Is it Nazi soldiers getting out of space ships? Or is it green men with tentacles from Mars? What inspired two blockbuster movies actually started with a radio broadcast, and the man behind it went on to be proclaimed as the youngest genius that the world had ever seen, turning American adults into paranoid children and proving, just as P.T. Barnum would declare, that there is a sucker born every minute.
This Studio One episode, made a few years after the first movie was made, documents the goings on of that day, building up from the preparation of the broadcast to the chaos that ensues because of how convincing it was. Even though New Jersey state police keep insisting to callers that it's just a radio play. Chaos ensues everywhere.
Some young hopefuls who later became movie and T.V. stars (including one future legend) are quite recognizable, although some of their parts are quite tiny. Radio history is rarely explored, but this episode is a nice view of one of the truly classic moments that would be a boy who cried wolf, just on the cusp of a real world war.
This Studio One episode, made a few years after the first movie was made, documents the goings on of that day, building up from the preparation of the broadcast to the chaos that ensues because of how convincing it was. Even though New Jersey state police keep insisting to callers that it's just a radio play. Chaos ensues everywhere.
Some young hopefuls who later became movie and T.V. stars (including one future legend) are quite recognizable, although some of their parts are quite tiny. Radio history is rarely explored, but this episode is a nice view of one of the truly classic moments that would be a boy who cried wolf, just on the cusp of a real world war.