by H. G. Wells
Inspired by The War of the Worlds
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have a grave announcement to make. Incredible as it may seem, ... those strange beings who landed in the Jersey farmlands tonight are the vanguard of an invading army from the planet Mars.”
—Orson Welles, from his radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds
H. G. Wells’s pioneering science fiction novel The War of the Worlds has inspired films, a television series, a rock opera, comic books, sequels, parodies, and scores of imitations. By far the best-known adaptation is the one Orson Welles produced for radio in 1938.
Before he turned twenty, Welles already had a reputation as a talented actor. In the 1930s, as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s second New Deal program, the Works Progress Administration launched the Federal Theatre Project (FTP). Writer/director John Houseman was tapped to head its Negro Theatre Unit; he in turn asked Welles to direct a play for him—a version of Macbeth with an all-black cast set in nineteenth-century Haiti. Their success in this and other FTP productions prompted Welles and Houseman to found Mercury Theatre in 1937; through it they staged more innovative productions, like a modern-dress version of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, George Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House, and a leftist opera, The Cradle Will Rock. A year later they took Mercury Theatre to the airwaves, and on October 30,1938—forty years after the publication of H. G. Wells’s slim novel of cataclysm—they made history with a daring adaptation of The War of the Worlds.
Welles directed the broadcast, Houseman was the producer, and Howard Koch wrote the screenplay. To make Wells’s text more relevant to American listeners, Koch switched the setting of the interplanetary battle from London to rural New Jersey (the landing site was the sleepy hamlet of Grover’s Mill), and from there the Martians went on to attack New York City. Mercury Theatre of the Air’s The War of the Worlds aired during the golden age of radio, the era of Roosevelt’s “fireside chats,” when the radio was the American public’s most intimate source of news. Contemporary coverage included the threat of Nazi expansionism throughout Europe, the Hindenburg disaster, and terrifying accounts of British schoolchildren donning gas masks in war drills. Such news reports haunted the minds of Americans, and Welles and his colleagues deliberately studied them, distilling a formula for terror.
In 1938, October 30 fell on a Sunday, when the majority of American radio listeners were tuned in to The Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy Show. It was this show’s custom to take a musical break after twelve minutes of ventriloquism, during which time listeners routinely surfed the radio waves looking for something more lively. Welles’s broadcast banked on this likelihood. Although the introduction to the hour clearly announced a production of H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds, by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre, and it was repeated three times during the broadcast that it was an adaptation of the novel, that information was lost on frightened listeners who in their panic missed the information.
Welles’s The War of the Worlds began innocently enough with a government weather report, followed by a shift to the Park Plaza Hotel in New York City, where listeners heard the Ramon Raquello Orchestra. After thirty seconds of music, an announcer broke in with the familiar phrase: “Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt this broadcast.” The first news flash detailed mysterious explosions on the surface of Mars, theorized to be meteorites, then the “regularly scheduled program” picked up and Raquello’s orchestra continued mid-bar.
Welles played several roles, among them Professor Richard Pier-son, the “famous Princeton astronomer,” and on-the-scene reporter Carl Phillips. The Phillips monologue clinched it for listeners. While narrating his observations of the landed aircraft and its emerging, tentacled pilot, Philips shakily uttered, “It’s indescribable” and “I can’t find words,” adding a chilling dimension of realism. His report was suddenly cut off after he screamed, “There’s a jet of flame! It’s coming this way!” A number of other actors participated in the broadcast as townspeople describing the carnage, scientists making astronomical observations, military men discussing matters of strategy, and the Secretary of the Interior.
Not long into the broadcast, listeners started calling their local police stations seeking advice, and the nation’s switchboards soon were jammed. Many hysterical people actually claimed to have seen Martians. One woman in Grover’s Mill called the police department, screaming, “You can’t imagine the horror of it! It’s hell!” Despite Mercury Theatre’s own announcements and numerous press releases by the Associated Press during the broadcast, as well as widespread transmissions from police dispatchers identifying the program as fiction, the panic reached epidemic proportions. People crowded the streets of New York, churches overflowed, and highways were clogged with terrified motorists trying to escape the attack.
The following day, the New York Times headline read: “Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact,” with the subtitle “Many Flee Homes to Escape ‘Gas Raid From Mars’—Phone Calls Swamp Police at Broadcast of Wells Fantasy.” Welles claimed to have had no knowledge of the panic caused by the broadcast, although later reports describe him rushing to finish the show while policemen beat on the door of his studio. CBS executive Taylor Davidson demanded he break into the program to calm the hordes of terrified listeners. Welles’s reputed response was, “They’re scared? Good! They’re supposed to be scared!” But Welles and Houseman were also reported to be “bewildered, frightened, and genuinely remorseful,” and Welles’s public apology was enough to placate the enraged masses: “It was our thought that perhaps people might be bored or annoyed at hearing a tale so improbable.” Three years later, at age twenty-six, Welles would write, produce, and direct Citizen Kane (1941), called by many critics the greatest film of the twentieth century.
