“Wait, what was wrong?” was probably bouncing around the head of Orson Welles nearly 78 years ago.

Wednesday is a great day to wonder. For instance, did Orson Welles invent the viral video (technically, viral broadcasting)?

The radio broadcast “War of the Worlds” (adapted from author H.G. Wells) caused an uproar with the American public on the evening of October 30, 1938 because of the realism conveyed through the audible airwaves. In 2016, the equivalent would be staging and enacting a fake global war on TV with vivid, realistic detail and unimaginable consequence and panic. The hysteria generated by the “War of the Worlds” broadcast is still widely viewed today with incomparable impact.

Question: Have you seen Orson Welles respond to journalists following “War of the Worlds”?

Jimmy’s Daily Planet has the scoop from that famous Sundae Sunday night broadcast.

Rosebud…

Actually, Rosebud has no relevance here. This blog post is about Orson Welles, so it felt right.

Reflecting on the power of mass communication, it makes one cogitate the possibility of a cinematic equivalence occurring in the modern era? With the instantaneous and cross-checking nature of social media and Google, could anything similar to the radio broadcast of “War of the Worlds” happen again? Even if unintentional?

Either way, as Frasier Crane would say, “I’m listening.”