planet Mars between the hours of seven forty

785
01:01:25,159 --> 01:01:31,119
five pm and nine twenty pm Eastern
Standard times. This confirms earlier reports received

786
01:01:31,119 --> 01:01:37,119
from American observatories. Now nearer home
comes a special bulletin from Trenton, New

787
01:01:37,199 --> 01:01:40,239
Jersey. It is reported that at
eight fifty pm, a huge flaming object,

788
01:01:40,519 --> 01:01:44,880
believed to be a meteorite, fell
on a farm in the neighborhood of

789
01:01:44,920 --> 01:01:47,320
Grover's Mill, New Jersey, twenty
two miles from Frantis. The flash in

790
01:01:47,360 --> 01:01:52,119
the sky was visible within a radius
of several hundred miles, and the noise

791
01:01:52,159 --> 01:01:54,880
of the impact was heard as far
north as Elizabeth. We have despatched the

792
01:01:54,920 --> 01:02:00,360
special Mobile unit to the scene and
we'll have our commentator Carl Phillips give you

793
01:02:00,400 --> 01:02:02,239
a word picture of the scene as
soon as he can reach there from Princeton.

794
01:02:02,679 --> 01:02:07,000
In the meantime, we take you
to the Hotel Martinette in Brooklyn,

795
01:02:07,320 --> 01:02:39,079
where Bobby Mallett and his orchestra are
offering a program of dance music. We

796
01:02:39,199 --> 01:02:50,599
take you now to Grover's Mills,
New Jersey. Edythan, gentlemen, this

797
01:02:50,760 --> 01:02:53,000
is Carl Phillips again, hot at
the Wilmer's Pome Garverck Mail new checket.

798
01:02:53,800 --> 01:02:58,920
That's the testing myself made the eleven
miles in tension in ten minutes. Well,

799
01:02:59,000 --> 01:03:01,440
I I they know where it begins. Thankful your word picture of the

800
01:03:01,480 --> 01:03:05,599
same scene before my eyes. But
stumping out of a modern Arabian knife,

801
01:03:06,679 --> 01:03:09,239
I just got here. I haven't
had a chest to look around, jest.

802
01:03:10,559 --> 01:03:15,800
I guess that's it. Yes,
I guess that's the thing directly in

803
01:03:15,800 --> 01:03:20,239
front of me, half buried in
a vast piff. Must have stuck with

804
01:03:20,400 --> 01:03:23,000
terrific force the ground is covered with
splinters of a tree. It must have

805
01:03:23,519 --> 01:03:28,480
struck on its way down. But
I can see if the object itself doesn't

806
01:03:28,519 --> 01:03:30,960
look very much like a meteor,
at least not the media's i've seen.

807
01:03:31,000 --> 01:03:37,840
It looks more like a huge cylinder. As the diameter of what would you

808
01:03:37,880 --> 01:03:40,719
say, Professor Pison for what would
you say? What's the diameter of this?

809
01:03:42,639 --> 01:03:45,119
About thirty yards? The metal on
the sheath is well, I've never

810
01:03:45,199 --> 01:03:50,239
seen anything like it. The color
is sort of yellowish white. It's curious.

811
01:03:50,440 --> 01:03:52,280
Spectators now are pressing close to the
option, in spite of the efforts

812
01:03:52,320 --> 01:03:54,880
of the police to keep them back, getting in front of my life.

813
01:03:55,800 --> 01:04:01,039
Would you mind standing much side,
please the cloud back. Here's mister Wilmot's

814
01:04:01,039 --> 01:04:04,119
owner at the bard here he may
have some interesting fact to add. Mister

815
01:04:04,159 --> 01:04:09,280
Wilmot, would you please tell the
radio audience as much as you remember of

816
01:04:09,400 --> 01:04:13,840
this rather unusual visitor that dropped in
your backyard A step posted. Please,

817
01:04:14,119 --> 01:04:17,239
ladies and gentlemen, this is mister
Willman Well. I was listening to the

818
01:04:17,320 --> 01:04:24,079
radio Louder Pleaser findon a louder please
closing. Yes, I was listening to

819
01:04:24,159 --> 01:04:29,199
the radio and kind of drowsy.
Professor Fellow was talking about Mars, so

820
01:04:29,320 --> 01:04:31,280
I was half chosen and half yes, yes, this Wilmot. And then

821
01:04:31,320 --> 01:04:33,760
what happened? Well, as I
was saying, I was listening to the

822
01:04:33,880 --> 01:04:39,000
radio kind of halfway, yes,
mister Willett. And then you saw something?

823
01:04:39,719 --> 01:04:43,159
Not first off, I heard something
And what did you hear? A

824
01:04:43,400 --> 01:04:48,360
hissing sound like this, kind of
like a post of July rocket. Yes,

825
01:04:48,440 --> 01:04:51,719
then why I turned my head out
the window and would have sworn I

826
01:04:51,800 --> 01:04:56,519
was to sleep and dreaming. Yes, I've seen a kind of greenish streak,

827
01:04:56,519 --> 01:05:00,679
and then zingle something to smack the
ground, not me clear my chair?

828
01:05:00,880 --> 01:05:04,360
Well were you frightening, mister Wilmoth, Well, I'm quite sure I

829
01:05:04,400 --> 01:05:08,559
reckon. I was trying to rile. Well, thank you, mister Wilmoth,

830
01:05:08,599 --> 01:05:10,440
Thank you very much. You want
me to tell that's the word.

831
01:05:10,480 --> 01:05:13,800
That's funny. Ladies and gentlemen,
you've just heard, mister Wilmoth, owner

832
01:05:13,800 --> 01:05:16,360
of the farm where this thing has
fallen. I wish I could convey the

833
01:05:16,400 --> 01:05:23,039
atmosphere, the background of this fantastic
scene. Hundreds of cars have parked in

834
01:05:23,079 --> 01:05:25,360
the field and back of listen to
the police. That's trying to rope off

835
01:05:25,360 --> 01:05:29,719
the roadway leading into the farm,
but it's no use, breaking right through

836
01:05:30,320 --> 01:05:32,920
car's headlights. Throw an enormous spotlight
on the pit where the objects have buried.

837
01:05:33,840 --> 01:05:39,519
Some of the more daring stones now
are venturing near the edge, stand

838
01:05:39,559 --> 01:05:42,719
out against the metal schemes. One
man watched the touch of thing. He's

839
01:05:42,719 --> 01:05:46,639
having an argument with the policeman.
The policeman wins. Now, Ladies and

840
01:05:46,639 --> 01:05:50,400
gentlemen, there's something I haven't mentioned
in all this excitement, but it's becoming

841
01:05:50,440 --> 01:05:55,719
more distinct. Perhaps you've caught it
already on your radio. Listen, Please,

842
01:05:59,480 --> 01:06:02,039
do you hear it? A curious
humming sound that seems to come from

843
01:06:02,280 --> 01:06:12,880
inside the object. I'll move the
microphone nearer here now, we're not more

844
01:06:12,920 --> 01:06:16,920
than twenty five feet away. Can
you hear it now, Professor Pearson?

845
01:06:17,519 --> 01:06:21,840
Yes? Can you tell us the
meaning of that scraping noise inside the thing?

