Mercury Theatre on the Air: The War of the Worlds - 75 Years Ago Tonight!

Perhaps the most famous Halloween radio broadcast of all time, The War of the Worlds. The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds.


The first two thirds of the 60-minute broadcast were presented as a series of simulated "news bulletins", which suggested to many listeners that an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress. Compounding the issue was the fact that the Mercury Theatre on the Air was a "sustaining show" (it ran without commercial breaks), adding to the program's realism. Although there were sensationalist accounts in the press about a supposed panic in response to the broadcast, the precise extent of listener response has been debated.


In the days following the adaptation, however, there was widespread outrage and panic by certain listeners who believed the events described in the program were real. The program's news-bulletin format was decried as cruelly deceptive by some newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the perpetrators of the broadcast. The episode secured Welles's fame. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Click PLAY below to listen to the original 1938 broadcast.



BONUS: This is a rare meeting between the author of The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells, and the brilliant Orson Welles who adapted his story to the radio. Enjoy!





Orson Welles apologizes for the The War of the Worlds broadcast (October 31 1938)



More info regarding the 75th Anniversary - http://mashable.com/2013/10/30/orson-welles-war-of-the-worlds/

And an interesting article disputing the validity of the original reports of panic that fateful night - http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/history/2013/10/orson_welles_war_of_the_worlds_panic_myth_the_infamous_radio_broadcast_did.2.html

This brand new 'War of the Worlds' documentary, 'War of the Welles' goes behind the scenes of the 1938 radio classic - http://www.scpr.org/programs/offramp/2013/10/25/34299/new-war-of-the-worlds-documentary-peeks-behind-the/

RECENT WORK

A few of the logos I've recently had the pleasure to work on.

Blog Background

I'm having fun spending my off hours exploring new design ideas for this blog. one of the things I really wanted to look into was a pattern for the background. Recently, while perusing through some old photographs I came across one that really made me do a double take. This photo of my beautiful mother holding a very young newborn me was the inspiration for my new blog background. (Click the photo to zoom in) The divider screen in the background of the photo particularly. Once I'd noticed that, I knew it was exactly what I was looking for, AND has some personal significance because it was quite possibly the very first graphic pattern I'd ever laid my tiny little peepers on.

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Cover Photo Update

Cover photo update for my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JeffAndrewsDesign
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Welcome back to AIB!

This is a bit of a homecoming for me.

I'd strayed away from this blog to explore new blog opportunities and choices out there, I'd started a wonderful new blog over on Posterous, but they've since closed up shop. Oops! I currently have a very stuffy "work" blog on Tumblr, http://jeffandrewsdesign.tumblr.com/, but because it's something that clients or potential clients have access to, I find it hard to feel comfortable there. Like anyone else, I tend to feel a bit more comfortable being myself, letting loose a bit and posting about stuff that generally interests me, not just strictly design or business related.

I've explored other blog sites and formats, but inevitably, I found my way back to here, where it all began. AIB has a new look, transitory I'm sure as it really wasn't my idea to change the old one, but blogger insisted I update, so here we are.

I'm going to provide an update to my last blog post here from 2009, "My Brush with a Super Hero." I did indeed receive the awesome photo from Doug over at the Burt Ward Live site, sadly tho it appears that the site is now offline. Burt if you're out there and happen to read this, please bring the site back for the legions of your fans who are still hoping for a glimpse behind the mask.

Here is the photo, it is exactly like the one that was lost. Burt was even cool enough to sign it exactly like he did back in the 70's for me. it now hangs in my office where I admire it every day.

Thank you Burt, and thank you Doug. You've made me a very happy Bat-Fan.