UPDATE: Christie’s lists the winning bid at $15,000.
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Christie’s has a rare 1938 script for The War of the Worlds radio broadcast on the auction block this week.
The prestige auction house expects the vintage radio script to fetch between $15,000 and $25,000 when the last bid is accepted on Thursday, April 22.
Working from a script by Howard Koch and Anne Froelick, which was based on the H.G. Wells novel about a Martian invasion, Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre On the Air created a sci-fi classic for the Columbia Broadcasting System on October 30, 1938. With its realistic news bulletins, the Halloween Eve broadcast convinced some radio listeners than the Earth was being invaded.
The script belongs to a descendant of Hubert J. Bernhard, who was working at the time as a reporter for the Hearst-owned New York Journal American. After the radio broadcast, Bernhard visited CBS and casually asked the receptionist if she had a copy of the Mercury Theatre script. She pulled this copy from her desk and handed it to Bernhard.
The 49-page mimeograph typescript has marginal tears and separation to first and last pages with some marginal toning on early pages.
Bids for the online auction may be made at https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/fine-printed-manuscript-americana/one-most-famous-radio-broadcasts-all-time-50/116455
Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie’s has conducted the greatest and most celebrated auctions through the centuries providing a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful.
Christie’s offers around 350 auctions annually in over 80 categories,
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