846
01:06:23,760 --> 01:06:27,000
Possibly the unequal cooling of its surface? I say, do you still

847
01:06:27,000 --> 01:06:31,920
think it's a media? Professor?
What to think? The metal casing is

848
01:06:31,920 --> 01:06:38,880
definitely extraterrestrial, not found on this. Friction with the Earth's atmosphere usually tears

849
01:06:38,920 --> 01:06:45,440
holes in the meteorite. This thing
is moves today. Something's happening, Ladies

850
01:06:45,480 --> 01:06:49,119
and gentlemen. It's terrific. This
end of the thing is beginning to flake

851
01:06:49,239 --> 01:06:54,079
off. The top is beginning to
rotate like a screw. And this thing

852
01:06:54,159 --> 01:07:10,079
must be hollow. But they go
out there, ladies and gentleman, this

853
01:07:10,239 --> 01:07:17,719
is the most things. A waking, someone calling someone, or something I

854
01:07:18,000 --> 01:07:24,480
can see turning out of that black
hole too luminous discs, the eyes,

855
01:07:24,559 --> 01:07:29,239
it might be, a face,
might be almost of heavens. Something breaking

856
01:07:29,280 --> 01:07:31,280
out of the shadow like a gray
snake. Now it's another one, and

857
01:07:31,480 --> 01:07:35,840
another one and another one. They
look like tacos to me. That yeah,

858
01:07:35,840 --> 01:07:39,320
I can see the thing's body and
now it's large and glarge of a

859
01:07:39,400 --> 01:07:44,760
bear. It's Christmas like wet weather. But that's paste, ladies and gentleman

860
01:07:44,800 --> 01:07:46,840
seen describers. I can hardly force
myself to keep looking at it so haweful

861
01:07:46,920 --> 01:07:50,800
and eyes are black and the gleam
like a surf in the mountains. That's

862
01:07:50,880 --> 01:07:54,960
kind of v shaped, with slight
but dripping from its rimless lips. And

863
01:07:55,039 --> 01:07:58,920
see the oh quiver and pulse hatan. The monster or whatever it is can

864
01:07:58,920 --> 01:08:02,440
hardly move it. He's way down
by possibly gravity is something of the things

865
01:08:03,199 --> 01:08:08,960
rising up down. The crowd falls
back. That seems plenty that most experiences

866
01:08:09,000 --> 01:08:12,599
and jail like they'll find words and
well, I pull this microphone with me

867
01:08:12,599 --> 01:08:15,440
as I talk them, I have
to stop the description till I can take

868
01:08:15,440 --> 01:08:16,199
a new position. Hold on when
you please. I'll be right back in

869
01:08:16,239 --> 01:08:32,640
a minute. We are bringing you
an eye witness account of what's happening on

870
01:08:32,680 --> 01:08:49,439
the Wilmoth Farm, Groversville, New
Jersey. We now return you to Carl

871
01:08:49,479 --> 01:08:56,680
Phillips that Grover's Mill. Ladies and
gentlemen, my aunt, ladies and gentlemen,

872
01:08:57,159 --> 01:08:59,560
Ladies and gentlemen. Here I am
back of a stone wall that joins

873
01:08:59,560 --> 01:09:01,720
mister Wilman. From here I get
a sweep of the whole, saying,

874
01:09:02,439 --> 01:09:04,920
I'll give you every piece hail as
long as I can talk and as long

875
01:09:04,960 --> 01:09:09,399
as I can see. More.
State police have arrived. That's drawing up

876
01:09:09,399 --> 01:09:13,560
a cordon in front of the pith, about thirty of them. No need

877
01:09:13,640 --> 01:09:16,600
to push the card back now they're
willing to keep their distance. The captain

878
01:09:17,279 --> 01:09:21,479
conferring with someone and quite to see
who. Yes, I believe it's Professor

879
01:09:21,520 --> 01:09:25,920
Pearson. Yes it is now now
they've parted, and the Professor moves around

880
01:09:25,960 --> 01:09:30,279
one side, studying the object while
it's captain and two policemen advanced with something

881
01:09:30,319 --> 01:09:32,079
in their hands. I can say
it now. It's the white hats have

882
01:09:32,359 --> 01:09:38,760
tied to a poll flag of truce. Those creatures know what that means,

883
01:09:39,119 --> 01:09:45,239
but anything means. Wait a minute, something's happening. I'm shapes rising out

884
01:09:45,239 --> 01:09:48,199
of the pit and then make out
a small beam of light against the mirror,

885
01:09:50,600 --> 01:09:55,479
Profess said. The flame springing in
the mirror, and at least at

886
01:09:55,479 --> 01:10:01,199
the advancing men strikes some head on. Lord, they're turning it a the

887
01:10:01,239 --> 01:10:08,880
word bank for the automobiles fighting everywhere. Coming to point out not twenty hours,

888
01:10:15,079 --> 01:10:17,600
ladies and gentlemen, due the circumstances
beyond our control, we are unable

889
01:10:17,600 --> 01:10:23,319
to continue the broadcast from Grover's Mill. Evidently there's some difficulty with our field

890
01:10:23,359 --> 01:10:27,800
transmission. However, we will return
to that point at the earliest opportunity.

891
01:10:28,239 --> 01:10:30,760
In the meantime, we have a
late bulletin from San Diego, California.

892
01:10:30,920 --> 01:10:36,439
Professor Ndelkoffer, speaking at the dinner
of the California Astronomical Society, expressed the

893
01:10:36,479 --> 01:10:43,600
opinion that the explosions on Mars are
undoubtedly nothing more than severe volcanic disturbances on

894
01:10:43,720 --> 01:11:00,279
the surface of the planet. We
continue now with our piano interlude. Ladies

895
01:11:00,319 --> 01:11:02,359
and gentlemen, I've just been handed
a message that came in from Grover's Mill

896
01:11:02,399 --> 01:11:09,079
by telephone. That's one moment.
Please. At least forty people, including

897
01:11:09,119 --> 01:11:13,880
six State troopers, lie dead in
a field east of the village of Grover's

898
01:11:13,880 --> 01:11:19,319
Mill, their bodies burned and distorted
beyond all possible recognition. The next voice

899
01:11:19,319 --> 01:11:24,600
you hear will be that of Brigadier
General Montgomery Smith, commander of the State

900
01:11:24,680 --> 01:11:31,399
Militia at Trenton, New Jersey.
I have been requested by the Governor of

901
01:11:31,439 --> 01:11:38,960
New Jersey to place the counties of
Mercer and Middlesex as far west as Princeton

902
01:11:39,079 --> 01:11:44,960
and east to james Burg under martial
law. No one will be permitted to

903
01:11:45,159 --> 01:11:50,119
enter this area except by special pass
issued by state or military authorities. Four

904
01:11:50,159 --> 01:11:57,680
companies of State Militia are proceeding from
Trenton to Grover's Mill and will aid in

905
01:11:57,720 --> 01:12:03,439
the evacuation of homes within the range
of military operations. Thank you. You

906
01:12:03,520 --> 01:12:08,960
have just been listening to General Montgomery
Smith commanding the State Militia at Trenton.

907
01:12:09,279 --> 01:12:12,800
In the meantime, further details of
the catastrophe at Grover's Mill are coming in.

908
01:12:13,359 --> 01:12:16,239
The strange creatures, after unleashing their
deadly assault, crawled back in their

909
01:12:16,239 --> 01:12:19,880
pit and made no attempt to prevent
the efforts of the firemen to recover the

910
01:12:19,880 --> 01:12:25,479
bodies and extinguish the fire. The
combined fire departments of Mercer County are fighting

911
01:12:25,479 --> 01:12:30,199
the flames which menace the entire countryside. We have been unable to establish any

912
01:12:30,199 --> 01:12:32,760
contact with our mobile unit at Grover's
Mill, but we hope to be able

913
01:12:32,760 --> 01:12:36,000
to return you there at the earliest
possible moment. In the meantime, we

914
01:12:36,079 --> 01:12:44,600
take you to just one moment,
please, Ladies and gentlemen. I have

915
01:12:44,680 --> 01:12:47,880
just been informed that we have finally
established communication with an eye witness of the

916
01:12:47,880 --> 01:12:53,840
tragedy. Professor Pearson has been located
at a farmhouse near Grover's Mill, where

917
01:12:53,840 --> 01:12:58,279
he has established an emergency observation posts. As a scientist, he will give

918
01:12:58,319 --> 01:13:01,119
you his explanation of the calamat.
The next voice you hear will be that

919
01:13:01,199 --> 01:13:05,279
of Professor Pearson, brought to you
by direct wire. Professor of Pearson,

920
01:13:11,239 --> 01:13:15,560
of the creatures in the rocket cylinder
at Grover's Mill. I can give you

921
01:13:15,680 --> 01:13:21,319
no authoritative information either as to their
nature, their origin, or their purposes

922
01:13:21,319 --> 01:13:27,960
here on Earth. Of their destructive
instrument. I might venture some conjectural explanation,

923
01:13:30,279 --> 01:13:32,920
one of a better term. I
shall refer to the mysterious weapon as

924
01:13:32,920 --> 01:13:39,079
a heat ray, or too evidence
that these creatures have scientific knowledge far an

