In the Shadow of Greatness
2012 book
In the Shadow of Greatness is a book written by 33 members of the United States Naval Academy Class of 2002 and published by the United States Naval Institute in 2012.
The authors describe how their lives were shaped by their experiences at the Academy, the September 11 attacks, and the events following graduation. The stories describe subjects such as relief assignments to Haiti, diplomatic missions, cross-service training and deployments, losing infantrymen in combat, and the stress of pilots on missions. There are homages to the fallen, including Navy Lieutenant Richard F. Andersen, Marine Corps Capt. Matthew C. Freeman, Navy Lieutenant John J. Houston, Marine Corps Lt. Col. Kevin Shea, and Marine Corps 2nd Lieutenant Andrew Torres. Gary C. Ross discusses his same-sex marriage following the repeal of DADT; others tell of rescues at sea and in the crater of Mount St. Helens. Other topics include two-career couples and the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The foreword was written by David Gergen and the epilogue by Admiral Mike Mullen. General John Allen—Commandant of Midshipmen in 2002—wrote for the book, as did his predecessor, Admiral Sam Locklear.
The authors' proceeds go to veterans' organizations, including Luke's Wings, the Semper Fi Fund, The Mission Continues, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, The Travis Manion Foundation, and the Matthew Freeman Project.
Released in August 2012, "In the Shadow of Greatness" achieved Los Angeles Times Bestseller status that October. John Nagl reviewed the book in the September 2012 issue of the Naval Institute's Proceedings Magazine, writing: "All of these stories give voice to courage, sacrifice, and the nobility of living in the service of others." Tom Brokaw provided this blurb: "This is a must read for all Americans - an up close and personal account of duty and sacrifice by graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy in Iraq and Afghanistan."
References.
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United States Naval Institute
American private non-profit naval military association
The United States Naval Institute (USNI) is a private non-profit military association that offers independent, nonpartisan forums for debate of national security issues. In addition to publishing magazines and books, the Naval Institute holds several annual conferences. The Naval Institute is based in Annapolis, Maryland.
Established in 1873, the Naval Institute claimed "almost 50,000 members" in 2020, mostly active and retired personnel of the United States Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. The organization also has members in over 90 countries.
The organization has no official or funding ties to the United States Naval Academy or the United States Navy, though it is based on the grounds of the Naval Academy through permission granted by a 1936 Act of Congress.
History.
The United States Naval Institute was formed on October 9, 1873, by 15 naval officers gathered at the Naval Academy's Department of Physics and Chemistry building in Annapolis to discuss, among other topics, the implications of a smaller, post-Civil War Navy. Rear Admiral John L. Worden, former commander of the USS "Monitor", served as the first president.
In 1874, the Naval Institute began to accept papers and publish the proceedings of its discussions, which were distributed to the organization's members. In 1898, the Naval Institute Press was created to publish basic naval guides. The most popular of these, "The Bluejacket's Manual", is on its 26th edition, and is still issued to all enlistees of the United States Navy. The press eventually expanded to publish more general-interest titles in history, biography, and current affairs.
In 1992, the Naval Institute Foundation, Inc., was established to stabilize the organization's funding.
In 1999, the Naval Institute transferred its former headquarters, Preble Hall, to the Naval Academy, and renovated a derelict Navy hospital to serve as its new headquarters. The new building was named Beach Hall after Captain Edward L. Beach Jr., author and Navy Cross recipient; and his father, Captain Edward L. Beach Sr., who had served as the institute's secretary-treasurer.
On 30 September 2021, the Naval Institute opened a conference center with a 406-seat auditorium, reception spaces, an indoor/outdoor rooftop terrace, five meeting rooms, and a broadcast studio. It is named for Jack C. Taylor, a decorated World War II Navy fighter pilot who founded Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
Publications and products.
"Proceedings".
"Proceedings" is the Naval Institute's monthly magazine. Published since 1874, it is one of the oldest continuously published magazines in the United States. Issues include articles from military professionals and civilian experts, historical essays, book reviews, full-color photography, and reader commentary. Roughly a third are written by active duty and active reserve personnel, a third by retired military, and a third by civilians. "Proceedings" also frequently carries feature articles by Secretaries of Defense, Secretaries of the Navy, Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and top leaders of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. The magazine has published controversial articles on contentious issues; moreover, military officials have been known to block certain articles from being submitted to the journal. For example, in 1962, the Department of Defense blocked a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel from submitting an article to "Proceedings" about a 1949 proposal to merge the Marines' aviation units into the Air Force.
