War of the Worlds Activity
Please open the red link before we listen to the audio.
War of the Worlds Articles and Script.
Your task is to respond to the broadcast in a letter to the editor about what you have heard on the radio. In your letter to the editor you will explain your position on the issue regarding the broadcast.
WAIT TO RESPOND. We will be reading an article about how people responded, so DON'T post anything until Friday. You will need this background information to answer the questions.
Your letter will need to take the position of a person that.......
- believed the broadcast and thought the earth was being invaded by the martians.
- loved it as entertainment, and doesn't understand how people could have believed that this was real!
Your post - is due on Friday by 3:30 pm. It must be in proper letter to the editor format.
Here is an example of what I am looking for.
Letter to the editor sample.
https://docs.google.com/a/usd460.org/document/d/1GbLEMVopx_z8hvmH-zxEsgeQAn3t0kSO7qzXtTXXz8o/edit
https://docs.google.com/a/usd460.org/document/d/1GbLEMVopx_z8hvmH-zxEsgeQAn3t0kSO7qzXtTXXz8o/edit
Happy writing!
Editor:
ReplyDeleteI found your broadcast on October 30, 1938 to be very well told and believable as did many people. In fact so many people thought that it was real that those people did incredibly stupid things. I find this fact to be insanely funny! Where were the people when you said "The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air in "The War of the Worlds" by H.G Wells."? I mean you said something about reading this out over the air at the least three times. Did they just choose to not listen to this part? I understand that maybe they did not hear it at the beginning but in the middle where you said "You are listening to a CBS presentation of Orson Welles and the Mercury THeatre on the Air in an original dramatization of "The War of the Worlds" by H.G. Wells." again? People just need to try to use their common sense for a change and get over. Please do not stop whatever you guys are doing because I believe you guys are doing an amazing job with your air time.
Mikala
Dear Editor,
ReplyDeleteHow irresponsible of you! Airing that as purely entertainment on an entertainment network would be fine but CBS is a news station and people believe what they hear. Saying that the general of the military was sending troops causes it to seem real and therefore causes panic. Having the "scientist" speak of aliens and describing them makes people think it is real. People trust the titles of scientist and general so they believe what they say. If people missed the disclaimer then hysteria could overtake them and they could do irrational things.
Geidel
Dear Editor,
ReplyDeleteYour display with this story unorthodox and unnecessary. Upon hearing that aliens were invading we immediately went to my grandfathers old alien shelter that he built when the dementia took him. I never would have guessed we would have actually needed it. Sadly however old grandpappy forgot to add a radio so we were hiding in their terrified for two weeks! The shelter was built without any windows so we had no idea what the outside world looked like. When we heard the first pod had opened and was hostile we began to gather up all our food and were getting ready to move to the shelter and when we heard pods were landing everywhere we went straight out to the shelter. We eventually ran out of food and decided to risk it all and leave. When we ventured into town and found out everything was okay, we became so angry that we marched straight home and i started writing this angry letter! I lost my job because of this.
"Sincerely"
Jacob.
to the editor,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this broadcast greatly. I do not understand how people could get angry about this, it obviously wasn't real. Multiple times throughout the broadcast they stated that it was a dramatization of a book.I thought that the actors did a great job of making it sound real and building suspense. And i think they should do more broadcast like this because its more entertaining than soap operas and programs like that. Please don't stop doing broadcast like this just because some unintelligent morons thought they should kill themselves because of it.
-Wenger
Dear CBS,
ReplyDeleteI felt the blade of a knife against my forehead. Right as I was about to slash my forehead I heard the announcement on the radio saying that it was the Mercury Theatre on Air and not real martians invading, and I was in shock. How dare you corrupt all of our minds by this witchcraft. After your broadcast I went to my neighbors and most of them were scared just like me. Why would you even put something like this on the radio? Many families sit around and enjoy evening radio shows and this one probably scared many of America's children. What kind of sick joke is this? CBS should be shutdown for doing such a thing. Also I live in Grover's Mill and when I heard that a meteor had landed and that Dr. Pierson was investigating thats when I grabbed my knife and hoped for the best. I stood by my window and watched but nothing happened. I thought that the whole world had ended and I was the only one left, but as I mentioned earlier once I heard the announcement I dropped the knife, and stood there in shock. In conclusion I am in disbelief at CBS for even thinking of broadcasting this.
-Brady
Dear CBS,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed listening to War of the Worlds. It was pretty good entertainment and I want you to keep entertaining me. I wonder if you guys can play something better next year, but not to realistic because my neighborhood had a little problem with people going nuts. They either committed suicide or pulled out their guns. My next door neighbor came knocking on my door to tell me that that the world was coming to an end. I told him that it is not real because at the beginning you guys said that the following preview is not real. That calmed him down. When the show was over, I was glad that it was over because I don't have to deal with more crazy people. I even found someone in my cellar hiding from the non real aliens. I have to tell him that in the middle of the show that you guys said that the story is fake. When it was all over everyone in my neighborhood calmed down. It was a good show and I would like something better.
