On this day #1
On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles went on the radio with a play based on H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, and some listeners believed every word. For part of the audience across the United States, the panic was real. This picture shows Orson Welles a year earlier, in 1937, looking calm enough that you'd never guess he could scare anybody.
Back then the radio sat in the living room like one of the family. People trusted it the way you trust a neighbor over the fence, and that's why this story has lasted. A good storyteller can make a whole kitchen go quiet. Sometimes folks forget to ask whether what they're hearing is only a story.
The lesson still fits in an apron pocket. When something sounds alarming, take a breath and check with one more person before you believe it. With Halloween tomorrow, a little spooky fun is welcome. Just keep the spooks on the porch and the good sense in the house.
Photo: Carl Van Vechten, 1937. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain. Via Library of Congress.
Carl Van Vechten, 1937 · Wikimedia Commons, Public domain, via Library of Congress · https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orson_Welles_1937.jpg
Sources:
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orson_Welles_1937.jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Welles
