War of the Worlds find

[coolcatdaddy]

I'll toot my own horn here a bit to let you know about a find I made recently - an original master lacquer set of the Mercury Theatre broadcast of "War of the Worlds".

The find is significant because, in the past, we only knew of two sets of master lacquers being made of the Mercury shows - one on 16" discs for CBS and another set made by Harry Smith Recording on 78 rpm lacquers for Orson Welles's personal collection.

This lacquer set originally came from Paul Stewart, an actor with the Mercury who was also the Associate Producer of the series. It would appear that Stewart had sets made for the Mercury itself or his own collection. However, no other discs of Mercury shows have turned up originating with Paul Stewart.

Information on the find, including material I dug up on surviving copies of the "War of the Worlds" broadcast, and a transfer of the set is in this post on my blog. The set, by the way, include some snippets of dialogue and other material missing from the commonly circulating version of the program.

http://randsesotericotr.podbean.com/201 ... cquer-set/

[Marr&Colton]

It's interesting that in noting the 75th anniversary of this broadcast, a recent radio report delved into the fact that over the
years, the legend of its impact has been greatly exaggerated. From surviving industry personnel we learn that yes, there was a furor over the original broadcast back in 1938, but it was nowhere on the scale that it has been alleged all these decades.

As far as classic radio, I'd rather listen to a good big band show or a Jack Benny show of that era.