Although my children might tell you I was born in the Paleolithic era, I actually came along in 1948, 10 years after Orson Welles' notorious "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast.
In fact, I knew nothing of that event until the early '60s, when my parents gave me Steve Allen's autobiography, "Mark It and Strike It," as a Christmas gift. In his memoir, Allen reminisced about that night before Halloween in 1938, when, as a teenager, he and his mother and aunt, staying in a Chicago hotel, heard part of Welles' show and took it to be the real deal. (Allen reprinted the anecdote in his 1992 book "Hi-Ho, Steverino!")
Yes, they actually believed . . . albeit only briefly . . . that the United States was under attack by Martians.
As did much of America. And panic ensued.
For you younger folk to understand how such a strange thing could happen, it must be put into historical perspective. In 1938, the metaphorical paranoia rampant in H.G. Wells' original 1898 story paralleled America's mixed feelings about the war in Europe.
Welles' faux newscast is now, of course, a famous and frequently dissected piece of broadcast history; there have been articles and books written, and TV and radio documentaries constructed, in an attempt to explain what happened in some depth.
The radio program is a big part of the story, but it's still only part of the story.
Reading Steve Allen's personal account when I was a young teen set me on a journey to learn more about "The War of the Worlds." I found the Wells novel in the library, eventually saw the George Pal movie version when it was re-released in theaters (the film originally came out in 1953), and I even managed to dig up a record album that contained portions of the original Welles broadcast.
Now, I realize that if I'd just been willing to wait nearly 40 years, I could have saved myself all that trouble.
While the movie has been available on VHS and DVD for some time now, editors Brian Holmsten and Alex Lubertozzi have culled all the rest and put it into a book — "The Complete War of the Worlds: Mars' Invasion of Earth from H.G. Wells to Orson Welles" ($39.95; Sourcebooks Inc.; 200 pages; with CD).
Included here are an introduction by Ray Bradbury (hey, there's another great book — "The Martian Chronicles"), the entire text of Wells' novel — complete with the original illustrations (see if the picture on page 94 doesn't remind you of a certain mechanical creature from a certain "Star Wars" sequel), a complete transcript of Welles' radio program, essays on the country's reaction to the broadcast and even a treatise on what Mars is really like from science writer Ben Bova.
If that's not enough, inside the book's cover is a CD that includes the entire Welles "War of the Worlds" show, plus three Welles interviews — including a historical radio program on which Wells met Welles, just two years after the broadcast.
Whew! What more could a "War of the Worlds"-phile ask for?
Re-reading the novel as an adult gives me new respect for Wells; it's still a great book. But the material about Welles' radio broadcast also speaks to the young dramatist's genius as he took Wells' vision and put it into a contemporary context. (Even the movie still holds up as a thrilling science-fiction adventure, and a cautionary tale for the '50s Cold War audience.)
Given the brilliance of Wells' original text, perhaps we should not find it so surprising that his story still resonates with subsequent generations.
And kudos to Holmsten and Lubertozzi for reiterating its relevance in the 21st century.
E-mail: hicks@desnews.com