WOTW 75th anniversary program on PBS

[Wellesnet]

Here's a preview for the American Experience program, scheduled for next month:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scK2aRB_0sU

[Wellesnet]

Chris Welles Feder discusses her participation in the upcoming program:

http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=7730

[Wellesnet]

Q&A with program director Cathleen O'Connell:

http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=7977

[Le Chiffre]

I watched it last night, and enjoyed it. The fake interviews were a little over-the-top for my taste, but the rest of the program is well-done and well-researched, and they do a nice job of analyzing why various people panicked. One thing they left out however, is the idea that some of the so-called "panic" was actually people playing cruel practical jokes on each other. This was an idea that was later put forth by HG Wells and Orson Wells when they appeared on radio a couple of years later. As HG said, "That was our impression in England. Have you never heard of Halloween in America where everyone pretends to see ghosts?"

[Roger Ryan]

I enjoyed the program as well, but did find it a little sensationalistic. I'm not completely convinced that the idea for using news bulletins was inspired by a show broadcast that very week...and the bit about Welles deliberately delaying the ID for the show doesn't jibe with how the announcement seems to be placed at regular intervals on the broadcast recording.

Overall, still a fun hour analysis and I was riveted by the Hindenburg crash footage which looks like it was newly-scanned in HD!

[Le Chiffre]

I agree. As indicated in RH Greene's new radio show, I think WOTW was probably more influenced by the FALL OF THE CITY, broadcast the year before, then AIR RAID. The new BBC radio documentary also cites a 1926 British program along the same lines which Welles might have been aware of. That show is now lost, but it was recreated in 2005. Too bad some acting company can't do the same kind of thing with some of the missing Mercury shows instead of yet another imitation of the Martian broadcast.

The only two station announcements for WOTW that I remember were at the beginning, and then at about the 40 minute mark, right after Ray Collins' reporter drops dead from the poison gas. I suppose being a sustaining program without a sponsor, they could get away with a longer interval between station breaks. Maybe that's why the Mercury got a sponsor soon after. To have someone keep Welles in check.

Director/Producer Catherine O'Connell:
"I personally think that Welles did not have a deliberate agenda to create a panic. I believe he set out to create a work of art that was engaging, fresh and edgy. I think he certainly wanted to entertain his audience, and himself as well, but I don't think he set out in a calculated way to engineer a panic, nor could he in any way have predicted the response to the radio program."

I don't see how she could say that. It's obvious that the show was deliberately designed to fool listeners tuning in late from Charlie McCarthy. Welles even admitted as much.

[Wich2]

I've had the pleasure of speaking with Orson's assistant Bill Herz about this several times. His first-hand story:

1. The "news format" was indeed an attempt to make the Wells story more immediate for the contemporary audience, but...

2. ...the Merc DID NOT intend any sort of scandal or panic (indeed, much feeling during prep was that the show was a bit silly, and would fizzle.)

3. They WERE shocked by the reaction - and for a few days, truly scared that there'd ne legal repercussions.

-Craig

[Le Chiffre]

Here's an excerpt from a History Channel article on WOTW:

With threats of lawsuits swirling in the press, CBS went into damage control. At a hastily called press conference, a doe-eyed Welles displayed his theatrical acumen and expressed his remorse and shock at the public reaction. “I can’t imagine an invasion from Mars would find ready acceptance,” he said when asked if he pranked the country. Decades later, however, Welles admitted, “That kind of response was merrily anticipated by us all. The size of it, of course, was flabbergasting.”

[Wich2]

I'll stick with Bill's account!

He has nothing to gain by fiddling with the truth - and he doesn't have Orson's gift (curse?) for - er - "embellishment" after the fact.

-Craig