"Naval History".
"Naval History" is the Naval Institute's bimonthly magazine. First published in 1987, its articles detail the role of sea power in American history. The magazine's contributors have included historians David McCullough and James M. McPherson; former sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen such as Ernest Borgnine, Gene Hackman, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.; and journalists, such as Walter Cronkite and Tom Brokaw.
Naval Institute Press.
The Naval Institute Press was founded in 1898 and publishes about 80 books a year. Its twice-yearly catalog includes works on history, biography, professional military education, and occasional works of popular fiction, such as Tom Clancy's first novel, "The Hunt for Red October" and Stephen Coonts' "Flight of the Intruder". Its professional titles include "The Bluejacket's Manual", "Naval Shiphandling", "The Naval Officer's Guide", "The Marine Officer’s Guide", and "The Coast Guardsman’s Manual". "The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World" and "The Naval Institute Guide to Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet" are popular reference books with the military, the media, and maritime enthusiasts.
USNI News.
USNI News is the Naval Institute's news service. Founded in 2012, USNI News operates from Monday to Friday and primarily focuses on defense-related topics. USNI News heavily covered the Fat Leonard scandal as it developed.
"Americans at War".
In 2007, USNI produced "Americans At War", a series of video interviews with American combat veterans of conflicts dating to World War I. Former President George H. W. Bush, Senators Bob Dole, Daniel Inouye, Bob Kerrey, and others described how combat changed their lives. The series was broadcast on PBS television stations nationwide.
Archives.
Photographs.
The Naval Institute holds more than 450,000 images of people, ships and aircraft from all branches of the armed forces. The photographs date from the American Civil War to the present.
Oral histories.
The Naval Institute's oral history program preserves the reminiscences of numerous American military figures, including General Jimmy Doolittle, Admirals Arleigh Burke and Chester W. Nimitz. The Naval Institute records a series of interviews covering the life story of each participant. The interviews are then transcribed, annotated, indexed, and bound. Since the inception of the program in 1969, more than 230 bound volumes have been completed, and interviews have been recorded to produce dozens more.
Notable members.
The institute's notable current and former members include:
References.
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The Shadow
Fictional character
The Shadow is a fictional character created by American magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. 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 forms of media, including American comic books, comic strips, serials, video games, and at least five feature films. The radio drama included episodes voiced by Orson Welles.
The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the radio program "Detective Story Hour", which was developed to boost sales of Street & Smith's monthly pulp "Detective Story Magazine". When listeners of the program began asking at newsstands for copies of "that Shadow detective magazine", Street & Smith launched a magazine based on the character, and hired Gibson to create a concept to fit the name and voice and to write a story featuring him. The first issue of the pulp series "The Shadow Magazine" went on sale April 1, 1931.
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 "The Death House Rescue", in which The Shadow was characterized as having "the hypnotic power to cloud men's minds so they cannot see him". In the magazine stories, The Shadow did not become literally invisible.
The introductory line from the radio adaptation of The Shadow – "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!" – spoken by actor Frank Readick, has earned a place in the American idiom. These words were accompanied by an ominous laugh and a musical theme, Camille Saint-Saëns' "Le Rouet d'Omphale" ("Omphale's Spinning Wheel" composed in 1872).
The Shadow, at the end of each episode, reminded listeners, "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit! Crime does not pay...The Shadow knows!"
Some early episodes used the alternate statement, "As you sow evil, so shall you reap evil! Crime does not pay...The Shadow knows!"
Publication history.
Origin of the character's name.
To boost the sales of its "Detective Story Magazine," Street & Smith Publications hired David Chrisman, of the Ruthrauff & Ryan advertising agency, and writer-director William Sweets to adapt the magazine's stories into a radio series. Chrisman and Sweets thought the upcoming series should be narrated by a mysterious storyteller with a sinister voice and began searching for a suitable name. One of their scriptwriters, Harry Engman Charlot, suggested various possibilities, such as "The Inspector" or "The Sleuth". Charlot then proposed the ideal name for the phantom announcer: "The Shadow".
