Tim Coyle
AMST 205
Project #4
"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men, The Shadow knows..."
This is the opening line from The Shadow, a popular
radio program which ran through the 1930's and 1940's. This suspense
thriller lasted for about twenty years and became one of the longest
running radio serials ever. The Shadow was much more than just a
radio
program though, stories associated with the Shadow character can be
found in magazines, pulp fiction books, comic books, and more. There were
also several movies based on The Shadow, a few were produced in the
1940's
and others came out as recently as the 1970's. There are still a fair
amount of Shadow fans in this country, many of whom collect old radio
episodes of the show on cassette along with toys and other merchandise
associated with the show.
As the story goes the Shadow's real name is Lamont Cranston, a wealthy,
young man who beleives very strongly in justice. Cranston was
traveling somewhere in the Orient several years earlier when he came upon
a bizarre and mysterious secret. He learned the hypnotic power to cloud
mens' minds so that they can not see him. He uses this power to help the
forces of law and order to ensure that juctice is served. Cranston is
aided in his adventures by Margo Lane, a close friend who is the only
person who knows the Shadow's true identity. One of the few other
regular characters is Police Commissioner Weston, who trusts Cranston and
always seems to side with him.
The Shadow is not at all the type of "super-hero" that we see in today's
comic books and cartoons. The main difference is that Lamont Cranston
helps others to find justice, using his wealth and connections. He
only becomes the Shadow when it is necessary to do so, often this involves
getting information out of another person (people seem to be perfectly
willing to tell an invisible voice just about anything it asks). Another
difference between the Shadow and our conventional, contemporary
super-heros is that few people in the world of the story believe in him,
and most have never even heard of him.
Only those who have been visited by the Shadow believe that he is real,
and when they try to tell others no one believes what they say. On the
other hand, Cranston is similar to other super-hero type characters in
that he has an incredably strong devotion to justice and he is always
willing to help. He also tends to use overly dramatic quotes to emphasize
his points, and he is never wrong.
Margo Lane is a fairly average
female side-kick type of character. She is smart, resourceful, and
strong-spirited, but never takes center stage over Cranston and the
Shadow. She will voice disagreements to Cranston's plans occasionally, but
she still always does what he tells her. Her obedience to Cranston along
with the fact that he is always correct reveals the sexist attitude of the
writers. However, back in the time period of this radio program
that attitude was not by any means unusual. Margo's character would
probably not have existed at all if this were a television program. The
nature of radio forced the producers of these serials to include a great
deal of dialogue, which would not be necessary if listeners could see what
was happening. Basically Cranston's character needs someone to talk to
about everything he is going to do, so that the story can be explained to
the audience. The female side-kick character, who knows that Cranston is
the Shadow and accompanies him everywhere, allows the
narrator to be used as little as possible.
The Shadow works basically like a play being read over the radio,
with each episode lasting for one half hour.
It was written so that the entire story can be understood without having
any visual indications of what is going on. For this reason characters do
not speak as they might be expected to in other situations. The
dialogue between characters must both explain what is happening and
make sense in the story. The narrator
is used as sparingly as possible, usually to signify changes in time and
location. This program also used many sound effects as did most radio
dramas. Background music is common for setting the mood, for example, in
tense situations the music will be intense and set a mood of suspense.
Music is sometimes inserted to indicate a passage in time or change of
setting. Organ and piano music are the most prevalent in The
Shadow. Sound effects are utilized whenever possible to indicate
actions which are taking place. Common sounds include people walking on
gravel, clocks ticking, phones ringing, doors opening/closing, and so
forth. Screams and evil sounding laughter are also very common in this
program due to the stories.
The mood of this show is always rather dark and suspenseful. Most of the
episodes center around the ideas of death and evil, however, there is no
real graphic content due to the conservative nature of early broadcast
companies. Violent acts take place in the stories, but not directly. For
example, characters will talk about a murder that took place, but the
audience would never actually hear someone being killed. In one episode,
entitled "The
Final Hour," Lamont Cranston helps an innocent man to escape the death
penalty. The man was convicted of murder based on the perjured testimony
of an eye witness who knows the truth but fears for his life. When this
man is
confronted by the Shadow, the truth comes out and Cranston captures the
real killer and has just enough
time to stop the execution from taking place ("The Final Hour"). In
"The Heartbeat of
Death" Cranston solves a murder and convinces the killer to confess by
driving him crazy with the sound of a beating heart. The man becomes
convinced that it is the sound of the murdered woman's heart still beating
(Margo is really the one producing the sound), and he leads the Shadow to
the dead body ("The Heartbeat of Death"). This episode is obviously
based on Edgar Allen Poe's
short story, "A Tell Tale Heart," except with adaptations to fit the
nature of this program.
