The Martians Never Landed In Boston!

[Joseph_Gallant]

This coming Wednesday (October 30th) will mark the 75th anniversary of the most famous single dramatic program in the history of American radio: The Orson Welles "Mercury Theatre" (so named because Welles and fellow actors from the Mercury Theatre was the cast, not because Mercury automobiles sponsored it; in fact, the show at the time was "sustaining", having no network commercials) adaptation of H.G. Wells' "The War Of The Worlds".

As you know, the first 40 or so minutes of the program dramatized the invasion in the form of radio news coverage, and as a result, millions panicked or were confused; but amazingly, no one seems to have died as a result of the hysteria.

But one major city didn't get "invaded" by Welles' "Martians": My hometown of Boston.

According to the radio page of the October 30th, 1938 Boston Sunday Globe, the old WEEI-590, recently purchased by CBS (it had previously been an affiliate of NBC Red) didn't carry "Mercury", but instead, carried a local public-affairs forum called "The New England Town Meeting" from Boston's Faneuil Hall.

The paper noted that the subject that Sunday night was whether an amendment to the Massachusetts State Constitution be enacted changing the legislature to "biennial" sessions and budgets (meaning the Legislature would meet only every other year and pass two-year state budgets).

The reason WEEI probably pre-empted the network for this local public-affairs show, and the reason "Mercury" had no sponsors was simple: Look at the listing for NBC Red (then on WNAC-1230) at 8. NBC Red's 8 P.M. program was the Edger Bergen and Charlie McCarthy show, then one of the most popular shows on network radio, and along with "The Jack Benny Program" at 7 eastern, was an anchor of NBC Red's Sunday-night lineup, in what in today's terms might be called "Must-Hear Radio".

NBC Red was so dominant on Sunday that CBS probably ran "Mercury" in that slot as a "throwaway": A show with limited appeal that probably wouldn't be sold to a sponsor anyway.

But guess what?? beginning the next week (November 7th), according to that day's Globe, WEEI began carrying "Mercury". And a few months later, the show gained a sponsor: Campbell's Soups.

Although WEEI didn't carry "War Of The Worlds", two other nearby CBS stations did: WPRO-630 in Providence (those in Boston and points south could hear "Mercury" there) and WORC-1280 (now at 1310) in Worcester (where listeners in what is now Metrowest and Central Massachusetts could tune-in).

And of course, there was the powerful night signal of CBS flagship station WABC-860 (now WCBS at 880), which could be easily picked-up at night in the Boston area.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

As for what was on the other networks at that hour:

In the Eastern and Central time zones, as noted above, NBC Red carried Edgar Bergen.

Mutual (using the radio pages of the October 30th, 1938 Boston Globe, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Washington Post (used to verify network status) carried a "serious" music program at 8 Eastern consisting of a Bach cantata conducted by Alfred Wallenstein and at 8:30, "Say It With Words", with C.E. Funk (of Funk and Wagnalls fame) and Allen Prescott. Both were likely sustaining as well.

It seems, based on the listings in the above papers, that NBC Blue had local programs from 8 to 8:30 Eastern time; Boston's then-NBC Blue station WBZ-990 (now at 1030) had a 15-minute program titled "Music Graphs" at 8, and 15-minuite political talk at 8:15 (mid-term elections were a little more than a week away).

From 8:30 to 9 P.M., NBC Blue (including WBZ) carried the "Library Of Congress Chamber Music Series", featuring the Coolidge Quartet. Guess what?? That program probably was also sustaining.

Although Los Angeles was three hours behind the East Coast, "Mercury", "Bergen" and the MBS tandem of "Bach Cantata" and "Say It With Words" aired live in Los Angeles on KNX, KFI, and KHJ, respectively from 5 to 6 P.M. Pacific. Most likely, they also aired live from 5 to 6 Pacific on other CBS, NBC-Red and Mutual affiliates on the West Coast as well.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Ironically, the first time I ever heard this "War of the Worlds" program was on its 25th Anniversary in 1963. I was driving from Louisville to a small town in south-central Kentucky that night and picked it up from some 50,000 watt station in the eastern part of the country (maybe Philadelphia, not sure). It had its "good parts" such as when the Martian "death ray" shoots into the crowd that includes an on-the-air reporter who is describing the scene and there is just enough dead air until you hear someone (supposedly back at the main studios) start speaking again.

