by Wich2 » Thu Apr 29, 2021 1:23 pm
Terry -
Balance in all things; as the old saying goes, "Almost nothing is ever as good, or as bad, as it seems."
No "denial" here. Just the simple knowledge that:
- Insider Bill Herz said later (to myself, and German Radio's Christian Blees) that the Company was not particularly alarmed during the Broadcast. That they noted nothing unusual when they went out into the street afterwards. And that the only inclination they got that something was really up, was when reporters were waiting for them at the Mercury Theatre when they got there for a rehearsal.
- Insider John Houseman said later that the exaggerated "hysteria" was generated by the Newspapers as their chance to, in his words, "piss on radio." (Which they'd grown to hate, for stealing their place as Public Arbiters - and their ad dollars.
More here:
https://slate.com/culture/2013/10/orson ... teria.html
Were there some spooked listeners, and some irate phone calls? Yes. Did some Powers-That-Be try later to glom onto this, in Media and Goverment, for their own ends? Yes. But the jampacked highways, and multiple injuries, deaths and suicides, that were a part of the pop-culture legend for years? NO.
As far as waiting for the judgement of history? Well, we are over three-quarters of a century on, now.
Best,
- Craig
P.S. - Contemporaneous response from a smart listener:
https://youtu.be/nWR44p4gW4k?t=128Terry -
Balance in all things; as the old saying goes, "Almost nothing is ever as good, or as bad, as it seems."
No "denial" here. Just the simple knowledge that:
- Insider Bill Herz said later (to myself, and German Radio's Christian Blees) that the Company was not particularly alarmed during the Broadcast. That they noted nothing unusual when they went out into the street afterwards. And that the only inclination they got that something was really up, was when reporters were waiting for them at the Mercury Theatre when they got there for a rehearsal.
- Insider John Houseman said later that the exaggerated "hysteria" was generated by the Newspapers as their chance to, in his words, "piss on radio." (Which they'd grown to hate, for stealing their place as Public Arbiters - and their ad dollars.
More here:
https://slate.com/culture/2013/10/orson-welles-war-of-the-worlds-panic-myth-the-infamous-radio-broadcast-did-not-cause-a-nationwide-hysteria.html
Were there some spooked listeners, and some irate phone calls? Yes. Did some Powers-That-Be try later to glom onto this, in Media and Goverment, for their own ends? Yes. But the jampacked highways, and multiple injuries, deaths and suicides, that were a part of the pop-culture legend for years? NO.
As far as waiting for the judgement of history? Well, we are over three-quarters of a century on, now.
Best,
- Craig
P.S. - Contemporaneous response from a smart listener:
https://youtu.be/nWR44p4gW4k?t=128