The Shadow was on the air for an extremly long time, and it went
through many changes in the process. It actually started out, in 1930,
being called
Detective Story Hour (Tollin). Frank Readick, Jr. played the
Shadow, and stories were taken from the current issues of Detective
Story Magazine. It played on CBS Thursdays from 9:30 until 10:00,
sponsored by Street & smith. When the Blue Coal company became it's
sponsor the next season, the program's name changed to Blue Coal Radio
Revue. Readick, as the Shadow, hosted a thirty minute mystery drama which
included a contest for solving the mystery. A year later CBS changed the
show to Love Story Drama. In this show the Shadow, still played by
Readick, acts out stories from the current issues of Love Story
Magazine.
In 1932, The Shadow began it's first actual season, starring Robert
Hardy Andrews in the lead role. However, this only lasted for five
broadcasts on CBS. That same year NBC picked up the show, with Frank
Readick, Jr. returning as the Shadow. Blue Coal sponsored the serial once
again, and this second season lasted for 28 episodes. The third season,
still on NBC, which ran from 1934-1935 lasted a full 52 episodes. Despite
the shows apparent success it was not broadcast at all in 1936.
In 1937, The Shadow returned to the airwaves for it's fourth
season with many significant changes. The Mutual Network began
broadcasting the program, which was still sponsored by Blue Coal. It ran
on Sunday evenings from 5:30 until 6:00, which became the serial's regular
time slot for several years. Orson Welles starred as Lamont Cranston, the
Shadow, and the show as it is most commonly known was born. Welles brought
a great deal of artistic talent to the program, though he only kept the
role for one full season presumably because he began making films. Agnes
Moorehead played Margo Lane, and Ken Roberts began a long stint as the
announcer. The popularity of the program increased dramatically during
this fourth season and it soon became one of the most listened to radio
serials.
In The Shadow's fifth season Bill Johnstone took the role of Lamont
Cranston, which he kept until the tenth season. That was in 1943 when
Bret Morrison became the voice of the Shadow. Morrison stayed in the
role of Lamont Cranston until the show ended in 1954 after 21 seasons on
the air. In 1940, Marjorie Anderson
began to play Margo Lane, and in 1945 Lesley Woods took over the role. A
year later it was Grace Matthews, and three years after that Gertrude
Warner became the final radio actress to play Margo. It is difficult to
determine what the audience felt about these many changes in the voices of
the main characters. However, since each listener had his or her own
picture of what Lamont and Margo look like in their heads, it probably did
not make too much of a difference.
The Shadow is definitely one of the most popular radio programs of
all time. In ran during the Golden Age of radio, when families across
America listened to the radio serials which were broadcast every night.
For information about another popular radio program from the Golden Age,
check out Suzanne
Sostmann's page on Amos 'n' Andy.
The Shadow appealed to people of all age groups and backgrounds,
with it's chilling and mysterious tales. It was especially popular with
kids, though young children may not have been allowed to listen to it due
to the nature of the stories. For more information on children's radio
programming, check out Rob Peters' project.
On Sunday evenings countless tuned in to hear the newest adventure of the
Shadow.
"The weed of crime bears bitter fruit, crime does not pay, the Shadow
knows..."
Works Cited:
"The Final Hour." The Shadow. (Originally broadcast 31 October
1954). WMUC, College Park. 15 February 1978.
"The Heartbeat of Death." The Shadow. (Originally broadcast
30 September 1945). WMUC, College Park. 22
February 1978.
Peters, Rob. "Children's Radio Programs." Internet WWW page, at URL: <
http://otal.umd.edu/~vj21/project4.html > (version current at 24
April 1997).
Sostmann, Suzanne. "Amos 'n' Andy." Internet WWW page, at URL: <
http://otal.umd.edu/~vj28/project4.html > (version current at 24
April 1997).
Tollin, Anthony. "The Shadow on the Air." Internet WWW page, at URL:
<
http://www.webmarketing.com/shadow/radio1.html > (version current at
21 April 1997).
Back to Coyle's Home Page