The Night that Panicked America - Part 7On the night before Halloween, 1938, Orson Welles and his colleagues at Mercury Theatre on the Air decided to play a prank on the American people. Over a six-day period,
they came up with a radio play (written by Paul Koch and edited by
Orson Welles) which ultimately panicked about one million people around
the country. With 21st-century eyes, one wonders how intelligent people could be so gullible. On the other hand, 1938-Americans were still living through the "Great Depression" and, nearly every day, were hearing reports about a madman named Hitler. At a time when Europe was on the brink of another catastrophic war, was it so far-fetched to believe that America could be invaded, too? (That the invaders were from Mars was apparently not enough of a stretch to convince people they were hearing a tall tale.) This clip is part seven of "The Night that Panicked America." See, also: The Night that Panicked America, Part 1 The Night that Panicked America, Part 2 The Night that Panicked America, Part 3 The Night that Panicked America, Part 4 The Night that Panicked America, Part 5 The Night that Panicked America, Part 6 The Night that Panicked America, Part 8 The Night that Panicked America, Part 9 AND ... War of the Worlds, the Original Radio Dramatization CreditsClip from "The Night that Panicked America," a made-for-television film (1975). Online, courtesy YouTube. Producers Vic Morrow Original Music
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