Victory Gardens Biograph Theater
2433 N Lincoln Ave
773.871.3000
This event has passed.
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Martian Invasion
- When
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Sunday Oct 26, 2008 (7:30pm)
Monday Oct 27, 2008 (7:30pm)
- Where
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- Price
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$30
- Links
When Orson Welles' radio drama War of the Worlds first aired on October 30, 1938, some listeners — despite an intermission notice that the broadcast was a fictional special — mistook the faux newscast of a live Martian invasion for the real deal. Weirder still, later restagings of the much-maligned broadcast (the FCC dubbed Welles a "radio terrorist") inspired similar screaming-in-the-street terror. In a rare live appearance, the ever-awesome Radiolab "deconstructs" the original broadcast and its historical context, shares fascinating findings from a postbroadcast survey, explores why listeners could and could not distinguish fiction from fact, and investigates mass media's ability to incite mass hysteria.