The broadcast of The War of the Worlds sparked an intense censorship debate. A general feeling that “something should be done” caused the Federal Communications Commission to open an investigation. Eventually, a sentiment emerged that the legal system’s provisions on behalf of the public interest should be used to impose restrictions on future radio programs. This idea was widely opposed by most on the Commission; one member, T. A. M. Craven, stated that it would make no attempt at “censoring what shall or shall not be said over the radio.”
Since 1938 several attempts have been made to recapture the excitement of the original broadcast. In 1975 The Night That Panicked America, a TV movie dramatizing the story of Welles’s broadcast, was nominated for several Emmys. In 1988 National Public Radio staged a fiftieth anniversary production of The War of the Worlds, which tried to blur the line between fiction and their familiar method of reporting news. Most startling was a February 12, 1949, radio broadcast in Quito, Ecuador, that tried to mimic Welles’s prank but ended by causing disaster. Many listeners ran to the mountains to hide from the invaders, while thousands panicked in the streets. When word came that the broadcast was a hoax, rioters stormed the radio station and burned it to the ground, killing twenty people.
Bibliography
Other Works by H. G. Wells
The Time Machine (1895)
The Wonderful Visit (1895)
The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896)
The Invisible Man (1897)
Tales of Space and Time (1899)
When the Sleeper Wakes (1899)
Love and Mr. Lewisham (1900)
The First Men in the Moon (1901)
Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought (1902)
The Food of the Gods (1904)
Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul (1905)
A Modern Utopia (1905)
New Worlds for Old (1908)
The War in the Air (1908)
Ann Veronica (1909)
Tono-Bungay (1909)
The History of Mr. Polly (1910)
The New Machiavelli (1911)
Marriage (1912)
Mr. Britling Sees It Through (1916)
The Outline of History (1920, with several subsequent revised editions)
Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island (1928)
The Science of Life (1929—1930)
The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1931)
The Bulpington of Blup (1932)
Experiment in Autobiography: Discoveries and Conclusions of a Very Ordinary Brain (Since 1866) (1934)
Mind at the End of Its Tether (1945)
Other Editions of The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds: A Critical Text of the 1898 London First Edition, with an Introduction, Illustrations, and Appendices. Edited by Leon Stover. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland, 2001.
Wells, H. G. The Complete Science Fiction Treasury of H. G. Wells. With a preface by the author. Originally published as Seven Famous Novels, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1934. Reprint: New York: Avenel Books, 1978.
Biographies
Coren, Michael. The Invisible Man: The Life and Liberties of H. G. Wells. New York: Atheneum, 1993.
Dickson, Lovat. H. G. Wells: His Turbulent Life and Times. London: Macmillan, 1969.
Foot, Michael. The History of Mr. Wells. London: Doubleday, 1995.
Mackenzie, Norman, and Jeanne Mackenzie. H. G. Wells: A Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973.
West, Anthony. H. G. Wells: Aspects of a Life. New York: Random House, 1984.
Criticism
Borges, Jorge Luis. “The First Wells.” In Borges, a Reader: A Selection from the Writings of Jorge Luis Borges, edited by Emir Rodriguez Monegal and Alastair Reid. New York: Dutton, 1981.
Hillegas, Mark R. The Future as Nightmare: H. G. Wells and the Antiutopians. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967.
Scheick, William J., ed. The Critical Response to H. G. Wells. West-port, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995.
Suvin, Darko, and Robert M. Philmus, eds. H. G. Wells and Modern Science Fiction. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1977.
a
Groups of microscopic organisms.
b
Probably a reference to Percival Lowell (1855-1916), an American astronomer who suggested that Mars was inhabited.
c
Process continuing over ages.
d
Small primates living chiefly in Madagascar.
e
Aboriginal inhabitants of Tasmania—as island off the Australian coast discovered in 1642 by the Dutch navigator Abel Janszoon Tasman (1603?—1659?)—that became extinct after centuries of war against European colonists.
f
Giovanni Schiaparelli (1835-1910), an Italian astronomer, discovered lines on the surface of Mars, the planet named for the mythical god of war.
g
Alignment of Mars, Earth, and the sun.
h
Astronomical observatory on Mount Hamilton, in California.
i
Device able to translate light into an array of its component parts.
j
Surrey towns near Woking, southeast of London.
k
Directly above the observer.