Thus, beginning on July 31, 1930, "The Shadow" was the name given to the mysterious narrator of the "Detective Story Hour" radio program. The narrator was initially voiced by James LaCurto, who was replaced after four months by prolific character actor Frank Readick Jr. The episodes were drawn from the "Detective Story Magazine" issued by Street & Smith, the nation's oldest and largest publisher of pulp magazines at the time. Although the latter company had hoped the radio broadcasts would boost the declining sales of "Detective Story Magazine", the result was quite different. Listeners found the sinister announcer much more compelling than the unrelated stories. They soon began asking newsdealers for copies of "that "Shadow" detective magazine", even though it did not exist.
Creation as a distinctive literary character.
Recognizing the demand and responding promptly, circulation manager Henry William Ralston of Street & Smith commissioned Walter B. Gibson to begin writing stories about "The Shadow" Using the pen name of Maxwell Grant and claiming the stories were "from The Shadow's private annals" as told to him, Gibson wrote 282 out of 325 tales over the next 20 years: a novel-length story twice a month (1st and 15th). The first story produced was "The Living Shadow" published April 1, 1931.
Gibson's characterization of The Shadow laid the foundations for the archetype of the superhero, including stylized imagery and title, sidekicks, supervillains, and a secret identity. Clad in black, The Shadow operated mainly after dark as a vigilante in the name of justice, terrifying criminals into vulnerability. Gibson himself claimed the literary inspirations upon which he had drawn were Bram Stoker's "Dracula" and Edward Bulwer-Lytton's "The House and the Brain". Another possible inspiration for The Shadow is the French character Judex; the first episode of the original "Judex" film serial was released in the United States as "The Mysterious Shadow", and Judex's costume is similar to The Shadow's. French comics historian Xavier Fournier notes other similarities with another silent serial, "The Shielding Shadow", whose protagonist had a power of invisibility, and considers The Shadow to be a mix between the two characters. In the 1940s, some "Shadow" comic strips were translated in France as adventures of Judex.
Because of the great effort involved in writing two full-length novels every month, several guest writers were hired to write occasional installments in order to lighten Gibson's workload. Those guest writers included Lester Dent, who also wrote the Doc Savage stories, and Theodore Tinsley. In the late 1940s, mystery novelist Bruce Elliott (also a magician) temporarily replaced Gibson as the primary author of the pulp series (he wrote #'s 306 through 320). Richard Wormser, a reader for Street & Smith, wrote two Shadow stories. For a complete list of Street and Smith's Shadow novels (and a list of the reprint editions), see the List of The Shadow stories article.
A new beginning at Belmont Books.
"The Shadow Magazine" ceased publication with the Summer 1949 issue, but Walter B. Gibson wrote three new "official" stories between 1963 and 1980. The first began a new series of nine Shadow mass market paperback novels from Belmont Books. In this series, The Shadow is given psychic powers, including the radio character's ability "to cloud men's minds", so that he effectively became invisible. "Return of The Shadow" was published under his own name. The remaining eight novels in this series, "The Shadow Strikes", "Shadow Beware", "Cry Shadow", "The Shadow's Revenge", "Mark of The Shadow", "Shadow Go Mad", "Night of The Shadow", and "The Shadow, Destination: Moon", were written by Dennis Lynds, not Gibson, under the Maxwell Grant pseudonym.
The other two Gibson works were the novelettes "The Riddle of the Rangoon Ruby", published June 1, 1979 in "The Shadow Scrapbook". and "Blackmail Bay", published February 1, 1980 in "The Duende History of The Shadow Magazine".
Literary sequels and reboots.
The Shadow returned in 2015 in the authorized novel "The Sinister Shadow", an entry in the "Wild Adventures of Doc Savage" series from Altus Press. The novel, written by Will Murray, used unpublished material originally written in 1932 by Doc Savage originator Lester Dent and published under the pen name Kenneth Robeson. Set in 1933, the story details the conflict between the two pulp magazine icons during a crime wave caused by a murderous kidnapping-extortion ring led by the mysterious criminal mastermind known as the Funeral Director.
A sequel, "Empire of Doom", was published in 2016 and takes place seven years later in 1940. The Shadow's old enemy, Shiwan Khan, attacks his hated adversary. Doc Savage joins forces with The Shadow to vanquish Khan in a Doc Savage novel written by Murray, from a concept by Dent.
