2008-10-02 17:58:42 - Radio Documentary On Landmark Orson Welles "Martian Invasion" Features Rare Interviews With John Houseman and Howard Koch

October 30, 2008 marks the 70th anniversary of the landmark broadcast of "The War of the Worlds". The 1938 Orson Welles Mercury Theater radio play panicked listeners across the United States, many of whom thought it was a real Martian invasion. In honor of this, public radio stations nationwide will be airing "The Making of the War of the Worlds

Broadcast" on the anniversary date.

In the documentary, award-winning radio producer and voice actor Joe Bevilacqua looks at how the landmark broadcast came about and examines its impact on broadcast history. The half-hour program includes rare interviews with Mercury Theater producer John Houseman and writer Howard Koch, actor Arthur Anderson and the people of Grover's Mill, NJ who lived through the "Martian Invasion.'

In a review for The Public Radio Exchange, Sydney Lewis of Atlantic Public Media called "The Making of the War of the Worlds Broadcast" "engaging, informational, and sound rich."

Lewis wrote, "Though 20 years old, this program, like the original War of the Worlds, still rates a listen. Thankfully, the producer interviewed WOW producer John Housman not long before he died (on Halloween of 1988). The story of this legendary Orson Welles broadcast is for the most part allowed to unfold through descriptions by Housman, and writer Howard Koch, along with voices recorded at Grover's Mills 50th anniversary event. You can hear traces of amazement in the voices of people who heard that broadcast 70 years ago. Housman, reflecting 20 years ago on why the program still holds fascination, said: 'It's history. It's one of the great events of the new age of mass communications.' True still."

"The Making of the War of the Worlds Broadcast" airs on public radio stations nationwide on October 30, 2008. Check your local stations for air times.

Among the stations running the special are: WWUH Radio (West Hartford, CT); KRPS Public Radio (Pittsburg, KS); Yellowstone Public Radio; KEMC (Billings, MT), KBMC (Bozeman. MT), KYPR (Miles City, MT), and KPRQ (Sheridan, WY); KCAM (Glennallen, Alaska).

The show can also be heard online at The Public Radio Exchange: www.prx.org/pieces/28807 and at www.joebev.com.

Orson Welles seems to be haunted Joe Bevilacqua, who has played him in a n number of radio shows and was featured as Welles's character in last year's 'War of the Worlds" recreation at the Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville, NY. This year, Bevilacqua will perform in multiple supporting roles in Ray Faiola's recreation of the infamous broadcast before an audience at the Lafayette Theater in Suffern, NY on October 31.

Joe Bev, as he is also known, is busier than ever. He is writing, directing and starring in the murder mystery dinner, "The Case of the Murdering Microphone" for 90 Miles Off Broadway of New Paltz, being held at the Casa Mia Restaurant in Highland, November 7, 8, 9; editing and illustrating a book of cartoon scripts he co-wrote with Daws Butler, the voice of Yogi Bear, for a 2009 publication; hosting an open mic night the first Friday of each month, at 10 pm, at Aroma Thyme Bistro in Ellenville, NY, and writing a number of upcoming articles the Delaware-Hudson Canvas.

Bevilacqua also has another radio special airing on public radio on October 30: "Tom Mix and the Mystery of the Bodiless Horseman," in which he reads the new story (in different voices) written by Jim Harmon, which is part of an audio book of It's That Time Again: The New Stories of Old-Time Radio, being published by Bear Manor Media in 2009. This Halloween bit of story-telling can also be heard online at: www.prx.org/pieces/28863.

You can read an article about Joe Bevilacqua at: www.joebev.com/joebev-press/CANVAS-ARTICLE-Joe-Sept08-BIG.jpg.

More on Joe Bevilacqua can be found at: www.joebev.com.