Fri 11 Oct 2019
Old Time Radio Review: THE SHADOW “The Man Who Murdered Time” (1939).
Posted by Steve under Old Time Radio , Reviews[18] Comments
THE SHADOW “The Man Who Murdered Time.” Mutual Radio Network. January 1, 1939. William Johnstone, Agnes Moorehead. Sponsor: B. F. Goodrich Tires.
In this, the first adventure of The Shadow (aka Lamont Cranston) in 1939, the man who can control men’s minds so that they cannot see him, deals with a mad scientist (there is seldom any other kind on the radio) who has invented a time machine. Dying of an incurable disease, he has by the flip of a switch found a way to set the entire world back 24 hours so to relive the day, December 31, over and over again.
And thus the series delves deeply into science fiction, rather than a pure detective mystery. I always find it interesting to see how writers try to explain their time travel stories to mass audiences; this time the analogy is to a railroad track that time travels down. The scientist in this one simply bends the track into a circle, so the day repeats itself, with no one the wiser.
Except for Lamont Cranston, whose powers of “invisibility” from the Orient also mean the scientist’s machine does not affect him; or at least he is fully aware that the time has curled back on itself. And because Margot Lane is dancing in his arms at the time, she also is aware of what is happening.
All this makes for a story that’s pure nonsense,of course, but it’s one that’s still very entertaining to listen to, perfectly timed for a New Year’s Day broadcast.
October 12th, 2019 at 12:45 pm
That was fun. I haven’t listened to any OTR in a long time. I do remember listening to some shows when I was a kid, Sgt. Preston of the Yukon was a favorite. I tried Inner Sanctum once, but it was too scary.
October 12th, 2019 at 3:08 pm
It’s hard for me to say for sure, but THE SHADOW may have been the first radio program I ever listened to. Another possibility is THE ROY ROGERS show, which I saw an ad for in the Sunday comics section. This would have been in 1948, when Roy’s series was broadcast on Sundays, and so led me to The Shadow which ran earlier on the same network.
Forgive me for major woolgathering, but as I recall The Shadow was too “adult” for me, so once I discovered Mutual’s kids’ programming, that’s what I stuck with. Shows like Superman, Tom Mix, Bobby Benson, Straight Arrow and yes, Sgt Preston. Copies of some of them have survived, some series more than others.
October 12th, 2019 at 5:07 pm
I’m familiar with this episode. But I wouldn’t have remembered it unless deliberately called to mind by someone recounting it. That artwork is always fun though –Lee Van Cleef, surely. Those eyebrows and that hawk nose.
Other Shadow interludes stand out for me more than the #1 in the series, I confess. It is true that early on, Shadow mixed it up with numerous mad scientists and obsessed crackpots. Crazed chemists fired from their factories, disgruntled backstage marauders like ‘Phantom of the Opera’, (only not). Arsonists. Poisoners. Crooks committing crimes in his name. One madman was a former symphony pianist or something(?) and due to some ear problem, became enraged at any loud noise, and so went on a campaign to render New York completely silent by the use of … you get the idea. This convoluted of a plot was not even uncommon for this serial. There’s others similar.
Surprisingly, (and refreshingly) Shadow occasionally traveled to far-off places like Africa or South Pacific islands. You can find him occasionally on a Clipper, a liner, or a cargo ship besides the usual ‘gangland’, New York City subways, navy bases, prison breaks, carnival sideshows, attending seances, or descending old mine-shafts. Ultimately, the goal of each romp is often to pin ‘The Shadow’ in such a trap (locked-rooms, etc) that he must show himself –only, he never does.
Livelier adventures (in my opinion) are when he faces determined enemy spy rings and saboteur plots rather than disturbed, cackling loners. These donnybrooks can get quite rousing when the unnamed but Teutonic-accented villains bicker and squabble among themselves; spluttering and snarling at the trouble he causes them. ‘Shadow’ is polite and well-spoken to the point of ear-weariness.
Margot Lane frankly almost steals the show, with quips and chirrups and sighs of exasperation which the morose Shadow never indulges in.
Just by the way, the duo make extensive use of ‘short-wave radio’ sets. There was something of a craze for this technology at the time, among adolescents and serial fans. ‘Shadow’ also faces occasional exotic climaxes based on nitroglycerine, nerve gas, or medical experiment labs.
Best ‘Shadow’ episodes –my opinion –are the ones where he must match powers against someone else from the Far East who either shares his powers or knows exactly how to defeat them. Standout contest: his battle with the cobra-wielding daughter of his former teacher.
All-time most riveting episode: a very odd adventure set in thickly-wooded mountaintop where Margot’s aunt has invited her to vacation. Unearthly howls and wails in the distance, but the forest is utterly empty of wildlife. Good yarn.