In 2020, James Patterson Entertainment and Condé Nast Entertainment announced a new series written by James Patterson and Brian Sitts. The arrangement also includes potential screen adaptations of these novels. The first novel, "The Shadow", released in 2021, serves as a sequel-update with some science-fiction elements, bringing Lamont Cranston from 1937 into 2087 to battle Shiwan Khan in a futuristic New York. The second Patterson-Sitts Shadow novel, "Circle of Death", was published in 2023.
Character development.
The character and look of The Shadow gradually evolved over his lengthy fictional existence:
As depicted in the pulps, The Shadow wore a wide-brimmed black hat and a black, crimson-lined cloak with an upturned collar over a standard black business suit. In the 1940s comic books, the later comic book series, and the 1994 film starring Alec Baldwin, he wore either the black hat or a wide-brimmed, black fedora and a crimson scarf just below his nose and across his mouth and chin. Both the cloak and scarf covered either a black double-breasted trench coat or a regular black suit. As seen in some of the later comics series, The Shadow also would wear his hat and scarf with either a black Inverness coat or Inverness cape.
In the radio drama that debuted in 1937, The Shadow does not wear a costume because he is invisible when he operates as a vigilante, a feature born out of necessity. Time constraints of 1930s radio made it difficult to explain to listeners where The Shadow was hiding and how he remained concealed from criminals until he was ready to strike, so the character was given invisibility, meaning the criminals (like the radio audience) only knew him by his haunting voice. The actors used their normal voice when the hero was in his civilian identity of Lamont Cranston and effects were added when he became invisible and acted as The Shadow, his voice now having a sinister and seemingly omnipresent quality. To explain this power, radio episodes regularly said that while a young man, The Shadow traveled around the world and then through the Orient, where he learned how to read thoughts and became a master of hypnotism, granting him "the mysterious power to cloud men's minds, so they could not see him". In the episode "The Temple Bells of Neban" (1937), The Shadow said he developed these abilities in India specifically, under the guidance of a "Yogi priest" who was "Keeper of the Temple of Cobras" in Delhi. He does not wear a mask or any disguise while invisible, and so in episodes such as "The Temple Bells of Neban" he is cautious when he meets an enemy who could potentially disrupt his hypnotic abilities, exposing his true face and instantly making him a visible target for attack.
Background.
In the print adventures, The Shadow is Kent Allard, although his real name is not revealed until "The Shadow Unmasks" (1937). Early stories explain he was once a famed aviator who fought for the French during World War I, known by the alias the "Black Eagle" according to one character in "The Shadow's Shadow" (1933). Later stories revised this alias as the "Dark Eagle", beginning with "The Shadow Unmasks". After the war's conclusion, Allard finds a new challenge in waging war on criminals. Allard falsifies his death by crash landing his plane in Guatemala, encountering the indigenous "Xinca tribe" as a result, who see him as a supernatural being and provide him with two loyal aides. Allard returns to the United States and takes residence in New York City, adopting numerous identities to acquire valuable information and conceal his true nature, and recruiting a variety of agents to aid his war on crime, only a few of whom are aware of his other identities.
As the vigilante called The Shadow, Allard hunts down and often violently confronts criminals, armed with Colt .45 pistols and sometimes using magician tricks to convince his prey that he's supernatural. One such trick is “The Devil's Whisper”, a chemical compound on the thumb and forefinger, causing a flash of bright flame and sharp explosion when he snaps his fingers. The Shadow is also known for wearing a girasol ring with a purple stone (sometimes depicted as a red stone in cover artwork), given to Allard by the Czar of Russia ("The Romanoff Jewels", 1932) during World War I. The ring is later said to be one of two rings made with gemstones taken from the eyes of an idol made by the Xinca tribe ("The Shadow Unmasks," 1937).
The Shadow's best known alter ego is Lamont Cranston, a "wealthy young man-about-town". In the pulps, Cranston is a separate character, a rich playboy who travels the world while The Shadow uses his identity and resources in New York ("The Shadow Laughs", 1931). The Shadow's disguise as Cranston works well because the two men resemble each other ("Dictator of Crime", 1941). In their first meeting, The Shadow threatens Cranston, saying that unless the playboy agrees to allow the aviator to use his identity when he is abroad, then Allard will simply take over the man's identity entirely, having already made arrangements to begin the process, including switching signatures on various documents. Although alarmed at first, the real Lamont Cranston agrees, deciding that sharing his resources and identity is better than losing both entirely. The two men sometimes meet afterward in order to impersonate each other ("Crime over Miami", 1940). As Cranston, The Shadow often attends the Cobalt Club, an exclusive restaurant and lounge catering to the wealthy, and associates with New York City Police Commissioner Ralph Weston.