l
London suburb.
m
Trains being switched to different tracks.
n
City southwest of London.
o
Wells mixes fictional characters (such as Albin) with real people: William Frederick Denning ( 1848-1931 ) was an English expert on meteorites.
p
A common is public land; Horsell, a village, is the site of sand pits that Wells transforms into impact points.
q
Level, barren land not used for farming.
r
Flowering shrub.
s
Surrey village between London and Woking.
t
Serving man in a public house or saloon.
u
Person hired for a specific task.
v
Six years earlier, in 1900.
w
Harbor buoy with a gas-fired light to mark channels.
x
Coating that forms on metals heated to high temperatures.
y
Place adjacent to Woking.
z
Great Britain: England, Scotland, and Wales.
aa
Flies and basketchaises are types of horse-drawn coaches; the town of Chobham is just north of Woking.
ab
An invented name.
ac
One who has inherited or acquired a landed estate; Lord Hilton is imaginary.
ad
Fence.
ae
Major London train station.
af
In Greek mythology, a snake-haired monster whose gaze turns people to stone.
ag
Spiny, flowering shrub.
ah
Set of three.
ai
Grating sound, here of carriage wheels in sand and gravel.
aj
Village some 3 miles from Horsell Common.
ak
Appearing.
al
Residences named for the Oriental Institute in Woking.
am
Long, hooded garment.
an
Gas found in air.
ao
Silverware, dishes, glasses.
ap
False report.
aq
Encroaching.
ar
Cavalry troops.
as
Machine gun named for its inventor, Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (1840-1916).
at
The regiment is named for the 7th earl of Cardigan, James Thomas Brudenell (1797—1868),a Crimean War hero; Aldershot, a small town southwest of Woking and London, is the site of a military base.
au
Troops specialized in creating fortifications.
av
In the Bible, Jesus Christ tells His disciples He will transform them from fishermen into fishers of men.
aw
The Oriental Institute at Woking; it also includes a mosque.
ax
Silverware and other silver items.
ay
the rear.
az
Moving swiftly.
ba
Luck.
bb
A Surrey village.
bc
An invention, though at the time there was an asylum and a prison for women in Woking.
bd
Jointed.
be
Two poles that extend forward from the carriage and between which a horse is hitched.
bf
Total.
bg
Public house or saloon.
bh
Misty clouds driven by wind.
bi
District in Staffordshire, center of the china and earthenware industry in England.
bj
Wooden ship sheathed in iron plate.
bk
Part of the team, including wagons and horses, that hauls cannon and ammunition into position.
bl
Prepared for action.
bm
Those who remove the gun from its transport and prepare it for firing.
bn
A horse’s front leg and shoulder.
bo
Hooded.
bp
Giant.
bq
English Channel seaport south of London.
br
Town 14 miles southwest of London.
bs
Surveyor’s device for measuring horizontal and vertical angles.
bt
Device for telegraphing that uses the sun’s rays reflected off a mirror.
bu
Aluminum, a “new” metal, not commercially produced until 1894.
bv
The weight of the projectile fired by these guns.
bw
Horse-drawn bus.
bx
Religious.
; by
Valuable.
bz
Shepperton is on the Surrey side, where the Martian invasion causes panic; on the other side, toward London, all is still calm.
ca
The Martians destroy the eighteenth-century tower, which is replaced by a spire—either a sign of reconstruction or a new kind of religion.
cb
Any outbuilding.
cc
Liquor sales on Sunday are illegal.
cd
Willow trees cut back to the trunk.
ce
Large traveling bag.
cf
Forests.
cg
Merrow and Banstead are villages; Epson Downs is a racetrack adjacent to the town of Epsom.
ch
Walton-on-Thames, a Surrey town west of London.
ci
Then a county north of Surrey; since 1965, part of Greater London.
cj
Clergyman in charge of a parish.
ck
In the Bible, sinful cities destroyed by God (Genesis 18-19).
cl
Reference to the Bible, Revelation 19:3.
cm
Sunbury-on-Thames, a Surrey town southwest of London.
cn
Large beetle.
co
Tutor who prepares students for specific examinations.
cp
Located on the Thames, about 30 miles west of London, Windsor is also the seat of Windsor Castle, principle residence of England’s sovereign.
cq
London Foundling Hospital, established in 1739 by Royal Charter.
cr
Weekly sports newspaper.
cs
Their deficiencies should be pointed out.
ct
Kingston upon Thames, now a borough of Greater London.
cu
One-horse carriages.
cv
Town with open spaces used for recreation.
cw
Woolwich, then a southeast London borough and site of the Royal Arsenal, today is part of the borough of Greenwich; Chatham is a port city, southeast of London.