Wednesday, October 30, 2013

How To Scare People!

Tonight, I listened to the radio.

Nothing out the of ordinary, right?  But what would you say if I listened to the original recording of 'The War of the Worlds' by H.G Welles?  Yeah... got your attention, didn't I?

Well, I did.  And you know?  It was a little wonder people in half of America were scared to death of what he did.  He didn't introduce his radio show!  He just began reading the damned thing!

Talk about how to scare you audience!  But he was great at science fiction... and it was how to grab the public's attention which got me.  Welles' used a radio show to make his work come to life in such a way that it kept me glued to the stereo for the whole time.  It was amazing how I could visualise everything he and his crew of actors were doing - how devastating it was all coming across as.  It was absolutely heart-breaking to hear it all and yet, I didn't need to see any of it.  

This was the amazing part!  

So, instead of me blabbing away here talking about it, here's the link to youtube so you can listen to it:

The War of the Worlds broadcast 1938 

And just in case you wanted to know more, I thought to include the report about it all too.

PBS Remembers H.G Welles' Reading 'The War of the Worlds'

Until my next post, happy reading!

2 comments:

  1. I haven't actually listened to the radio broadcast of 'The War of the Worlds' by H.G Welles, but I've also heard that listeners were scared out of there wits listening to the radio broadcast too.

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  2. Yeah, they were. It was amazing how well-done it was! I've listened to radio shows before - when we had power shortages in the 1980's ABC brought them back to entertain the public at night - and this one was the best I've ever heard!

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