The Shadow's other disguises include: businessman Henry Arnaud, who like Cranston is a real person whose identity Allard simply assumes at times, as revealed in Arnaud's first appearance "The Black Master" (March 1, 1932); elderly Isaac Twambley, who first appears in "No Time for Murder" (December 1944); and Fritz, an old, seemingly slow-witted, uncommunicative janitor who works at police headquarters, listening in on conversations and examining recovered evidence, first appearing in "The Living Shadow" (April 1931).
In "Teeth of the Dragon" and later stories including "The Golden Pagoda", The Shadow is known in Chinatown as Ying Ko, often fighting the criminal Tong.
In the 2015 Altus Press novel "The Sinister Shadow" by Will Murray, The Shadow masquerades as celebrated criminologist George Clarendon of Chicago, a past member of the Cobalt Club and long-time friend of Commissioner Weston.
For the first half of The Shadow's tenure in the pulps, his past and true identity (outside of his Cranston disguise) are ambiguous. In "The Living Shadow", a thug claiming to have seen the Shadow's face recalls seeing "a piece of white that looked like a bandage". In "The Black Master" and "The Shadow's Shadow", the villains of both stories see The Shadow's true face and remark the vigilante is a man of many faces with no face of his own. It was not until the August 1937 issue, "The Shadow Unmasks", that The Shadow's real name was revealed.
In the radio drama series that premiered in 1937, the Allard secret identity and backstory were dropped for simplicity's sake. The radio incarnation of The Shadow is really and only Lamont Cranston with no other regular cover identities, though he does adopt disguises and short-term aliases during some adventures. The radio version of Cranston travels the world to "learn the old mysteries that modern science has not yet rediscovered" ("Death House Rescue" in 1937). Along with learning skills and knowledge in Europe, Africa, and Asia, he spends time training with a Yogi priest, "Keeper of the Temple of Cobras", in Delhi and learns how to read thoughts and hypnotize people enough to "cloud" their minds, making himself invisible to them (as revealed in the episode "The Temple Bells of Neban" in 1937). He explicitly states in several episodes that his talents are not magic but based on science. Returning to New York, he decides he can best aid the police and his city by operating outside the law as an invisible vigilante. He is somewhat less ruthless and more compassionate than the pulp incarnation, and without the vast network of agents and operatives. Only cab driver/chauffeur Shrevvy makes regular appearances on the radio series, but the character is different from his print counterpart. Commissioner Weston and a few other supporting characters from the print stories also are adapted to radio.
Supporting characters.
The Shadow has a network of agents who assist him in his war on crime. These include:
Though initially wanted by the police, The Shadow also works with and through them, notably gleaning information from his many chats (as Cranston) at the Cobalt Club with NYPD Commissioner Ralph Weston and later Commissioner Wainwright Barth, who is also Cranston's uncle (portrayed by Jonathan Winters in the 1994 film). Weston believes Cranston is merely a rich playboy who dabbles in detective work out of curiosity. Another police contact is Detective (later Inspector) Joseph Cardona, a key character in many Shadow novels.
In contrast to the pulps, "The Shadow" radio drama limited the cast of major characters to The Shadow, Commissioner Weston, and Margo Lane, the last of whom was created for the radio series. Along with giving The Shadow a love interest, Margo was created because it was believed that including Harry Vincent as a regular would mean an overabundance of male characters (considering the criminals in the stories were usually male, too) and could possibly make it difficult for the audience to distinguish between the voices of so many male actors. The radio script for "The Death House Rescue" (reprinted in "The Shadow Scrapbook") features Harry Vincent, but he did not appear in the actual radio broadcast or any episode of the radio drama series. Clyde Burke made occasional appearances, but not as an agent of The Shadow. Lieutenant Cardona was a minor character in several episodes. Moe Shrevnitz (identified only as "Shrevvy") made several appearances as a simple-minded acquaintance of Cranston and Lane who sometimes acted as their chauffeur, unaware Cranston was actually The Shadow.
Enemies.
The Shadow also faces a wide variety of enemies, ranging from kingpins and mad scientists to international spies.