925
01:13:39,119 --> 01:13:44,079
advance of our own. It might
guess that in some way they are able

926
01:13:44,119 --> 01:13:48,800
to generate an intense heat in a
chamber of practically absolute nonconductivity. This intense

927
01:13:48,840 --> 01:13:53,600
heat they project in a parallel beam
against any object they choose, by means

928
01:13:53,640 --> 01:13:58,680
of a polished parabolic mirror of unknown
composition, much as the mirror of a

929
01:13:58,760 --> 01:14:04,159
lighthouse projects a light. That is
my conjecture of the origin of the heat

930
01:14:04,279 --> 01:14:12,319
ray. Thank you, Professor Pearson. Ladies and gentlemen. Here is a

931
01:14:12,319 --> 01:14:15,520
bulletin from Trenton. It is a
brief statement informing us that the charred body

932
01:14:15,520 --> 01:14:20,720
of Karl Phillips has been identified in
the Trenton Hospital. Now here's another bulletin

933
01:14:20,720 --> 01:14:26,359
from Washington, DC. The Office
of the Director of the National Red Cross

934
01:14:26,399 --> 01:14:30,600
reports ten units of Red Cross emergency
workers have been assigned to the headquarters of

935
01:14:30,600 --> 01:14:34,399
the State Militia stationed outside of Grover's
Mill, New Jersey. Here's a bulletin

936
01:14:34,439 --> 01:14:40,119
from State Police Princeton Junction. The
fires at Grover's Mill and vicinity are now

937
01:14:40,199 --> 01:14:44,520
under control. Scouts report all quiet
in the pit and there is no sign

938
01:14:44,560 --> 01:14:47,560
of life appearing from the mouth of
the cylinder. Now, ladies and gentlemen,

939
01:14:47,600 --> 01:14:51,840
we have a special statement from mister
Harry MacDonald, Vice President in charge

940
01:14:51,840 --> 01:14:57,600
of operations. We have received requests
from the State Militia of Trenton, who

941
01:14:57,600 --> 01:15:01,880
places their disposal our entire broadcasting facilities. A view of the gravity of the

942
01:15:01,920 --> 01:15:06,880
situation and believing that radio has a
responsibility to serve in the public interests at

943
01:15:06,920 --> 01:15:12,720
all times, we are turning over
our facilities to the State Militia at Trenton.

944
01:15:15,039 --> 01:15:18,399
We take you now to the field
headquarters of the State Militia near Grover's

945
01:15:18,479 --> 01:15:25,640
Mill, New Jersey. This is
Captain Lansing of the signal car attached to

946
01:15:25,720 --> 01:15:30,479
State Militia now engaged in military operations
in the vicinity of Grover's Mill. Situation

947
01:15:30,640 --> 01:15:35,880
arising from the reported presence of certain
individuals of unidentified nature is now under complete

948
01:15:35,920 --> 01:15:42,680
control the cylindrical object, which lies
in a fit directly below our position,

949
01:15:43,279 --> 01:15:47,479
surrounded on all sides by eight battalions
of infancy without heavy field pieces, but

950
01:15:47,520 --> 01:15:53,760
adequately on with rifles and machine guns. All caused for alarm, if such

951
01:15:53,880 --> 01:15:58,680
cause ever existed, is now entirely
unjustified. Things, whatever they are,

952
01:15:58,800 --> 01:16:01,560
do not even ventured a poke their
head above the pit. I can see

953
01:16:01,560 --> 01:16:05,439
their hiding place plainly in the glare
of the search lights. Here, with

954
01:16:05,520 --> 01:16:11,119
all their reported resources, these creatures
can scarcely stand up against heavy machine gun

955
01:16:11,159 --> 01:16:15,319
fire. Anyway, It's an interesting
outing for the troops. I can make

956
01:16:15,319 --> 01:16:20,000
out their cocky uniforms crushing back and
forth in front of the lights. Looks

957
01:16:20,039 --> 01:16:25,560
almost like a real war. There
appears to be some slight smoke in the

958
01:16:25,560 --> 01:16:30,680
woods bordering the milt Stone River,
probably fire started by campers. Well,

959
01:16:30,680 --> 01:16:34,199
we ought to see some action soon. One of the companies is deploying on

960
01:16:34,239 --> 01:16:38,520
the left flank. A quick thrust
and it will all be over. Oh

961
01:16:38,560 --> 01:16:43,479
wait a minute, I see something
on top of the cylinder. Oh no,

962
01:16:43,560 --> 01:16:45,039
it's nothing but a shadow. Now
the troops are on the edge of

963
01:16:45,079 --> 01:16:48,680
the wilmc farm. Seven thousand armed
men closing in on an old metal toobe

964
01:16:49,119 --> 01:16:51,479
a tub. Brother. Well wait, that wasn't a shadow. It's something

965
01:16:51,520 --> 01:16:56,439
moving solid metal, kind of a
shield, like a fair rising up out

966
01:16:56,479 --> 01:17:01,760
of the cylinder, going higher and
higher. It's standing on legs, actually

967
01:17:01,800 --> 01:17:05,520
rearing up on a sort of metal
framework. Now it's reaching above the trees,

968
01:17:05,560 --> 01:17:15,000
and the searchlight through on it.
Hold on, ladies and gentlemen,

969
01:17:15,039 --> 01:17:18,239
I have a grave announcement to make. Incredible as it may seem, both

970
01:17:18,239 --> 01:17:24,439
the observations of science and the evidence
of our eyes lead to the inescapable assumption

971
01:17:24,600 --> 01:17:29,840
that those strange beings who landed in
the Jersey farmlands tonight are the vanguard of

972
01:17:29,840 --> 01:17:35,319
an invading army from the planet Mars. The battle which took place tonight at

973
01:17:35,359 --> 01:17:39,840
Grove of Mills has ended in one
of the most startling defeats ever suffered by

974
01:17:39,880 --> 01:17:44,760
an army in modern times. Seven
thousand men on with rifles and machine guns

975
01:17:45,000 --> 01:17:48,640
pitted against the single fighting machine of
the invaders from Mars. One hundred and

976
01:17:48,680 --> 01:17:54,079
twenty known survivors, the rest strewn
over the battle area from Grover's Mill to

977
01:17:54,159 --> 01:17:59,159
Plainsborough, crushed and trampled to death
under the metal feet of the monster or

978
01:17:59,159 --> 01:18:02,720
burned to cinders by its heat rays. The monster is now in control of

979
01:18:02,720 --> 01:18:06,159
the middle section of New Jersey and
has effectively cut the state through its center.

980
01:18:08,039 --> 01:18:12,960
Communication lines are down from Pennsylvania to
the Atlantic Ocean. Railroad tracks are

981
01:18:13,000 --> 01:18:16,159
torn in. Service from New York
to Philadelphia discontinued, except rooting some of

982
01:18:16,159 --> 01:18:21,159
the trains through Allerton and Phoenixville Highways
to the north, south and west of

983
01:18:21,279 --> 01:18:26,920
Clogworth. Frantic human traffic, police
AU Army reserves are unable to control the

984
01:18:27,000 --> 01:18:30,640
mad Flight. By morning, the
fugitives will have swunged Philadelphia, Camden,

985
01:18:30,680 --> 01:18:36,720
and Trenton. It is estimated to
twice their normal population. Martial law prevails

986
01:18:36,720 --> 01:18:42,880
throughout New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.
At this time we take you to Washington

987
01:18:42,920 --> 01:18:50,199
for a special broadcast on the national
emergency. The Secretary of the Interior cit

988
01:18:50,279 --> 01:18:56,319
there, sons of a nation.
I shall not try to conceal the gravity

989
01:18:56,399 --> 01:19:01,239
of the situation that confronts the country. Are the concern of your government in

990
01:19:01,359 --> 01:19:09,319
protecting the lives and property of its
people. However, I wish to impress

991
01:19:09,399 --> 01:19:15,439
upon you, private citizens and public
officials, all of you, the urgent

992
01:19:15,600 --> 01:19:24,760
need of calm and resourceful action.
Fortunately, this formidable enemy is still confined

993
01:19:25,199 --> 01:19:30,640
to a comparatively small area, and
we may place our faith in the military

994
01:19:30,720 --> 01:19:36,960
forces to keep them there. In
the meantime, placing our faith in God.

