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THE SHADOW
The Shadow, alias Lamont Cranston, was born in the 1930s, both as a character in Street & Smith publications and by radio sponsor Blue Coal. Written by Walter B. Gibson under the pen name Maxwell Grant, the Shadow
fought crime and clouded men’s minds not only in the pulps and on the radio but also, along with the lovely Margot Lane, in the movies, in comic books and in a comic strip.
The Shadow debuted as the announcer of the Detective Story radio program in 1930, which became The Shadow in 1932. The show aired on CBS, NBC or Mutual from 1932 to 1954,
and the programs were resurrected and syndicated in the 1960s and 1970s. There were a number of regional or national sponsors: Blue Coal for most of the years between 1932 and 1949, along with
Perfect-O-Lite (1932), Goodrich tires (1938-1939), Grove Laboratories (1949-1950), the Army Air Force (1950-1951), Wildroot Cream Oil (1951-1953), Carey Salt Company, and Bromo Quinine cold
tablets. Both Blue Coal (in 1941) and Carey Salt (in 1945) offered glow-in-the-dark premium rings, and The Shadow Magazine offered a club membership lapel emblem and other items.
A Shadow comic strip appeared in newspapers from 1938 to 1942 with art by Vern Greene, and comic books were published from 1940 to 1950 with
art by Charles Coll, in 1964-1965 (with The Shadow as costumed superhero), and in 1973-1975 with well done stories by Dennis O’Neil and Michael Uslan and superb art by Michael Kaluta. The Shadow made a number of low-budget film
appearances in the 1930s and 1940s, notably in a 15-episode chapter play from Columbia Pictures in 1940 with Victor Jory in the title role. In 1994 Alec Baldwin played the lead in a Universal film. “Who knows what evil lurks in the
hearts of men?”
From
The Official Price Guide to Pop Culture Memorabilia: 150 Years of Character Toys & Collectibles by Ted Hake ©Random House, 2008.
The Shadow Memorabilia Available For Sale |
