I can feel the icy grip of November creeping in. Yesterday the weather took a turn for the frigid. There was a howling wind, a driving rain and I had to scrape ice off of my windshield. Someone it seems forgot to give the weather the memo that it is still fall. Sigh. October can't be almost over. I won't stand for it. I may protest and consume pumpkin flavored products all the way through December just to show how serious I am. Already the stores are turning into winter wonderlands. There are an alarming number of Christmas trees set up, Halloween décor has been relegated to the bargain bin and I swear I heard someone whistling Jingle Bells. One holiday at a time people, and the best one first.
While I was watching my October themed shows I happened to glance at the TV guide and saw a gem that would not only make my October complete, but it would serve as a great thought too. Later this evening (October 29th) PBS will be showing a retrospective on the Orson Welles radio broadcast of War of the Worlds. Along with the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, that broadcast is one of my favorite stories. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the broadcast and they will be delving into how such a simple reading could produce such mass hysteria.
Ever since I learned about the broadcast in school, I have been hooked. Growing up in the burgeoning media age that we do, I just can't fathom how a reading could lead to such panic. Now a days one could just Google it or call one of the producers and have things sorted out in mere minutes. Or at least I thought so. The "Discovery" channel did a movie during Shark Week this year called Megalodon. It was filmed like a documentary and set out to prove that a giant prehistoric shark was still alive and swimming in the ocean today. It was a fake documentary and there is no current megalodon proof, but people still took the thing at face value. Now there was no widespread panic or mass exodus from beaches around the world, but it just goes to show, the public can still be fooled.
I think that is what I like about that original broadcast so much. It harkens back to when storytelling was really special and something to be savored. When people like Ichabod Crane could sit around a fire and get pulled in by a tall tale. All people had to do was look out their window and see that aliens were not in fact attacking the earth. But they didn't. They were so scared and so sure that what they were hearing was true that they immediately started taking measures to protect themselves. It is the best October prank ever. I wish that I could tell stories half as good.
I have had the opportunity to listen to the real broadcast, and though it is a bit hokey by today's standards of entertainment, it is easy to get sucked in. If you can suspend your disbelief and pretend you don't have internet access, a smart phone or a TV you can really get scared. What if the radio was all you had? What if you came home and heard some man telling you that Martians were attacking? What would you do? It really gets under your skin. Which as you know is one of my October favorites. Something simple, yet plausible. Something that could never really happen, or at least that is what we tell ourselves. But in the back of our mind, that quiet little voice whispers, yeah, but what if it did? Oooh, I just gave myself goosebumps.
The actual anniversary date of the broadcast isn't until tomorrow, the 30th, but I wanted to give you time to set your recorders for the PBS special. Or you can go online and listen to the broadcast yourself. Several enthusiasts will be replaying the recording over the airwaves. Satellite radio is even getting in on the gig. For more information on how you can get in the fun, check out the Welles website link http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=8216 At the very least, poke around the link and read some of the concerned citizen letters that people wrote and sent in after finding out they had been duped. It is some pretty serious (yet still funny) stuff. Ah hindsight.
Yes, October has many hidden gems. Spooks and specters. Jokes and pranks. Tricks and treats. It really is a marvelous month!
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