July 31, 1930. A hot, muggy summer night. New Yorkers who could afford to do nothing else because of the Great Depression stayed home and listened to the radio.
Those who tuned in to the new Detective Story Hour on station WABC at 9:30 that evening heard a startling and mysterious voice telling thrilling detective stories.
Manhattanites stormed their newsstands demanding more -- but they didn't want just any stories, they wanted to read about the narrator: The Shadow.
The only problem was, those stories didn't exist. Pulp magazine publisher Street & Smith hired writer Walter Gibson to create the Shadow's adventures. The stories proved so popular that Gibson soon had to write two Shadow novels a month to keep up with popular demand.
While the literary Shadow defeated criminals by shooting them, the radio Shadow took a less physical approach and "clouded their minds."
The radio program lasted
until 1954 and spawned more than a dozen movies and a couple of television pilots in the 1950s. It's been almost three-quarters of
a century, but to this day, there is only one man who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of
men -- The Shadow!
Suggested Sites...
- ThePulp.net: The Shadow - the history of The Shadow, his agents, and the chroniclers of his many adventures.
- Wikipedia: The Shadow - history of the Master of Darkness in all media.
- The Shadow's Sanctum - adventures of the Shadow and Doc Savage, as well as video interviews with Walter Gibson.
- Walter B. Gibson - Wizard of Words - personal memories of The Shadow's creator.
- Old Radio Programs: The Shadow - listen to some of The Shadow's radio adventures.
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