The Shadow is an American radio drama built around a mysterious vigilante crime-fighter with the power to cloud men's minds and become invisible, a character first used as a mystery-story narrator beginning in 1930 before becoming the protagonist of his own dramatized series on CBS in 1937, with actor Orson Welles voicing the role in its early seasons. The program opened each episode with its narrator's catchphrase asking who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men, followed by an ominous laugh that became one of the most widely recognized sound signatures in American radio drama. The Shadow ran for close to two decades, and its character was licensed into pulp magazines, comic books, and films, making it one of the most commercially extended properties to originate in American radio drama.
Facts
Release Year Classification
Original Language FAQs
Which came first, the Shadow radio drama or the pulp magazine?
The radio narrator came first in 1930; the pulp magazine followed in 1931.
The radio narrator came first. The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the radio program Detective Story Hour. Listeners began asking newsstands for the Shadow detective magazine, so Street & Smith launched a magazine, whose first issue went on sale April 1, 1931. The separate radio drama premiered later, on September 26, 1937.
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Source The Shadow (Wikipedia)Lead sentence 1Quote, Lead sentence 1
The Shadow is a fictional character created by American magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B.
Sources
1. The Shadow (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationSecond paragraph, opening clause
On September 26, 1937, The Shadow, a new radio drama based on the character as created by Gibson for the pulp magazine, premiered with the story
Lead paragraph, opening sentence
The Shadow is a fictional character created by American magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson.
The Shadow, Description, original language
The Shadow is an American radio drama built around a mysterious vigilante crime-fighter with the power to cloud men's minds and become invisible, a character first used as a mystery-story narrator beginning in 1930 before becoming the protagonist of his own dramatized series on CBS in 1937, with actor Orson Welles voicing the role in its early seasons.
In Group: Radio Crime and Detective Dramas, Lead
Originally created to be a mysterious radio-show narrator and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by Gibson, the Shadow has been adapted into other media, including American comic books, comic strips, serials, video games, and at least five feature films.
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