The Martians are coming!

Or so they said on October 30, 1938.  Everyone knows the story of Orson Welles and his famous War of the Worlds broadcast.  We also know about our country of gullible bumpkins going into a tailspin panic over the faux news cast.  And yet, we might be a little off about how widespread the panic was.  I think by now most of us know that the legendary ‘nationwide panic’ was an overstated story that continued long after Welles and company used the exaggerations for publicity sake.  Nonetheless, I still hear it referenced enough that it’s worth a second look.  Donald McClarey has done the usual good work looking at the press conference after the broadcast that probably went farther in perpetuating the myth than anything Welles said during the broadcast.