From,
Andrew
After finishing supper I settled into my plush couch cushion ready to listen to the evening radio as I usually do every evening around 8. As I turned on the radio and started moving the dial to get a clear station by some unusual luck the first clear voice I heard was by Orson Welles. As I began to listen, I noticed that this was a news station reporting at a place called Grover's Mill in New Jersey. My heart started to race as I heard the screams of people and the reporter becoming more and more nervous over the radio until it suddenly cut out. I surely thought something terrible was happening! When the reporter came back on and was describing the horrendous creature my lips slowly turned up into a grin as I began to realize he was speaking of aliens... A laugh escaped my throat and I knew this could only be a reenactment of the famous book I had just finished reading, War of the Worlds by H.G Wells. The speakers in the broadcast did an amazing job of entertaining and it was almost believable except for when Pierson (the scientist) started giving a dialogue about how he was the only human left until he met an artillerymen. He couldn't possibly be speaking through a microphone while traveling unless he was acting. I would definitely listen to them again. As I went to bed that night it was calm and peaceful. But by morning I could hear loud commotion going on outside.
ReplyDeleteI am writing this letter to you because I felt you did an amazing and believable job! I can't believe some people believed this!
A great fan,
Rachel
To the Editor:
ReplyDeleteI felt that you were completely within your means to run the show. Personally I enjoyed your broadcast, however, I know others didn't enjoy it. Unlike some of your other viewers, I was able to comprehend that it was fake. Throughout the broadcast on three occasions there was a disclaimer saying it was fake. I understand that some people didn't hear those disclaimers, but I assume they also have windows in their house don't they? It's called taking a look outside. If you don't see explosions or an alien death machine walking around then you should use your inferring skills to figure out the broadcast was fake. Sadly some people aren't gifted in that area. People should educate themselves so they don't kill themselves over a radio broadcast. Use common sense! Use common sense! Use common sense!!!
Martin
Wow! What a fantastic storyline! I loved this! It was great entertainment for my boyfriend and I last night. I was so happy because we were wanting something scary so we could cuddle. So thank you. On a serious note, I really believed the whole segment. I thought that how you opened it by interrupting a music performance was spot on.
ReplyDeleteI heard that some people were overreacting about this segment and some even committed suicide. I think that is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard and I think it was made very clear that it was a joke and only for entertainment. Especially the part when the announcer was talking to the stranger and “they were the only humans in the city”, I mean why would he just be walking around with a microphone? Anyway, thanks again!
-Lora
Dear Editor:
ReplyDeleteIt just goes to show how well-written your broadcasts are if people start to believe a harmless joke. It saddens me to hear how many complaints are sent your way considering how hard many of you at CBS worked to create such high-quality entertainment. I'll admit, Phillips's "live commentary" was pretty believable, but it was all in sport.
Anticipating the alarm that your radio show might cause, you notified listeners on three separate occasions the broadcast was purely for entertainment purposes and wasn't actually happening. I commend you for doing so. If it were me, I would not want to break the immersion of listeners to repeatedly announce to them that the current broadcast was fictional. Do horror books warn readers at the beginning of each chapter that none of the events happened? Why would they if it's something we already know upon picking up the book? It's not entirely you're fault for the uproar. Instead, I'd venture to say that if we used a little more common sense and viewed radio the same way we view novels whether or not the specific story is true, yours would have been more accepted. Sadly, it happened to be ahead of its time.
With any luck, the next time your segment is on air, listeners won't blindly accept it as fact.
Sincerely,
Malachi
Dear Editor:
ReplyDeleteI thought that the broadcast was really good. I don't get how people thought that it was real when you said that it was for entertainment purposes only three different times. In horror movies and books it would be pointless to watch if they said that it was fake over and over. Also, it didn't seem realistic that the announcer was carrying around a microphone at the end of the story when he was talking to the stranger about being the only human beings left on earth. I really enjoyed listening to it and I liked how you made it seem real when you had Phillip live commentary what was going on. Don't worry about the people who committed suicide because they are morons. Job well done and I hope you make more.
Sincerely,
Tyler
Sitting in my house listening to the radio and i was going through the channels and i heard about an alien attack. First i wasn't sure to believe it or not but as it went on i slowly started to believe. I yelled at my kids to come downstairs so i knew that they were safe. We then proceeded to the basement to take shelter, i wasn't sure were my wife was but i was sure hoping that she was safe. They said that it had a flame thrower so i knew that if it came to were me and my children were staying there was little to no chance in surviving. There were thoughts in my head about suicide but where could i do it, i didn't wanna commit suicide in front of my children or that would be so bad for them. Another factor that went through my head was, what would my children do after i killed myself. When they came on and started talking about make a life underground and living in the tunnels it made me think that they are taking this too far and slowly started to not believe in this myth. The people that made this are sick, they should of known that people were gonna freak out.
ReplyDelete-Trey
Dear Editor,
ReplyDeleteI think that the actors did a really good job of acting this out. I honestly didn't believe it, because at the beginning you guys even said that you were about to perform a show and you even told who it was by. I don't know how people were stupid enough to believe this and to try and commit suicide over this. If you were to look outside, you'd be able to see that it wasn't real and that obviously nothing was even going on. In my opinion, I thought it was a really good show. I think that you should do more!
-Kaylee
Dear Editor,
ReplyDeleteWhat were you thinking? Your broadcast was probably one of the worst decisions ever made. It was too risky to cheat the listeners by saying there are martians here. I've already heard of multiple suicides. I hope you realize that because of your funny joke, peoples lives were lost! That sounds a bit ridiculous to me, and if someone went to the extremes of killing themselves over your broadcast, you had to have done something very wrong!
-Meg