A 17-page draft script for The War of the Worlds radio broadcast is on the auction block this month.
Bidding at Nate D. Sanders Auctions begins at $18,000 for the draft script titled An Attack by the Men of Mars.
The script is typewritten on cream paper with numerous misspellings, corrections and incomplete sentences with one staple at top left and an extra page inserted as 12-A, according to the auction house. One page is detached.
The War of the Worlds broadcast, which caused a panic because of its use of realistic news bulletins, was written by Howard Koch and based on the classic sci-fi story by H.G. Wells. It was performed on the Columbia Broadcasting System by Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre On the Air on October 30, 1938.
From the lone image provided by the Los Angeles-based auction house, it is obvious that Welles’ introduction and the announcer’s remarks on the undated draft are similar, though not identical, to the transcript of the actual CBS broadcast.
The auction concludes on September 28 at 5 p.m., Pacific Time.
The draft script was acquired from the estate of radio actor James E. Jewell.
Jewell produced, directed and occasionally wrote early episodes of The Green Hornet and The Lone Ranger. He has been credited for selecting The William Tell Overture as The Lone Ranger theme and introducing Tonto’s greeting “Ke-mo sah-bee,” which was derived from the name of a camp owned by Jewell’s father-in-law.
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