Early-early-early ‘Shadow’ is a mixed bag; (I don’t have any particular authority to guide anyone among its pleasures) but I would warn interested parties that there was not only Orson Welles but –as I recall– at least one other actor cast as the Shadow’s voice depending on the installment.
I would admit to liking the Shadow well enough as far as it goes –Welles & Co are adroit –but the show is a little pained, strained, and stilted at times. The opening lines are classic but one has to pick-and-choose sparingly so as not to tire too quickly of it.
Plucking from competitors in it’s same league, I would probably take the Hornet 70% of the time and the Shadow perhaps only 30%.
Glad to see a radio serial reviewed on this site. A treat; I thank you and also appreciate being able to tack on some remarks of my own. Cheers.
October 12th, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Lazy, Thank you for such a wonderful overview of the SHADOW radio series. I had no particular reason for picking the one to review that I did. I chose it totally at random, and in fact it was the first time I’d listened to any radio show in several years.
At one time I had all of the radio shows that collectors had put into circulation. This was back in the early days of OTR trading on reel-to-reel tape. At the peak of my collecting days I had upward of 15,000 shows.
I never thought much of collecting them on cassettes, and when the Internet came along and made them generally available online, in lousy MP3 sound, my interest gradually faded away.
Maybe it’s time for me to revisit the OTR hobby with more reviews of individual shows like this one.
October 12th, 2019 at 10:38 pm
I recall my mother talking about listening to the Shadow then having to go to bed in the dark as a child. I was a teen and had encountered the pulp version before ever hearing an episode of the radio series, so the invisibility and the lack of the characters from the pulps were missed, but the series always had the atmospherics down.
I’m not really sure most of the stories made sense if that was the standard you held them to, but they were fun to listen to, plays on the screen in your mind that the movies never quite managed to equal.
October 13th, 2019 at 10:55 am
The Shadow got his start in radio. Publishers Street & Smith promoted their magazine DETECTIVE STORY with a radio series. The Shadow existed only on the radio series until S&S noticed the number of people asking for The Shadow magazine.
Walter B. Gibson wrote nearly all of the pulp stories. He did not like the radio version. There were differences between the radio show and the pulp magazine. Most notable was Lamont Cranston. The radio version simplified the character by making The Shadow Lamont, but the pulp had Lamont as just one of The Shadow’s many aliases.
October 13th, 2019 at 12:48 pm
Michael
I grew up listening to The Shadow on the radio, so when I finally got around to reading one his pulp magazine adventures, many years later, I wondered how it could be that the author got everything so backwards wrong.
October 13th, 2019 at 11:06 am
The internet archive’s stock of horror/fright radio serials is especially worth investigating around this time of year. I know these days practically everyone –when they arrive home from their workday –instinctively turns on their enormous flat-screen TV hanging on the wall, and chooses from a galaxy of entertainment choices available to us all. But speaking merely for myself, when autumn arrives I like to cook supper and putter ’round my rooms with just the sights and sounds of the changing season outside, coming in through the windows. To that, a little audio is all I like to add as I take care of routine tasks –maybe a bit of classical music or, (as in the case of ‘The Shadow’) some OTRR. By the end of the month, some really atmospheric old serials like ‘Suspense’ or ‘The Whistler’ or Arch Obler’s ‘Lights Out’ might be what I turn to. They provide just enough intrigue to refresh my imagination without interfering with my attention-span; or stealing anything from my enjoyment of the choppy skies and changing foliage outside. Might not even be amiss to re-listen to Mercury Theater’s “War of the Worlds” as Oct 31st draws near; just to marvel at the young Welles crew that went on to such subsequent fame. And there are some real gems in those thriller serials –you can get deliciously walloped by an unexpected voice-appearance by Vincent Price or Boris Karloff in some little-known story by Poe or Bradbury which television-based culture has forgotten all about. One can encounter some really fine writing in audio serials. Archive.org even has “gathered-together-collections” of audience-recommended best ‘finds’ in each genre. It’s good stuff; and its also history. I find it intriguing to reflect on that period in American life when radio and movie theaters were our only past-times. Best regards to all.
October 13th, 2019 at 11:36 am
oh –couple more thoughts to add. I recall that ‘The Shadow’ was akin to a couple other similarly-engineered crime-fighting audio heroes. Similar in the way they appeared during the course of an episode; with a marked change in their voice. It rather makes sense –what else was there to do? When Cranston disappears from Margot’s side and later turns up at the elbow of some embezzler or safecracker, there is only his altered speech to alert listeners that he is now invisible and ready for action. (Radio) Clark Kent did this too I believe; another hero called ‘The Whisperer’ shares this trait, and ‘The Green Llama’ crimestopper as well, if my memory serves. You can’t ‘see’ these figures change in costume when they go into action, so everything depends on their voice. I think ‘the Shadow’ boosted sales in both magazines and listenership and maybe spawned (or was spawned) by this idea and also because he had that weird signature laughter, his trademark.