995
01:19:39,039 --> 01:19:43,439
We must continue the performance of our
duties, each and every one of

996
01:19:43,520 --> 01:19:49,199
us, so that we may confront
this destructive adversary with a nation united,

997
01:19:49,880 --> 01:19:58,359
courageous, and consecrated to the preservation
of human supremacy on this earth. I

998
01:19:58,479 --> 01:20:03,039
thank you you have just heard the
Secretary of the Interior speaking from Washington.

999
01:20:03,720 --> 01:20:09,399
Bulletins too numerous to reader piling up
in the studio here were informed that the

1000
01:20:09,399 --> 01:20:13,359
central portion of New Jersey is blacked
out from radio communication due to the effect

1001
01:20:13,359 --> 01:20:16,359
of the heat ray upon power lines
and electrical equipment. There is a special

1002
01:20:16,359 --> 01:20:20,439
bullet in New York. Cables have
been received from English, French, and

1003
01:20:20,479 --> 01:20:27,640
German scientific bodies offering assistance. Astronomer's
report continued gas outbursts at regular intervals on

1004
01:20:27,960 --> 01:20:31,319
the planet Mars. The majority voiced
the opinion that the enemy will be reinforced

1005
01:20:31,319 --> 01:20:36,239
by additional rocket machines. There have
been several attempts made to locate Professor Pearson

1006
01:20:36,279 --> 01:20:41,760
of Princeton, who has observed Martians
at post range. It is fed he

1007
01:20:41,840 --> 01:20:46,439
was lost in the recent battle.
Langhamfield, Virginia guarding planes report three Martian

1008
01:20:46,479 --> 01:20:51,079
machines visible above treetops moving north towards
Somerville, with population fleeing ahead of them.

1009
01:20:51,680 --> 01:20:55,920
The heat ray is not in use. Although advancing at express trained speed,

1010
01:20:56,199 --> 01:20:59,880
invaders picked their way carefully. They
seem to be making a conscious effort

1011
01:20:59,880 --> 01:21:03,119
to avoid destruction of cities and countryside
wherever they stop to a brute power lines,

1012
01:21:03,159 --> 01:21:08,960
bridges and railroad tracks. Their apparent
objective is to crush resistance, paralyzed

1013
01:21:08,960 --> 01:21:13,920
communication, and disorganized human society.
Here is a boltin from Basking Ridge,

1014
01:21:13,920 --> 01:21:17,239
New Jersey. Coon hunters have stumbled
on a second cylinder similar to the first,

1015
01:21:17,640 --> 01:21:23,439
embedded in the Great Swamp twenty miles
south of Marstown. Army Field pieces

1016
01:21:23,439 --> 01:21:26,880
are proceeding from Newark to blow up
the second invading unit before the cylinder can

1017
01:21:26,920 --> 01:21:30,439
be opened in the fighting machine rig. They are taking up a position in

1018
01:21:30,439 --> 01:21:35,199
the foothills of Watching Mountains. Another
another boltan from Langhamfield, Virginia. S

1019
01:21:35,199 --> 01:21:40,319
Guarding planes report enemy machines now three
in number, increasing speed northward, kicking

1020
01:21:40,359 --> 01:21:44,159
over houses and trees in their evident
haste to form a conjunction where their allies

1021
01:21:44,239 --> 01:21:48,119
south of Marstown Machines also sited by
telephone operated east of Middlesex. Within ten

1022
01:21:48,119 --> 01:21:53,680
miles of Plainfields, there is a
bolt from Winstonfield, Long Island, a

1023
01:21:53,720 --> 01:21:58,279
fleet of Army bombers carrying heavy explosive
flying north in pursuit of enemy scouting Plains

1024
01:21:58,319 --> 01:22:01,399
act as guide. They keep the
feeding enemy in sight just a moment,

1025
01:22:01,439 --> 01:22:06,159
please, ladies and gentlemen. We've
run special wires to the artillery line in

1026
01:22:06,159 --> 01:22:10,560
the station villages to give you direct
reports from the zone of the advancing enemy.

1027
01:22:11,399 --> 01:22:14,439
First, we take you to the
battery of the twenty second Field Artillery

1028
01:22:15,000 --> 01:22:21,239
located in the Watching Mountains. Range
thirty two meters thirty two meters projection thirty

1029
01:22:21,279 --> 01:22:32,720
nine degrees thirty nine degrees, fires
forty after the right set. Ship range

1030
01:22:33,000 --> 01:22:45,760
thirty one meters thirty one meters projection
thirty seven degrees thirty seven degrees, fires

1031
01:22:46,239 --> 01:22:54,039
eight sets, but the type of
of one of them that stops the others

1032
01:22:54,039 --> 01:22:58,920
are trying to repair. Get the
range. Ship fifty thirty meters thirty meters

1033
01:22:59,079 --> 01:23:10,560
projection twenty six degrees by seven degrees. Fire, Thank you the fell answer

1034
01:23:12,239 --> 01:23:16,760
letting off of smoke. What is
it? Black troops moving this way,

1035
01:23:18,199 --> 01:23:27,079
lank close to the ground, moving
fast, Put on gas maps, get

1036
01:23:27,119 --> 01:23:33,560
ready to file fifty twenty four meters
twenty four meters protection twenty four degrees,

1037
01:23:34,000 --> 01:23:51,800
twenty four degrees fire and thief looks
coming near. Got the range twenty three

1038
01:23:51,880 --> 01:24:17,880
meters. We we thank you.
Army bombing plane the eighth forty three or

1039
01:24:17,960 --> 01:24:24,039
three own New Jersey Lieutenant vote commanding
eight bombers reporting the Commander fairfaxs langham Field.

1040
01:24:25,359 --> 01:24:30,000
This is both reporting the Commander Fairfax
langham Field. Enemy tripod machines now

1041
01:24:30,000 --> 01:24:36,239
in sight, reinforced by three machines
from the Marstown Cylinder six all together one

1042
01:24:36,279 --> 01:24:42,439
machine partially crippled. Believe hit by
shell from army gun in watchung mountains.

1043
01:24:43,479 --> 01:24:47,319
Guns Now a fair silence, A
heavy black fog hanging close to the earth

1044
01:24:47,359 --> 01:24:56,119
of extreme density, nature unknown,
no sign of heat. Ray and I

1045
01:24:56,159 --> 01:25:00,319
mean now turns east, crossing Passaic
River into the Jersey Marshes. Another straddles

1046
01:25:00,319 --> 01:25:09,119
the Pulaski Skyway. Evident objective is
New York City. They're pushing down a

1047
01:25:09,159 --> 01:25:15,680
high tension power station. Scenes are
close together now and we're ready to attack.

1048
01:25:15,399 --> 01:25:25,039
Plane cycling ready to strike one thousand
yards and we'll be over the first

1049
01:25:30,560 --> 01:25:53,760
eight hundred gods six hundred four,
one hundred two hundred. There they go.

1050
01:25:55,000 --> 01:26:02,880
Giant arm raised, bring flesh with
flame two thousand feet. Engines are

1051
01:26:02,880 --> 01:26:08,520
giving out no chance to release bombs. Only one thing left. Stop on

1052
01:26:08,560 --> 01:26:17,920
the plane at all. We're diving
on the first one. Now the engine's

1053
01:26:17,920 --> 01:26:29,279
gone. Hay is fayon, New
Jersey calling langham Field, Fyon, New

1054
01:26:29,319 --> 01:26:33,239
Jersey calling langham Field, come in
please, langham Field, who hit eight

1055
01:26:33,359 --> 01:26:40,600
Army bombers an engagement with enemy tripod
machines over Jersey Flats. Engines incapacitated by

1056
01:26:40,680 --> 01:26:46,239
heat ray all crash, one enemy
machine destroyed. Enemy now is charging heavy

1057
01:26:46,239 --> 01:26:51,760
black smoke in direction of New York, New Jersey, New York, New

1058
01:26:51,840 --> 01:27:00,319
Jersey Warning. Poisonous black smoke pouring
in from Jersey Marshes reaches south seet mass

1059
01:27:00,520 --> 01:27:08,279
useless urch populations move into open spaces. Automobiles use Route seven twenty three twenty

1060
01:27:08,319 --> 01:27:15,920
four avoid congested areas. Hope now
spreading over over Raymond Boulevard to X two

1061
01:27:15,920 --> 01:27:19,039
well calling, stay killed to x
T well calling, stay killed to X

1062
01:27:19,079 --> 01:27:23,680
two well calling. Eight X ray
are come in place. The next three

1063
01:27:23,720 --> 01:27:29,720
are coming back into X two l
as reception as reception, Tay please,

1064
01:27:31,079 --> 01:27:35,840
where are you? Eight X ray
are what's the matter? Where are you?

