(Editor’s note: A veteran New England journalist, Lars Trodson is the author of the eBook About Orson, writer-producer of the award-winning short film The Listener, and editor of The Block Island Times. He wrote Orson Welles: Scorpion in a Cage for Wellsnet in July 2015.)
By LARS TRODSON
Ever since The Mercury Theatre On the Air broadcast its famous version of The War of the Worlds on October 30, 1938, there has been an ongoing debate over who created the idea of using authentic-sounding news bulletins to build up the story’s suspense at the beginning of the show.
It’s easy to see why credit would want to be taken. It’s one of the most famous dramas in radio history, it caused some listeners to panic, and the broadcast and its aftermath have become remarkably durable milestones in pop culture history. It also catapulted Welles into global fame at the age of 23.
Several sources of inspiration have been cited for this bit of trickery, including Archibald MacLeish’s radio drama (written in verse), Air Raid, but the idea may have come from a source much closer to home.
On December 12, 1937, just 10 months before The War of the Worlds became a national event, Welles starred in a routine episode of The Shadow titled The Death Triangle. (The episode titles in The Shadow series are especially morbid).
After the introduction, during which The Shadow asks the audience, “who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men…?” and an ad for Blue Coal — “Ask for it by name!” — the episode begins. The theme music fades and the sounds of a crowd mumbling and a drum roll are heard. A voice with a bad French accent intones: “On this day, Dec. 22, 1913, by order of the authority of Devil’s Island, you, Pierre Martin, are hereby sentenced to 100 days in confinement solitaire —” (murmuring in the crowd heard here) “— and 100 lashes in the presence of the assembled prisoners as a warning to all who would attempt to escape! Let the punishment begin!”
The drum roll begins again, and the doomed Pierre Martin yells out “I will find the devil who betrayed me!” A voice starts counting the lashes: “One! Two!” while Martin repeats his vow to find the person who turned him in.
As the lashes reach the count of five, we hear, anachronistically and suddenly, 1930s-style organ music. The lashes stop, the organ music continues, and then we hear:
“Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt this program of organ music to bring you a special news flash from our affiliated news service. New York, Dec. 12, 1937… The Shadow has been found! Dr. James Evans, world famous child surgeon, told reporters this afternoon that a wounded man who claimed to be The Shadow forced his way into Dr. Evans’ private clinic and at the point of a gun forced him to remove a bullet. The wounded man then revealed that he was none other than that mysterious character, who has waged a one-man war against crime, The Shadow. Before Dr. Evans could report the case to the police, however, The Shadow mysteriously disappeared. The famous surgeon believes the Shadow has little chance of surviving his wounds.”
The announcer then says, “Our organ recital now continues….”
We hear a little more organ music, but it fades out and the sound of a phone is heard ringing. A man picks up the receiver, says “Hello? Dr. Evans.” and then we hear the macabre laughter of The Shadow, played by Welles. The 30-minute mystery then plays itself out.
This is not a very artful use of the technique later refined in The War of the Worlds broadcast, it’s both awkward and confusing. But the bones of it are there.
In The War of the Worlds broadcast, the “program of organ music” was replaced by that historically beleaguered bandleader, Ramon Raquello, who can never finish a song without a news bulletin interrupting a number.
But interrupted he was, and with similar language heard in the earlier episode of The Shadow:
“Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News…”
Then we’re off and running.
(In The Shadow episode, the language is: “Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt this program of organ music to bring you a special news flash from our affiliated news service.”)
Whoever decided to use the technique in The War of the Worlds broadcast deserves full credit for incorporating and refining a great idea to full effect. But some recognition for the inventiveness and continuing fame of The War of the Worlds might belong to this humble source: a long forgotten, unheralded episode of The Shadow called The Death Triangle.
The War of the Worlds can be heard here: youtube.com/watch?v=Xs0K4ApWl4g
The Death Triangle can be heard here: youtube.com/watch?v=IUv0byUMxPY&t=227s
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