The Night America Trembled
"The Night America Trembled" | |
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Westinghouse Studio One episode | |
Episode no. | Season 10 Episode 1 |
Directed by | Tom Donovan |
Written by | Nelson S. Bond |
Produced by | Gordon Duff |
Featured music | Hank Sylvern |
Original air date | September 9, 1957 |
Running time | 60 minutes |
"The Night America Trembled" is a television dramatization of the public reaction to the 1938 radio broadcast of "
Background
The film centers on the panic created when
After the 1938 broadcast, some people were critical of Orson Welles for making the broadcast so realistic that some people thought it reflected actual events, but Welles maintained that radio melodrama was supposed to be realistic, over-the-top. Welles said in a press conference the day following the broadcast that he anticipated it would generate reactions similar those when the radio series presented "Dracula".[3] He thought the 19th-century story was so old that he might have trouble keeping the audience interested, and never thought anyone would think there was an actual Martian invasion going on.[2]
Plot summary
"The Night America Trembled" intersperses portrayals of the in-studio radio cast doing the show with the panicked reactions of members of the listening public. A babysitter listens to the broadcast and places an emergency call to the baby's parents, who are dining at a country club. The New Jersey State Police are bombarded by telephone calls from a frightened citizenry. A young couple out on a date hears the program while parked in "Lover's Lane" and rush home, much to the amusement of the girl's parents, who had been listening to The Chase and Sanborn Hour on NBC starring Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, where there were no reports of Martians, and chuckled at the young couple's naiveté.
Cast
The Westinghouse show's cast featured Alexander Scourby and Ed Asner (credited as Edward Asner) as members of the radio studio cast, as well as Vincent Gardenia as a barroom patron engaging in conversations about Hitler. Warren Oates and Warren Beatty also appeared in early-career television roles as poker-playing college students. James Coburn (credited as Jim Coburn) portraying a young father, appeared in his television debut, and John Astin also appeared, uncredited, as a newspaper reporter.
- Edward R. Murrow as himself
- Alexander Scourby as Host
- Robert Blackburn as Director
- Casey Allen as 1st Announcer
- Norman Rose as 2nd Announcer
- Ray Boyle as 1st Actor
- Frank Marth as 2nd Actor
- Edward Asneras 3rd Actor
- Freda Holloway as Mary
- John Gibson as Mary's Father
- Clint Kimbrough as Bob
- Tom Clancy as Tom
- Vincent Gardenia as Dick
- Fred J. Scollay as Harry
- James (as Jim) Coburn as Sam
- Priscilla Gillette as Elaine
- Susan Hallaran as Millie
- Crahan Denton as Mac
- Al Markim as Brownie
- Frank Daly as Editor
- Roger Quinlan as Timid Man
- Larry Robinson as Dealer
- Warren Beatty as 1st Card Player
- Warren Oates as 2nd Card Player
- Fritz Weber as 3rd Card Player
- Rob Kilgallen as Student
- John Astin as Whitaker (uncredited)
None of the
A few decades later, a very similar story was encapsulated in a made-for-TV film called
References
- ^ "1938--Welles scares nation". This Day In History - October 30. History Channel.
- ^ a b c "The Infamous "War of the Worlds" Radio Broadcast Was a Magnificent Fluke". The Smithsonian Institution. May 6, 2015.
- ^ "George Orson Welles Interviewed By Journalists After The War Of The Worlds Broadcast". YouTube. October 31, 1938.
- ^ "War of the Worlds--Invasion: The Historical Perspective".
- ^ "Orson Welles, Appellant, v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., et al., Appellees, No. 17518" (PDF). United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, October 3, 1962. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2014.