1065
01:27:42,159 --> 01:27:47,279
I'm speaking from the roof of broadcasting
buildings. I'm speaking from the roof

1066
01:27:47,319 --> 01:27:54,479
of broadcasting buildings, New York City. The wells you hear are ringing you

1067
01:27:54,560 --> 01:28:00,399
one of people to evacuate the city
as martians approach. Estimated in the last

1068
01:28:00,439 --> 01:28:05,279
two hours, three million people have
moved out along the roads to the north.

1069
01:28:08,319 --> 01:28:14,680
Hutchison River Parkway is still kept open
for motor traffic. Boyd Bridges to

1070
01:28:14,760 --> 01:28:23,359
Long Island hopelessly jammed. All communication
with Jersey Shore closed ten minutes ago.

1071
01:28:25,199 --> 01:28:33,920
No more defenses, our armies wiped
out, artillery, air force, everything

1072
01:28:34,000 --> 01:28:43,119
wiped out. May be the last
broadcast. We'll stay here to the end.

1073
01:28:45,279 --> 01:28:51,159
People are holding service here below us
in the cathedral. Now I look

1074
01:28:51,239 --> 01:29:00,000
down the harbor, all manner of
boats overloaded with clean population pulling out from

1075
01:29:00,199 --> 01:29:10,039
ducks withdraw jammed noise and crowds like
New Year's even city. Wait a minute,

1076
01:29:10,119 --> 01:29:16,279
see the enemy is now inside about
the palisades. Five five great machines.

1077
01:29:19,239 --> 01:29:24,079
First one is crossing the river.
I can see it from here,

1078
01:29:24,199 --> 01:29:30,800
waiting, waiting the Hudson, like
a man waiting to a brook. A

1079
01:29:30,000 --> 01:29:39,039
bulletin has handed me Martian cylinders are
falling all over the country, one outside

1080
01:29:39,079 --> 01:29:45,159
of Buffalo, one in Chicago.
Saint Lewis seemed to be timed in the

1081
01:29:45,279 --> 01:29:53,960
space. Now the first machine reaches
the shore. He and watching, looking

1082
01:29:54,000 --> 01:30:01,520
over the city. Fel cowige head
is even with the skyscrapers. He waits

1083
01:30:01,560 --> 01:30:09,920
for the others rise like a line
of new towers on the city's west side.

1084
01:30:10,239 --> 01:30:15,680
How they lifting their metal hands.
This is the end. Now boat

1085
01:30:15,760 --> 01:30:23,159
comes out, black smolts drifting over
the city. People in the street see

1086
01:30:23,159 --> 01:30:27,399
it. Now. They're running towards
the east River, thousands of them,

1087
01:30:27,960 --> 01:30:33,359
dropping in like rats. Have a
smoke spreading past. It's reach times square.

1088
01:30:34,720 --> 01:30:38,199
People are trying to run away from
it, but it's no use.

1089
01:30:38,279 --> 01:30:49,479
They're falling like flies. Now they
smolts crossing sixth Avenue, fifth Avenue,

1090
01:30:53,199 --> 01:31:26,359
huh, one hundred yards away.
It's h M X duel calling say killed

1091
01:31:28,359 --> 01:31:33,840
the X. Two Well calling say
killed no X to well calling say,

1092
01:31:33,920 --> 01:31:43,319
kill New York. Isn't there anyone
on the air? Isn't there anyone on

1093
01:31:43,399 --> 01:31:58,399
the air? In there anyone?
Two x two L. You are listening

1094
01:31:58,439 --> 01:32:01,119
to a CBS presentation of a Uston
Wells and the Mercury Theater on the air

1095
01:32:01,560 --> 01:32:05,880
in an original dramatization of the War
of the World by HG. Wells.

1096
01:32:06,680 --> 01:32:18,840
The performance will continue after a brief
intermission. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System

1097
01:32:18,840 --> 01:32:23,960
The War of the World by H. G. Wells, starring Orson Wells

1098
01:32:23,960 --> 01:32:50,720
and the Mercury Theater on the air. As I set down these notes on

1099
01:32:50,800 --> 01:32:56,720
paper, I'm obsessed by the thought
that I may be the last living man

1100
01:32:56,800 --> 01:33:03,239
on Earth, hiding in this empty
house near Grover's Mill, a small island

1101
01:33:03,239 --> 01:33:06,079
of daylight, cut off by the
black smoke the rest of the world.

1102
01:33:08,920 --> 01:33:13,600
All that happened before the arrival of
these monstrous creatures in the world now seems

1103
01:33:13,680 --> 01:33:20,439
part of another life, life that
has no continuity with the present furtive existence.

1104
01:33:20,600 --> 01:33:27,680
The lonely derelict to pencils these words
on the back of some astronomical notes

1105
01:33:27,760 --> 01:33:35,520
bearing the signature Richard Pierson, looked
down at my blackened hand and try to

1106
01:33:35,520 --> 01:33:39,239
connect them with a professor who lives
at Princeton, and who, on the

1107
01:33:39,319 --> 01:33:44,239
night of October twentieth, glimpsed through
his telescope an orange splash of light on

1108
01:33:44,319 --> 01:33:51,479
a distant planet. My wife,
my colleagues, my students, my books,

1109
01:33:53,840 --> 01:34:04,479
my observatory, my world. Where
are they? Did they ever exist?

1110
01:34:06,920 --> 01:34:14,880
Am I Richard piss? What day
is it? Do days exist without

1111
01:34:14,920 --> 01:34:19,319
calendars? As time pass? When
they know? Human hands left to wind

1112
01:34:19,319 --> 01:34:27,119
the clock? Writing down my daily
life, I tell myself, I shall

1113
01:34:27,159 --> 01:34:30,239
preserve human history between the dark covers
of this little book that was meant to

1114
01:34:30,239 --> 01:34:35,159
record the movements of the stars.
Right, I must live, and to

1115
01:34:35,199 --> 01:34:40,560
live, I must eat, find
moldy bread in the kitchen, and an

1116
01:34:40,560 --> 01:34:48,279
orange not who spoiled to swallow.
You've watched at the windows time to time

1117
01:34:48,319 --> 01:34:56,239
I catch sight of a martian above
the black smoke. Smoke still holds the

1118
01:34:56,279 --> 01:35:01,079
house in its black coil, but
length hissing sound. And suddenly I see

1119
01:35:01,079 --> 01:35:06,680
a martian mounted on his machine,
spraying the air with a jet of steam,

1120
01:35:06,760 --> 01:35:11,640
as if to dissipate the smoke.
I watching a corners, his huge

1121
01:35:11,760 --> 01:35:16,680
metal lakes nearly brush against the house, shausted by terror. I fall asleep.

1122
01:35:18,479 --> 01:35:29,119
Morning morning sun streams in the window. Black cloud of gas is lifted,

1123
01:35:29,159 --> 01:35:31,720
and the scorched meadows to the north
look as though a black snow storm

1124
01:35:31,720 --> 01:35:36,119
has passed over. I venture from
the house. I make my way to

1125
01:35:36,159 --> 01:35:41,960
a road no traffic, and their
wrecked car baggage overturned. The blackened skeleton

1126
01:35:43,359 --> 01:35:46,800
push on north. Some reason,
I feel safe for trailing these monsters and

1127
01:35:46,880 --> 01:35:55,000
running away from them, and I
keep a careful watch. I have seen

1128
01:35:55,079 --> 01:36:00,079
the martians speed, said one of
their machines. Means appear over the top

1129
01:36:00,079 --> 01:36:05,880
of trees. I'm ready to fling
myself plant on the head. Come to

1130
01:36:05,880 --> 01:36:15,079
a chestnut tree. October. Yes, that there, right on my pockets.