Among his recurring foes are:
The only recurring criminal organization he fought was the Hand ("The Hand", "Murder for Sale", "Chicago Crime", "Crime Rides the Sea" and "Realm of Doom"), where he defeated one Finger of the organization in each book.
In addition, the villain King Kauger from the Shadow story "Wizard of Crime" is the unseen mastermind behind the events of "Intimidation, Inc.", and the organization known as "The Silent Seven" was referenced in the previous title "The Death Tower".
Villains Diamond Bert Farwell, Isaac Coffran, Steve Cronin, Spotter, and Birdie Crull all originated in the first two pulps and returned at least once.
The series featured a myriad of one-shot villains including: The Golden Vulture, Malmordo, The Red Blot, The Black Falcon, The Cobra, Five-Face, Li Hoang, Velma Thane, Quetzal, Judge Lawless, The Gray Ghost, The Silver Skull, Gaspard Zemba, Thade the Death Giver, Kwa the Living Joss, Mox, and The Green Terror.
In addition to The Hand and The Silent Seven, The Shadow also battled other one-shot collectives of criminals, including The Hydra, The Green Hoods, The White Skulls, The Five Chameleons, and The Salamanders.
Radio program.
In early 1930, Street & Smith hired David Chrisman and Bill Sweets to adapt the "Detective Story Magazine" to radio format. Chrisman and Sweets thought the program should be introduced by a mysterious storyteller. A young scriptwriter, Harry Charlot, suggested the name of "The Shadow". Thus, "The Shadow" premiered over CBS airwaves on July 31, 1930, as the host of the "Detective Story Hour", narrating "tales of mystery and suspense from the pages of the premier detective fiction magazine". The bulk of the radio show was written primarily by Sidney Slon. The narrator was first voiced by James La Curto, but became a national sensation when radio veteran Frank Readick, Jr. assumed the role and gave it "a hauntingly sibilant quality that thrilled radio listeners".
Early years.
Following a brief tenure as narrator of Street & Smith's "Detective Story Hour", "The Shadow" character was used to host segments of "The Blue Coal Radio Revue", airing on Sundays at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. This marked the beginning of a long association between the radio persona and sponsor Blue Coal.
While functioning as a narrator of "The Blue Coal Radio Revue", the character was recycled by Street & Smith in October 1931, for its newly created "Love Story Hour". Contrary to dozens of encyclopedias, published reference guides, and even Walter Gibson himself, The Shadow never served as narrator of "Love Story Hour". He appeared only in advertisements for "The Shadow Magazine" at the end of each episode.
In October 1932, the radio persona temporarily moved to NBC. Frank Readick Jr. again played the role of the sinister-voiced host on Mondays and Wednesdays, both at 6:30 p.m., with La Curto taking occasional turns as the title character.
Readick returned as The Shadow to host a final CBS mystery anthology that fall. The series disappeared from CBS airwaves on March 27, 1935, due to Street & Smith's insistence that the radio storyteller be completely replaced by the master crime-fighter described in Walter B. Gibson's ongoing pulps.
Radio drama.
Street & Smith entered into a new broadcasting agreement with Blue Coal in 1937, and that summer Gibson teamed with scriptwriter Edward Hale Bierstadt to develop the new series. "The Shadow" returned to network airwaves with the episode "The Death House Rescue" on September 26, 1937, over the Mutual Broadcasting System. Thus began the "official" radio drama, with 22-year-old Orson Welles starring as Lamont Cranston, a "wealthy young man about town." Once "The Shadow" joined Mutual as a half-hour series on Sunday evenings, the program was broadcast by Mutual until December 26, 1954.
Welles did not speak the signature line, "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?" Instead, Readick did, using a water glass next to his mouth for the echo effect. The famous catchphrase was accompanied by the strains of an excerpt from Opus 31 of the Camille Saint-Saëns classical composition, "Le Rouet d'Omphale."
