Oct 14, 2005 3 min read

FLATWOODS – Flatwoods Productions will present the radio play “War of the Worlds” by H. G. Wells today through Sunday at the Curfew Grange, located on Route 201 South and Buena Vista Road, Flatwoods (across from the cemetery). Curtain will be 8 p.m. today and Saturday with a matinee on Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are available for adults and children ages 12 and under.

In 1938, 12 men were responsible for the radio broadcast that panicked America. At Flatwoods, the show has been updated to include several women as radio broadcasters.

Sarah Tajc of Uniontown will play the role of the scientist, Doctor Pierson. Tajc has been active with the theater for more a year now and has appeared in most of the shows.

From the Masontown area will be Elaine Koast and Wanda Wokulich. Koast is a newcomer and Wokulich has been involved for more than a year. One of Wokulich’s favorite roles is that of one of the Brewster sisters in “Arsenic and Old Lace.”

From Brownsville, Ernest W. Watson and D. J. May both will help to tell the story of the alien attack.

And from the Dawson/Vanderbilt area, will be Scott Watson and Bobby Mitchell, both of whom have a long list of show credits to their names.

The original novel was written in 1897 and the 1938 broadcast by Orson Welles should have been a warning to other radio stations that a panic could easily be caused. However, on Nov. 12, 1944, an adaptation was broadcast in Santiago, Chile, with the same result – widespread panic. So surely it would never be repeated.

However, on Oct. 31, 1968, radio station WKBW in Buffalo, N.Y., broadcast its own version of “The War of the Worlds.” Not wanting the studio burned to the ground, it ran announcements every hour on the hour for 21 days before the broadcast.

So that night, on the 13th plus one day anniversary of the original broadcast the studio put on its own version of the play. Being 1968 the music was not “La Cumparisita” by Ramon Raquello but rather “Hey Jude” by the Beatles.

Within a short time, the station was flooded with calls from people believing it was all real. Again, the show worked its way into the imaginations of the listening audience.

George Pal’s 1953 production of the film “The War of the Worlds” is probably the best-known version of the book. It did earn an Oscar for its special effects. It is available on VHS and DVD and remains a significant take on Wells’ original whether as a classic.

During the 1988-1990 Fox television season, there was a series entitled “The War of the Worlds.” It deviated from the original in many ways and had the original Martians hibernating in nuclear waste, which not only preserved them but made them resistant to the original germs that stopped the first attack. It lasted for 44 episodes.

“The Night America Trembled” was an original teleplay that dramatized the events of Oct. 30, 1938. It was shown on Sept. 9, 1957. The most famous retelling was called “The Night That Panicked America.” It included events at the Mercury Theater and the perspective of the terrified listeners. It was originally aired on ABC and although remembered by many it is still unavailable in any medium.

The book also inspired the 1962 Topps bubblegum cards “Mars Attacks,” which later (1996) was the inspiration for Tim Burton’s “Mars Attacks!” Another creative adaptation that included the 1938 radio broadcast was the 1984 film “Buckaroo BanzaiAcross the Eighth Dimension.” There are countless Web sites, but one of the best is www.waroftheworldsonline.com. Call 724-785-6896.