Long before Donald Trump used the term “fake news” to complain about coverage he didn’t like, Orson Welles mastered the art of real fake news.
The 1938 radio adaptation that Welles made of war of the worldsof H.G. Wells is the central theme of the book Dead Air: The Night That Orson Welles Terrified Americaof William Elliott Hazelgrove. It is an entertaining history of radio drama, with a good amount of fascinating details about its production and historical context. But it fails to fully explore the legendary reports of mass hysteria among listeners who believed they were hearing a real Martian invasion.
In suitably cinematic detail, Hazelgrove chronicles the rise of Welles and his manic work style, even detailing a hilarious account of an altercation between him and Ernest Hemingway which ended with the two toasting with whiskey.
The book highlights what he did to the production of Orson Welles particularly powerful, airing at a time when millions of people remained unemployed due to the “Great Depression” and the United States was strained by the threat of Nazi Germany. Details how Welles took advantage of those fears, including using an actor who sounded like Franklin D. Roosevelt for a role in its broadcast.
“A sense of suppressed panic was in the air and people could almost smell the fear,” he writes. “Orson Welles I would open that bottle and let the fear run rampant.”
The book’s biggest flaw is its exploration of Hazelgrove about how rampant that fear was. Hazelgrove he too easily dismisses the modern reassessment that reports of widespread panic were exaggerated, and shows little skepticism about journalistic accounts at the time that were based largely on anecdotal reports.
Hazelgrove He also makes an unconvincing argument that there were deaths that can be attributed to panic over transmission. He even goes out of his way to speculate that a car accident reported the night of the broadcast could have been related without any evidence to support it.
There is no doubt that the drama of Welles had a major impact on pop culture, and war of the worlds will have a lasting legacy. The book of Hazelgrove misses the opportunity to fully review reports of the panic it caused.
Source: AP.
(Photos: Rowman & Littlefield via AP; archivo A.M.P.A.S.)