1131
01:36:15,159 --> 01:36:19,359
Let's keep alive. Two days I
wander in a vague northerly direction through

1132
01:36:19,399 --> 01:36:27,359
a desolate world. Finally I noticed
a living creature, a small red squirrel

1133
01:36:27,359 --> 01:36:31,960
in a beech tree. I stare
at him and wonder he stares back at

1134
01:36:32,000 --> 01:36:38,840
me. I believe at that moment
the animal and I share the same emotion,

1135
01:36:40,359 --> 01:36:45,479
the joy of finding another living being. For Shawn North, I find

1136
01:36:45,560 --> 01:36:48,880
dead cows in a brackish field,
and beyond the charred ruins of a dry

1137
01:36:49,279 --> 01:36:56,800
silo made standing god over the wasteland, like a lighthouse deserted by the sea.

1138
01:37:00,000 --> 01:37:09,560
I love purchase a weathercock the arrow
going to North oh Next day I

1139
01:37:09,560 --> 01:37:14,039
come to a city, city vaguely
familiar, and its contours, yet its

1140
01:37:14,039 --> 01:37:17,840
building strangely dwarfed and leveled off,
as if a giant had sliced off its

1141
01:37:17,880 --> 01:37:28,199
highest tars with the capricious sweep of
its hand. Reached the outskirts on Newark.

1142
01:37:28,199 --> 01:37:32,600
Newark, undemolished, but humbled by
some whim of the advancing Martians.

1143
01:37:34,000 --> 01:37:38,439
Presently, with an odd feeling of
being watched, I caught sight of something

1144
01:37:38,720 --> 01:37:43,239
crouching in a doorway, I mean
a step towards it, rose up and

1145
01:37:43,319 --> 01:37:57,479
became a man, man armed with
a large knife. I come from from

1146
01:37:57,479 --> 01:38:05,319
many places, a long time ago, from Princeton, Princeville. Groover's milk,

1147
01:38:05,439 --> 01:38:15,520
yes, Groover's milk. There's no
food here. This is my country.

1148
01:38:15,520 --> 01:38:17,800
You always send the town down the
river. There's only food for one.

1149
01:38:19,760 --> 01:38:28,800
Which way you're going, I don't
know. I guess I'm looking for

1150
01:38:28,920 --> 01:38:32,359
people. And what was that?
Do you hear something? Just then?

1151
01:38:33,319 --> 01:38:43,439
No? Me? A bird?
Life? Bird? You get to know

1152
01:38:43,479 --> 01:38:46,840
that birds have shadows these days.
Hey, we're in the open here.

1153
01:38:47,760 --> 01:38:55,439
Let's call in this doorway here and
talk. Have you seen any Martians?

1154
01:38:56,359 --> 01:39:00,520
They're going over to New York night. The sky is a live with their

1155
01:39:00,600 --> 01:39:04,479
lights, so as if people were
still living in it, they like can't

1156
01:39:04,479 --> 01:39:11,399
see them. Five days ago a
couple of them carried something big across the

1157
01:39:11,439 --> 01:39:15,680
flats from the airport. I think
they're learning how to fly. Fly,

1158
01:39:16,039 --> 01:39:27,159
yeah, fly. It's all over
with humanity. Stranger of us still,

1159
01:39:27,199 --> 01:39:33,159
you and I two of us left. They got themselves in solid ey,

1160
01:39:33,239 --> 01:39:38,520
wrecked the greatest country in the world. Those green stars. They're probably falling

1161
01:39:38,560 --> 01:39:43,319
somewhere every night. They've only lost
one machine. There isn't anything to do.

1162
01:39:43,399 --> 01:39:46,640
We're done, We're licked. Where
were you? You're in a uniform?

1163
01:39:46,760 --> 01:39:49,920
Yeah, what's left of it?
I was in the militia National Guard.

1164
01:39:50,239 --> 01:39:55,800
That's good. There wasn't any war
any more than there's war between men

1165
01:39:55,880 --> 01:40:00,520
and ant Yes, but we're eatable
lands and I found that out. What

1166
01:40:00,560 --> 01:40:04,199
do they do to us? I've
set it all out right now. We're

1167
01:40:04,239 --> 01:40:09,000
caught as we're wanted. Martian only
has to go a few miles to get

1168
01:40:09,000 --> 01:40:12,119
a crowd on the run. But
they won't keep on doing that. They'll

1169
01:40:12,159 --> 01:40:15,720
begin catching the systematic, like keeping
the best and staring us, and cages

1170
01:40:15,760 --> 01:40:20,399
and things. They haven't begun on
us yet, not the gun. Well

1171
01:40:20,479 --> 01:40:24,680
it's happened so far is because we
don't have sense enough to keep quiet,

1172
01:40:25,439 --> 01:40:28,560
bothering them with guns and such stuff
and losing our heads and rushing off in

1173
01:40:28,640 --> 01:40:32,960
crowds instead of our rushing around blind. We got to fix ourselves up,

1174
01:40:32,960 --> 01:40:36,239
fix ourselves up according to the way
things are now, cities, nations,

1175
01:40:36,239 --> 01:40:44,239
civilization progress. But well, there
won't be any more concerts for a million

1176
01:40:44,319 --> 01:40:47,560
years or so, and no nice
little dinners at restaurants. If it's amusement

1177
01:40:47,600 --> 01:40:51,079
you're after, I guess the game's
up. What is there left? Right?

1178
01:40:51,239 --> 01:40:57,880
That's why I want to live,
and so do you. We're not

1179
01:40:58,000 --> 01:41:01,680
going to be exterminated, and I
don't mean to be caught either. Came

1180
01:41:01,840 --> 01:41:06,000
and fattened and bred like an ox, you're gonna do. I'm going on

1181
01:41:08,560 --> 01:41:14,760
right under their feet. I got
a plan. We men as men were

1182
01:41:14,800 --> 01:41:17,319
finished. We don't know enough.
We got to learn plenty before we got

1183
01:41:17,319 --> 01:41:23,079
a chance. We've got to live
and keep free what we learned, see

1184
01:41:23,279 --> 01:41:26,439
I've thought it all out. See, I can't tell me the risk.

1185
01:41:26,880 --> 01:41:29,840
Well, it isn't all of us
that are made for wild beasts. That's

1186
01:41:29,840 --> 01:41:32,239
what it got, That's what it
got to be. That's why I watched,

1187
01:41:33,800 --> 01:41:38,399
watched you all those little office workers
that used to live in these houses.

1188
01:41:38,399 --> 01:41:43,800
They've be no good, they haven't
any stuff in them. Run run

1189
01:41:43,840 --> 01:41:45,600
off to work. I've seen hundreds. I'm running to catch their commuters train

1190
01:41:45,680 --> 01:41:48,800
in the morning, afraid they you
can if they didn't, running back at

1191
01:41:48,880 --> 01:41:54,039
night, afraid they wouldn't be in
time for dinner. Lives insured and a

1192
01:41:54,079 --> 01:41:59,800
little invested in case of action,
and on Sundays worried about the Here at

1193
01:42:01,199 --> 01:42:04,840
the Martians, there'll be a godsend
for those guys. Nice roomy cages,

1194
01:42:05,039 --> 01:42:09,960
good food, careful breeding, no
worries. Yeah, after a week or

1195
01:42:10,039 --> 01:42:14,359
so of chasing around the fields on
empty stomachs, they'll come and be glad

1196
01:42:14,359 --> 01:42:16,640
to be caught. You've thought it
all out, haven't you better have?

1197
01:42:18,119 --> 01:42:24,399
That? Isn't all these Martians are
going to make pets us train them to

1198
01:42:24,479 --> 01:42:29,079
do twicks. Who knows gets sentimental
over the pet boy who grew up and

1199
01:42:29,119 --> 01:42:35,199
had to be killed. Yeah,
and some Maybe they'll train to hunt us.

