de66c8b22e13463672ffaf79062885cf.jpg

SCENES: Sarnoff Library affair just ‘out of this world’

By CHRISTIAN KIRKPATRICK Special Writer
    I have to admit it. When the announcer said that martial law had been declared in Mercer County, my blood ran cold.
    Sure, I was just watching an actor reading a radio script, and I knew that the Martians would die in the end, but I couldn’t help being swept along with “The War of the Worlds.” Particularly when Grover’s Mill was under attack!
    It’s surprising how your imagination can take control while you watch a radio broadcast. On Saturday night, Oct. 25, in the auditorium of the David Sarnoff Library, there was little to mold mental images. There was no set, only the suggestion of a 1930s radio station, and the actors wore no costumes, just clothes that were vaguely reminiscent of the Depression. Yet when these actors described the battle between humans and Martians at Grover’s Mill, I’m sure that everyone in the audience could see just where and how it took place.
    Perhaps our imaginations were spurred by the stills from science fiction movies that lined the walls of the auditorium, along with newspaper clippings describing how local residents responded to that unnerving production by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater. And doubtless the sound of the production — as it was amplified by period microphones and sent by a vacuum-tube transmitter through dozens of vintage radios — made the event sound like a true radio broadcast.
    All I can say is, if a pitchfork had been handy, I might have grabbed it.
    Every October, the David Sarnoff Library hosts a re-creation of “The War of the Worlds,” performed by the Hunterdon Radio Theatre and heard through period radios leant by the New Jersey Antique Radio Club.
    This October, however, was the 70th anniversary of the famous broadcast. In celebration, a series of activities were held in West Windsor, Plainsboro and Princeton, including the Oct. re-enactment and the “Out of This World” dessert reception that followed.
    About 100 guests attended this party, which featured Martian- themed goodies and the spooky sounds of Kip Rosser on the theremin.
    One of these guests was James Stives of Princeton Junction. “My family was part of this in 1938,” he said. From his late Uncle Dick Stives, he heard many stories about the night the Martians landed. “I kind of feel that I lived through it.”
    Also on hand were several members of the David Sarnoff Radio Club, which meets at the library on the third Tuesday of every month. The group had just received a three-day license from the Federal Communications Commission for a radio station with call letters WOW for “War of the Worlds.” Club members operated this station from a ham radio on Oct. 25.
    Members called out into the ether, demanding to know whether anyone had seen any Martians. Bruce from Hightstown answered to say that he hadn’t seen any Little Green Men but that he had noticed an unusual magnetic disturbance in his house and that all the flatware in the dining room was now clinging to the ceiling.
    Later, club members Rebecca Mercuri from Mercerville, and Kevin Meredith and Bernie Lechner, both of Princeton, explained that radio club members do more than patrol for extraterrestrials. When standard communications methods fail during emergencies like 9/11 and Katrina, ham operators relay necessary information about where people are, where they are being deployed, what is operating and what has been shut down.
    David Sarnoff was, of course, instrumental in the development of radio and television. Nowadays the library that memorializes his life and work hosts field trips for third and fourth graders. They learn basic concepts about the science and application of sound. They also hear something about the immigrant’s experience in early 20th century America, as they are told about Mr. Sarnoff’s early life here after emigrating from Russia.
    A recent grant from the IEEE Pace Network will underwrite the development in 2009 of two new field trips for older children on radio and computing.
    Alex Magoun, Ph.D., executive director of the David Sarnoff Library, says still more field trips could be developed, for example ones for studying magnetism, electricity and light, as well as sociological ones in which students learn how the use of radio and television has changed through the years. He believes that the David Sarnoff Library is a great resource and that it could help inspire local students to take an interest in science, particularly the kind of applied science that has so enriched Americans’ lives in recent generations.
    Proceeds from Saturday night’s production of “War of the Worlds” will help to fund the educational efforts of the David Sarnoff Library.
On the Web: www.davidsarnoff.org.