In the debut episode "The Death House Rescue," Cranston explains he spent years studying in London, Paris, Vienna, Egypt, China, and India, learning different fields of science as well as "the old mysteries that modern science has not yet rediscovered, the natural magic that modern psychology is beginning to understand." He states his hypnotic and seemingly telepathic abilities are not magic but based on scientific secrets most of the world has forgotten or does not yet understand. In "The Temple Bells of Neban" in 1937, he specifies that a Yogi priest, "Keeper of the Temple of Cobras" in Delhi, taught him how to be invisible by "clouding" peoples' minds. He indicates in "The Death House Rescue" that he always intended to use his acquired knowledge to secretly fight evil forces that evaded conventional authorities. In the same episode, when his companion Margo Lane suggests he work openly with the police, Cranston implies the police and general public would not understand or approve of his strange methods and abilities, concluding he is only effective by working outside of the law. The radio version of The Shadow is less ruthless than his pulp counterpart, preferring to capture his foes more often than gun them down. He sometimes openly shows compassion for his enemies, even at time criticizing society for creating circumstances that lead to certain crimes and cause some people to lose hope and support.
After Welles departed the show in 1938, Bill Johnstone was chosen to replace him and voiced the character for five seasons. Following Johnstone's departure, The Shadow was portrayed by such actors as Bret Morrison (the longest tenure, with 10 years total in two separate runs), John Archer, and Steven Courtleigh (the actors were rarely credited).
"The Shadow" also inspired another radio hit, "The Whistler", with a similarly mysterious narrator.
In "The Talking Magpies" (1946), the cartoon film debut of the precursors who would become Heckle and Jeckle, The Shadow radio program is referenced in a scene.
Margo Lane.
The radio drama also introduced Margo Lane (played by Agnes Moorehead, among others) as Cranston's love interest, crime-solving partner, and the only person who knows his identity as The Shadow. Described as Cranston's "friend and companion" in many episodes, the exact nature of their relationship was not explicitly stated, but Margo mentions in the first episode that she loves him and hopes he will retire The Shadow identity and operate without secrecy if the police really need his help. Four years after the radio show began, the character was introduced into the pulp novels as one of The Shadow's agents. Her sudden, unexplained appearance in the pulps annoyed readers and generated a flurry of hate mail printed on "The Shadow Magazine's" letters page.
In early scripts of the radio drama, the character's name was spelled "Margot." The name itself was originally inspired by Margot Stevenson, the Broadway ingénue who would later be chosen to voice Lane opposite Welles's The Shadow during "the 1938 Goodrich summer season of the radio drama." In the 1994 film in which Penelope Ann Miller played the character, Margo is portrayed as telepathic, making her aware of and able to counter The Shadow's mental abilities.
Radio drama LPs and CDs.
In 1968, Metro Record's "Leo the Lion" label released an LP titled "The Official Adventures of The Shadow" (CH-1048) with two original 15-minute radio-style productions written by John Fleming: "The Computer Calculates, but The Shadow Knows" and "Air Freight Fracas." Bret Morrison, Grace Matthews, and Santos Ortega reprised their roles as Cranston/The Shadow, Margo Lane, and Commissioner Weston. Ken Roberts also returned as the announcer.
Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, dozens of LPs appeared in print from other record labels featuring recordings taken from the original broadcast Shadow radio show dramas. With the advent of the compact disc, more of the radio shows were commercially released.
Comic strip.
"The Shadow" has been adapted for comics a number of times during his long history; his first was on June 17, 1940, as a syndicated daily newspaper comic strip offered through the Ledger Syndicate. The strip's story continuity was written by Walter B. Gibson, with plot lines adapted from the Shadow pulps, and the strip was illustrated by Vernon Greene.
The comic strip, which ran until June 20, 1942, comprised 14 stories, the last of which was left uncompleted when the strip was canceled:
"The Shadow" daily strip was collected decades later in two comic book series from two different publishers (see below), first in 1988 and then again in 1999.
Comic books.
History.
1940s-1960s.
To both cross-promote "The Shadow" and attract a younger audience to its other pulp magazines, Street & Smith published 101 issues of the comic book "Shadow Comics" from Vol. 1, #1 – Vol. 9, #5 (March 1940 – Sept. 1949). A Shadow story led off each issue, with the remainder of the stories being strips based on other Street & Smith pulp heroes.
In "Mad" #4 (April–May 1953), "The Shadow" was spoofed by Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder with a character called "The Shadow'" (with an apostrophe), which is short for "Lamont Shadowskeedeeboomboom". This story was reprinted in "The Brothers Mad" (ibooks, New York, 2002, ). The charcer returned in "Mad" #14 (August 1954) to guest-star in "Manduck the Magician", a spoof by Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder of the "Mandrake the Magician" comic strip. This story was reprinted