1200
01:42:36,279 --> 01:42:45,720
Yes they will. There's men who
do it. Plad me like meantime,

1201
01:42:48,199 --> 01:42:53,199
you and I and others like it. Where are we to live in

1202
01:42:53,279 --> 01:42:58,520
the Martians on the earth. I
got it all figured out. Live underground.

1203
01:42:59,239 --> 01:43:01,640
I've been thinking about the sewers,
and in New York they're miles and

1204
01:43:01,680 --> 01:43:05,560
miles of the main ones. They're
big enough for anybody, and they're selling

1205
01:43:05,800 --> 01:43:14,520
balls underground storerooms, railway tunnel subways. Beginning to see, we've got a

1206
01:43:14,560 --> 01:43:19,199
bunch of strong men to get it. No, we that rubbish out as

1207
01:43:19,239 --> 01:43:26,560
you meant me to go with you
a chance, won't quarrel about that?

1208
01:43:27,119 --> 01:43:31,159
Go on. We got to make
safe places for us to stay. And

1209
01:43:31,279 --> 01:43:38,439
see at all the books we can, science books. That's where men like

1210
01:43:38,479 --> 01:43:43,319
you come in. See we raid
the museums. We'll even spire in the

1211
01:43:43,359 --> 01:43:49,520
Martians. It may not be so
much we have to learn before. Just

1212
01:43:49,600 --> 01:43:56,159
imagine this, Four or five of
their own fighting machines suddenly start off heat,

1213
01:43:56,239 --> 01:43:59,520
raised right and left. Not a
martian in them, not a martian

1214
01:43:59,520 --> 01:44:02,079
in them. See, yes,
but men, men who've learned the way.

1215
01:44:02,159 --> 01:44:10,079
How maybe in our time? Jeez, imagine having one of them lovely

1216
01:44:10,119 --> 01:44:13,680
things with the teeth ray wide and
free. We turn it on martians,

1217
01:44:13,720 --> 01:44:17,880
we turn it on men. We
bring everybody down on their knees. That's

1218
01:44:17,920 --> 01:44:29,439
your plan, you mere, We
on the world. I see, hey,

1219
01:44:30,079 --> 01:44:34,359
hey, what's the best? Where
are you going? Not to your

1220
01:44:34,399 --> 01:44:44,960
world? By stranger? I after
parting with the artillerym and I came at

1221
01:44:45,039 --> 01:44:49,359
least the Holland Tunnel, entered that
silent tube, anxious to know the fate

1222
01:44:49,359 --> 01:44:53,800
of the great city on the other
side of the Hudson. Cautiously, I

1223
01:44:53,880 --> 01:44:58,399
came out of the tunnel and made
my way up Canal Street, reached fourteenth

1224
01:44:58,439 --> 01:45:02,000
Street, and there again black powder
and several bodies, and an evil,

1225
01:45:02,720 --> 01:45:08,920
ominous smell from the gratings of the
cellars of some of the houses. I

1226
01:45:08,960 --> 01:45:15,039
wandered up through the thirties and forties, stood alone on time squares caught sight

1227
01:45:15,079 --> 01:45:18,640
of a lean dog running down Seventh
Avenue, a piece of dark brown meat

1228
01:45:18,680 --> 01:45:23,960
in his jaws, and packer starving
mongrel at his heels, made a wide

1229
01:45:24,000 --> 01:45:27,439
circle around me, as though he
feared I might prove a fresh competitor.

1230
01:45:28,560 --> 01:45:33,680
Walked up Broadway in the direction of
that that strange powder, fast silent shop

1231
01:45:33,720 --> 01:45:45,640
windows displaying their mute wares to empty
sidewalks fast the Capital Theater silent dark past

1232
01:45:45,640 --> 01:45:48,840
a shooting gallery, were a row
of empty guns faced an arrested line of

1233
01:45:48,880 --> 01:45:55,720
wooden ducks. Near Columbus Circle,
and noticed models of nineteen thirty nine motor

1234
01:45:55,800 --> 01:46:00,399
cars in the showrooms facing empty streets. Over the top of the General Motors

1235
01:46:00,399 --> 01:46:03,880
Building, I watched a flock of
black birds circling in the sky. Hurried

1236
01:46:03,920 --> 01:46:10,800
on, Suddenly I caught sight of
the hood of a Martian machine standing somewhere

1237
01:46:10,800 --> 01:46:14,159
in Central Park, gleaming in the
late afternoon sun. Insane idea, I

1238
01:46:15,199 --> 01:46:19,600
rushed recklessly across Columbus Circle and into
the park. I climbed a small hill

1239
01:46:19,640 --> 01:46:24,439
above the pond at sixtieth Street.
From there I could see, standing in

1240
01:46:24,479 --> 01:46:29,640
a silent row along the mall,
nineteen of those great metal titans, their

1241
01:46:29,680 --> 01:46:34,880
cowls empty, their steel arms hanging
listlessly by their sides. I looked in

1242
01:46:35,000 --> 01:46:41,359
vain for the monsters that inhabited those
machines. Suddenly my eyes were attracted to

1243
01:46:41,399 --> 01:46:45,399
the immense flock of black birds that
covered directly below me. They circled to

1244
01:46:45,439 --> 01:46:53,319
the ground, and there before my
eyes stark and silent lay the Martians,

1245
01:46:53,359 --> 01:46:59,000
with the hungry birds pecking and tearing
brown shreads of flesh their dead bodies.

1246
01:47:00,159 --> 01:47:03,399
Later, when their bodies were examined
in laboratories, as is found that they

1247
01:47:03,399 --> 01:47:10,760
were killed by the putrefactive and diseased
bacteria against which their systems were unprepared.

1248
01:47:13,439 --> 01:47:17,800
Plain, after all man's defenses had
failed, by the humblest thing that God

1249
01:47:18,720 --> 01:47:25,359
as wisdoms, put upon the surf. Before the cylinder fell, there was

1250
01:47:26,520 --> 01:47:31,880
a general persuasion that through all the
deep of space, no life existed beyond

1251
01:47:31,960 --> 01:47:40,159
the petty surface of our minute sphere. Now we see further, dim and

1252
01:47:40,279 --> 01:47:45,399
wonderful is the vision I conjured up
in my mind of life spreading slowly from

1253
01:47:45,399 --> 01:47:49,960
this little seed bed of the Solar
System throughout the inanimate vastnesses of siderial space.

1254
01:47:51,760 --> 01:47:58,720
Remote dream may bee may be that
the destruction of the Martians is only

1255
01:47:58,760 --> 01:48:06,239
a reprieve for them, and not
to us. The future ordained breath has

1256
01:48:06,359 --> 01:48:13,159
strange. It now seems to sit
in my peaceful study Princeton, writing down

1257
01:48:13,199 --> 01:48:17,000
this last chapter of the records.
Begun at a deserted farm and Grove's mill.

1258
01:48:18,520 --> 01:48:26,439
Strange to watch children playing in the
streets. Strange to see young people

1259
01:48:26,520 --> 01:48:30,760
strolling on the green while the mule
spring grass heels the last black scars of

1260
01:48:30,840 --> 01:48:39,239
a bruised derth. Strange to watch
the sightseers enter the museum where the dissembled

1261
01:48:39,279 --> 01:48:45,680
parts of a Martian machine are kept
on public view. Strange when I recall

1262
01:48:45,720 --> 01:48:53,560
a time when I first saw it, bright, clean, cuts, hard

1263
01:48:54,520 --> 01:49:20,000
and silent under the dawn of that
last great day. This is awes and

1264
01:49:20,039 --> 01:49:26,199
wells, ladies and gentlemen, out
of character to assure you that the war

1265
01:49:26,279 --> 01:49:30,640
of the world has no further significance
than as the holiday offering. It was

1266
01:49:30,640 --> 01:49:34,439
intended to be the Mercury Theater's own
radio version of dressing up in a sheet

1267
01:49:34,479 --> 01:49:39,439
and jumping out of a bush and
saying boom, starting now. We couldn't

1268
01:49:39,439 --> 01:49:43,800
soap all your windows and steal all
your garden gates by tomorrow night, so

1269
01:49:43,920 --> 01:49:47,600
we did the best next thing.
We annihilated the world before your very ears

1270
01:49:47,640 --> 01:49:53,079
and utterly destroyed the CBS. You
will be relieved, I hope, to

1271
01:49:53,159 --> 01:49:57,479
learn that we didn't mean it,
and that both institutions are still open for

1272
01:49:57,560 --> 01:50:01,039
business. So goodbye, every and
remember please for the next day so the

1273
01:50:01,159 --> 01:50:09,800
terrible lesson you learned tonight that grinning, glowing globular invaders your living room is

1274
01:50:09,800 --> 01:50:13,560
an inhabitant of the punkin patch,
and it's your doorbell rings and nobody's there.

