Imaginary Martians & One Fast Horse

My mother once told me that she didn't hear the infamous War of the Worlds broadcast 70 years ago today; she was 13 then and remembers listening to Edgar Bergen that night, who were on the Chase and Sanborn Hour. She said that my father later told her he had listened to the broadcast, but being a 15-year-old pulp SF aficionado at the time, he knew full well what Welles was up to. It was fine radio in any case. Listen to the October 30 entry on this remarkable site.

Oddly enough, there's an monument in Grover's Mill, NJ, to the "Martian landing." Welles wanted to move the story from Britain to the United States, naturally enough, and for some reason picked this obscure corner of New Jersey as the site of the first landing. That's my kind of monument. If I'm ever nearby, I'm going to see it, and certainly post pictures of it. Till then, this web page will do.

Speaking of 1938, the day after tomorrow is the 70th anniversary of the "Match of the Century," when Seabiscuit bested War Admiral at Pimlico. Completely by coincidence, I picked up Seabiscuit: An American Legend and started reading it a few days ago. It's very readable, keeping me interesting in something I only have a slight interest in, namely thoroughbred horse racing. Through the marvel of YouTube, a newsreel version of the Match of the Century is here for us in the 21st century to see.