Table of Contents

• World To End Tomorrow
• Association for the Prevention of April Fool Jokes
• April Fool Experiment
• Hutchins Quits
• St. Louis Zoo Changes its Number
• Naked Man in L.A.
• Woman Murdering Her Husband
• Tire in the Street Gag
• References

World To End Tomorrow

On March 31, 1940 Philadelphia radio station KYW broadcast the following message: “Your worst fears that the world will end are confirmed by astronomers of Franklin Institute, Philadelphia. Scientists predict that the world will end at 3 P.M. Eastern Standard Time tomorrow. This is no April Fool joke. Confirmation can be obtained from Wagner Schlesinger, director of the Fels Planetarium of this city.”

The announcement came after a radio program by Jack Benny that had been devoted to a discussion of how the world might end. The program had mentioned the name of Orson Welles, who had been responsible for the notorious War of the Worlds Panic Broadcast of 1938.

The public reaction to KYW’s announcement was dramatic. Newspapers, police stations and the city’s information bureau received hundreds of calls from frightened citizens.

KYW later issued an apology and an explanation. The announcement was, of course, false, but the station denied responsibility for it. It said that it had received the announcement from William Castellini, press agent for the Franklin Institute and had read it in good faith, believing it to be genuine. However, Castellini had intended it as a publicity stunt to publicize an April 1st lecture at the planetarium titled “How Will the World End?”

Castellini later explained that he came up with the idea for the stunt after hearing Benny’s program and thinking it a good chance to get some publicity for the planetarium. He claimed, in his own defense, that he had told “some of the people” at the radio station about the announcement and “thought they would know it was a stunt.” Soon afterwards, the Franklin Institute dismissed Castellini.

Association for the Prevention of April Fool Jokes

Fred Orsinger, chairman of the Association for the Prevention of April Fool Jokes (A.F.P.O.A.F.J.), issued some guidelines to help people avoid becoming the victims of April Fool jokes. “There’s no fool like an April fool. Beware,” he said. “The telephone joker is the most common. I figure out he’ll consume more than 8,000,000 man hours of work throughout the Nation today. There is one standard gag, though, that the association believes in looking into—the pocket book lying on the sidewalk. It’s worth the look, and even if there is no money inside, you may get a good pocket book.” Orsinger’s regular job was Director of the National Aquarium in Washington DC.

April Fool Experiment

Radio comedian Don McNeill staged experiments in the lobby of Chicago’s Merchandise Mart to test whether people would still fall for some of the oldest April fool gags. He discovered that 20 of the first 25 people who saw a bill fold lying on the floor stooped to pick it up, only to have it yanked away. In addition, McNeill set up an aquarium with a sign “Invisible Peruvian fish.” He asked spectators to estimate the length of the fish. Fifty-six of the spectators turned in written estimates. (For more about the “invisible fish” prank, see Brazilian Invisible Fish.)

Hutchins Quits

The University of Chicago’s student newspaper, the Daily Maroon, reported that UC President Robert Maynard Hutchins had resigned due to the unfavorable reaction from his comments on football. A successor was not named, but the article mentioned Postmaster Gen. James A. Farley (said to be an expert in “political science") as a possibility. The article also stated that the French government had presented the university with the luxury liner, the Normandie, as a gesture of goodwill.

St. Louis Zoo Changes its Number

In order to avoid the avalanche of calls on April 1st for Mr. Lyon, Mr. Wolf, and Mr. Fox, the St. Louis Zoo changed its phone number for one day. Sterling 0900, the zoo’s regular phone number, was changed to Sterling 0901.

Naked Man in L.A.

Fifty-three-year-old Ed Draper walked completely naked out of a downtown hotel in Los Angeles and strolled for four blocks before he was picked up by cops in their radio patrol car. He was taken to the General Hospital psychopathic ward for observation.

Woman Murdering Her Husband

The Los Angeles Times reported that police officers were kept busy responding to fictitious reports of “big fires” throughout the city. They also responded to a report of a “woman murdering her husband” on N. Gower St. “The woman, mystified when a squad of detectives rushed to her home demanding the body and the suspect, soon joined the officers with a hollow laugh which somehow lacked the humor which the prankster probably expected.”

Tire in the Street Gag

Ivan Pavic, a student a Frank Wiggins Trade School, lay a tire in the middle of the intersection of 17th and Hill Sts. in Los Angeles. He had anchored the tire to a manhole cover. The Los Angeles Times reported that, “It drew its usual number of motorists who stopped to try to pick up the tire.”

References

• “End of the world radio broadcast frightens many.” (Apr 1, 1940). Oakland Tribune.
• “City in terror as radio heralds end of world.” (Apr 2, 1940). The Washington Post.
• “Old April Fool gags still potent to deceive, experiment shows.” (Apr 2, 1940). The Galveston Daily News.
• “Hutchins Quits!” (Apr 1, 1940). The Freeport Journal Standard.
• “Nude man startles downtown L.A.” (Apr 2, 1940). Oakland Tribune.
• “Warning is issued by ‘Anti’ Society.” (Apr 1, 1940). Oakland Tribune.
• “Old April Fool gags garner usual spasms of laughter.” (Apr 2, 1940). Los Angeles Times.

Categories

• April Fools Day
• Era
  • 1914-1949