1275
01:50:14,880 --> 01:50:24,359
That was no Martian. It's Halloween
the night. The Columbia Broadcasting System

1276
01:50:24,359 --> 01:50:28,079
and it's affiliated station's Cost to Cost
has brought you The War of the World

1277
01:50:28,119 --> 01:50:32,960
by hq wel the seventeenth and its
weekly series of dramatic broadcasts featuring Uson Wells

1278
01:50:32,960 --> 01:50:38,000
and the Mercury Fater on the air. Next week we present a dramatization of

1279
01:50:38,039 --> 01:50:47,640
pre famous short stories. This is
the Columbia Broadcasting Well. I hope you

1280
01:50:47,840 --> 01:50:54,399
enjoyed listening to that broadcast. It
was really great to revisit it after several

1281
01:50:54,479 --> 01:50:59,560
years and getting to hear it again. It's just a masterful piece of audio

1282
01:50:59,640 --> 01:51:03,000
drama. And again I hope you
enjoyed it. But now that you have

1283
01:51:03,119 --> 01:51:10,399
that context for what this story is
all about, now it is time for

1284
01:51:10,479 --> 01:51:14,960
you to head over to Dramafy and
give a listen to Matthew's new show Operator

1285
01:51:15,920 --> 01:51:19,840
And just a couple of thoughts on
this production. Overall, I really enjoyed

1286
01:51:19,840 --> 01:51:24,920
it. As I said in the
conversation with Matthew, just a really interesting

1287
01:51:25,000 --> 01:51:30,600
way to contextualize this whole historical audio
drama and look at it from a different

1288
01:51:30,640 --> 01:51:34,119
point of view. Really interesting.
There were a couple of moments where the

1289
01:51:34,159 --> 01:51:40,880
acting was just a little bit stiff
for my liking, but overall it was

1290
01:51:40,920 --> 01:51:44,880
good, and I will say that
the standout performance in this was from Matthew

1291
01:51:44,960 --> 01:51:48,760
himself as the character of Richard.
He was really really great in that role,

1292
01:51:49,319 --> 01:51:55,239
and also one of the smaller characters, Robin. I really wish we'd

1293
01:51:55,279 --> 01:52:00,399
have heard more from her or from
that actress, and maybe Matthew will use

1294
01:52:00,439 --> 01:52:05,479
her again in some future productions.
But she was fantastic, and I really

1295
01:52:05,520 --> 01:52:11,119
really liked how he came on at
the end and sort of wrapped things up

1296
01:52:11,159 --> 01:52:14,720
and gave the credits in character.
I mentioned that earlier as well, but

1297
01:52:15,479 --> 01:52:17,439
that was a really neat touch.
And overall, you know, this is

1298
01:52:17,439 --> 01:52:23,640
a production that's done very much in
the style of that feel of an old

1299
01:52:23,640 --> 01:52:30,720
time radio show, So don't go
into it expecting really deep, immersive soundscapes

1300
01:52:30,960 --> 01:52:34,760
and that kind of stuff. That's
not the approach that he takes with his

1301
01:52:34,800 --> 01:52:42,279
productions. But it's still a really
fun show. I quite enjoyed it,

1302
01:52:42,880 --> 01:52:46,319
and as we said before, because
it all ties into World Audio Drama Day

1303
01:52:46,479 --> 01:52:50,680
and the Word of the World's broadcast, I can't think of a better day

1304
01:52:50,720 --> 01:52:57,720
to give it a lesson, especially
after just listening to the original broadcast that

1305
01:52:58,199 --> 01:53:00,760
inspired this one. So of course, there is a link in the show

1306
01:53:00,760 --> 01:53:04,039
notes to head over to Drama Fi
and check that out. But if you

1307
01:53:04,079 --> 01:53:06,399
do, may be sure to reach
out and let us know what you think

1308
01:53:06,399 --> 01:53:12,359
of it and what you think of
the War of the World show in general

1309
01:53:12,399 --> 01:53:14,960
as well. Would love to hear
your thoughts on that. There's all the

1310
01:53:14,960 --> 01:53:20,680
ways to get in touch with me
at Audiotheatercentral dot com slash contact and we

1311
01:53:20,720 --> 01:53:26,520
will be back to regularly scheduled programming
in the next episode. But I hope

1312
01:53:26,520 --> 01:53:30,119
you enjoyed this special bonus episode.
The show notes with the links to everything

1313
01:53:30,119 --> 01:53:35,279
that we talked about is at Audio
Theatercentral dot com slash one eighty eight and

1314
01:53:35,319 --> 01:53:39,600
I will see you next time.
Thank you so much for listening. Happy

1315
01:53:39,680 --> 01:53:51,319
World Audio Drama Day. Audio Theater
Central is a production of Porchlite Family Media.

1316
01:53:51,680 --> 01:53:57,039
Our theme music was composed by Sam
Avendano The show is produced and edited

1317
01:53:57,039 --> 01:54:06,239
by yours truly Jdsetter and our website
Audio theater central dot com. Maybe I

1318
01:54:06,279 --> 01:54:10,479
should have mentioned it in the thing, but I don't know the scene,

1319
01:54:11,359 --> 01:54:14,439
the scene where she's talking to Richard
on the phone from Concrete, Washington,

1320
01:54:14,560 --> 01:54:18,880
that actually happened. I made a
post about recently. They call it how

1321
01:54:18,880 --> 01:54:25,199
the War of the World's put a
small Washington city on the map. Oh.

1322
01:54:25,239 --> 01:54:30,239
In fact, there's a every Saturday
in October up in Concrete they do

1323
01:54:30,600 --> 01:54:35,279
what's called a ghost walk, and
they actually talk about that night because a

1324
01:54:35,319 --> 01:54:41,119
storm did happen and it did take
out the power and phone in the city

1325
01:54:41,159 --> 01:54:45,159
of Concrete, Washington, during the
moment of the show where all of the

1326
01:54:45,199 --> 01:54:50,960
other ships were seen landing across the
country. So everyone in Concrete freaked out

1327
01:54:51,079 --> 01:54:56,399
thought it was really happening. And
this was at five thirty our time,

1328
01:54:56,600 --> 01:55:01,119
versus eight thirty in New York where
it was airings. So everyone's running outside

1329
01:55:01,119 --> 01:55:05,279
with their guns, shooting them up
in the sky, terrified that they're being

1330
01:55:05,319 --> 01:55:11,119
attacked. There's a little audio clip, a little tiny audio clip of this

1331
01:55:11,279 --> 01:55:15,920
really old man who's talking about driving
back into town and seeing everyone running around

1332
01:55:15,960 --> 01:55:18,960
and they were picking people up in
their truck, and then they drove down

1333
01:55:19,000 --> 01:55:25,359
to their general store and they all
barricaded themselves in there. Wow. In

1334
01:55:25,359 --> 01:55:29,319
fact, my wife and I are
going there to take the tour, and

1335
01:55:29,359 --> 01:55:31,760
we've been reaching I've been reaching out
to the lady that runs at her name's

1336
01:55:31,800 --> 01:55:34,720
Valerie. But yeah, no,
it was kind of neat that this,

1337
01:55:35,159 --> 01:55:39,800
you know, in my own backyard, so to speak, that it reached

1338
01:55:39,840 --> 01:55:42,920
all the way over here and stuff. Wow. Yeah, I had no

1339
01:55:43,039 --> 01:55:46,920
idea. I assumed that the reference
to a small town in Washington was just,

1340
01:55:47,880 --> 01:55:50,680
you know, an homage to your
home state or something. I didn't

1341
01:55:50,680 --> 01:55:56,600
realize that that was an actual historical
fact. That's really cool. Ports Flight

1342
01:55:56,720 --> 01:56:01,920
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