In the 1960's there was an entire book written on this 1938 broadcast. It included the program script and also geographically broke down which parts of the country became more effected in terms of people believing the broadcast was a true account. I do recall that in this book, the eastern section of the U.S. was said not to have been as highly effected due to the Boston affiliate not carrying the show that night.

 

[TheBigA]

To me, the funny part of the script was reference to the town of Grover's Mill NJ. You know what's there? RCA Labs, now known as the Sarnoff Research Center...originated by David Sarnoff of the competing NBC Network. I'm sure he was not amused.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

To me, the funny part of the script was reference to the town of Grover's Mill NJ. You know what's there? RCA Labs, now known as the Sarnoff Research Center...originated by David Sarnoff of the competing NBC Network. I'm sure he was not amused.

But if that was the case, wouldn't the Martians have destroyed the RCA Building instead of aiming their poisonous smoke at the CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) Building at 485 Madison Avenue (referred to in the 1938 broadcast as "Broadcasting Building")???



By the way, the RCA Building apparently was the target of the Martians' poison black smoke in a 1988 National Public Radio remake of "War Of The Worlds" that I believe was produced by Otherworld Productions and Boston public radio station WGBH-89.7. In the remake, veteran talk-show host Steve Allen, playing himself, was broadcasting live "from an observation deck on top of Rockefeller Center" (the tallest building in the Center, by far, was/is the RCA/GE Building) when the Martians invaded Manhattan.

 

[TheBigA]

But if that was the case, wouldn't the Martians have destroyed the RCA Building instead of aiming their poisonous smoke at the CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) Building at 485 Madison Avenue (referred to in the 1938 broadcast as "Broadcasting Building")???

Not necessarily...the Mercury Theater crew was probably angrier at their employers than the competition.

The famous line was that "There's definitely something going on down in Grover's Mill NJ." And there was! The invention of color TV and many other scientific advancements took place at RCA Labs. Many of those things marked the end of the Golden Age of radio as they knew it.

 

[landtuna]

The link to this thread describes the show as being a hoax but it wasn't intended that way and, indeed, there were several breaks in the presentation that told the audience it was entertainment and not an actual news program. Of course, some people missed those and others probably it was a plot of the "Martians". Funny....in retrospect but it could happen again. People are just gullible.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

(I)ndeed, there were several breaks in the presentation that told the audience it was entertainment and not an actual news program.

Not really.

Yes, at the beginning, it was noted that it was a drama, but once Orson Welles' introduction ended, the next advisory that it was a drama didn't come until the only commercial break in the program, which was the station break about 40 minutes in, after the "news broadcast" portion has ended.

In part, it was because the show was unsponsored. Had "Mercury Theatre" been sponsored that night, the advisories noting it was a drama would have preceded and followed commercial breaks. And if that was the case, I think there would have far, far less hysteria.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

In 1938 and also today, radio listeners hear what they want to hear and many times miss what has been said over the air. You wonder how many tuned to a different station to see if the news of a "Martian invasion" was being broadcast there as well?

Ironically, just over 25 years after this broadcast, I was in a similar circumstance when I came into my college dorm and a guy was racing around saying, "President Kennedy has been shot". In questionning what he said, I immediately went to my room and turned on the radio only to hear the news from Dallas on multiple stations.

 

[Bongwater]

My grandma told me that whole panic thing was hogwash. "That was a cockamamie story." she said "And we knew it. And everybody we knew were listening to something else." When she read about the panic in the newspaper she called her sister in New York. "She said 'If people were panicking in the streets out here, it could have fooled me. We didn't see that and certainly no Martians!'"

 

[TheBigA]

By the way PBS aired a Great Performances documentary on this anniversary last night. I'm sure it's available for streaming.

 

[installLSC]

My grandma told me that whole panic thing was hogwash. "That was a cockamamie story." she said "And we knew it. And everybody we knew were listening to something else." When she read about the panic in the newspaper she called her sister in New York. "She said 'If people were panicking in the streets out here, it could have fooled me. We didn't see that and certainly no Martians!'"

Media historians are agreeing more and more with your grandma. This story strongly refutes the "mass panic" stories.

 

[W2JUV_AL]

But the Martians did "land" in Western New York in 1968 when WKBW-1520 did their version of War of the Worlds in 1968. Remember that well.

 

[Mike_Rafone]

This story strongly refutes the "mass panic" stories.

Knowing Welles' and John Houseman's desire for publicity, and the fact the series needed some pumping up, don't doubt for a minute CBS was a willing participant in manufactured "news."