Final comment on Margot Lane: I never looked into what other actresses played her in the serial but I recall being startled to learn of Moorhead’s involvement with the show. She’s great; it’s just that I would never have paired the sparking, charming voice of this girlish character with Moorhead whom I always perceive as more of a femme-fatale. She does a bang-up job in a rather thankless role. You’d be hard-put to find another sidekick who gripes or complains as little as Margot Lane does to Lamont. She practically worships him; it’s almost disturbing in how sycophantic she is. Margot eagerly carries out the Shadow’s every instruction no matter how odious and Cranston never even kisses her as far as I can tell. In one episode, Shadow is battling agents on a freighter departing a US port, and since a Coast Guard cutter is approaching (they’ll apprehend the crooks once Shadow has them K.O.’ed) Margot has to go over the side and swim for shore alone. She’s still cheerful about it though, “Don’t worry about me Lamont, I’m a good swimmer!”. Had to shake my head at that finale.
October 13th, 2019 at 12:46 pm
Lazy
You’re right on target again, Lazy. Superman on the radio always had a deeper more resonant sound than did Clark Kent, but even as a kid I knew it was the same man.
As for Margot Lane, who knows how many times she was held prisoner until the Shadow could get there to rescue her, usually in the nick of time. As for her swimming ability, it also goes along with what being a “faithful companion” is all about!
October 13th, 2019 at 1:21 pm
Lazy, I did a review of the WHISPERER and three other radio crime fighters here
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=55363
I have been working on a review of THE AVENGER and was surprised to learn THE WHISPERER was a Street & Smith pulp.
Internet archive is a good source of radio shows. Try YouTube there are countless OTR there to listen to as well
October 14th, 2019 at 5:26 pm
Thanks, I enjoyed that link. Quite a bit of savvy info; well-presented too. Will return to digest it (and all the comments) in bite-sized pieces.
I sure don’t own mp3’s of all of those sleuths mentioned. That ‘Johnny Fletcher’ one –I’m going to seek him out. I’m unfamiliar with him. Definitely a fan of Carleton Young in ‘The Whisperer’.
The reprinted article on Basil Rathbone caught my eye; relished that little bit. I’ve listened to a slew of Holmes on-the-air. But I myself get tired of hearing Rathbone in so many Holmes audio outings. Although he is quintessential, over time he becomes so thoroughly …well, boilerplate. Predictable enunciation in every line. Fine, dynamic actor with a wonderful career (I like him best in ‘Dawn Patrol’) but on radio –in this series –he just never seems to vary his delivery or try anything new. There’s much professionalism in that production though, and it was done at a frenetic pace too, or so I understand. The duo were filming the movies at the same time and bounced back and forth across Hollywood every day like ping-pong balls.
I agree that ‘European Confidential’ is pretty terrible. I have not sampled ‘Fatima’, but I’d like to.
In general, the topic of *audio* Holmes/Watson is a rich one. Please let me know if there’s there’s any old threads around here which dwell on it… as it so happens, I’m going to listen to a version of ‘Baskervilles’ this very week. (Haroooooooww…..)
October 14th, 2019 at 8:10 pm
Rathbone would quit THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES in 1946 and replaced in 1947 by Tom Conway (47), John Stanley (47-49) and Ben Wright (49-50).
It is easy to find the Conway and Stanley versions at YouTube. Thought you might enjoy one with John Stanley.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYV0oFn9RIc
October 14th, 2019 at 10:33 pm
Know it well! Stanley is decent. What is interesting (and I hope I’m not derailing this thread) but the succession of actors who played Watson in all the various outings.
Take for example, Alfred Shirley (sp?) As far as I can tell this same Shirley appeared in Mercury Theater’s Holmes play as one of the Irregulars. Quite a career.
One I was not aware of is Ben Wright. Of course I know (and admire) Wright, but did not realize he ever appeared as Holmes. Thank you for that piece of info. Gonna look into it.
October 14th, 2019 at 10:56 pm
I reckon we’re discussing the care and feeding of sidekicks here so it’s not too far off the purpose/theme of the site.
Mention of Shirley occurred to me because off-the-top-of-my head I believe he was partner to Stanley. And they got on rather warmly I think. It turns out there’s several ways to ‘play’ John Watson. (Nigel Bruce often receives criticism for his portrayal as ‘bumbling’).
One thing disconcerting about the writing for Rathbone/Bruce though is that Rathbone’s Holmes is often very cutting and abrupt with his Watson. Repeatedly, he will ‘silence’ Bruce with, ‘Don’t INTERRUPT, Watson–!’. Unnecessarily harsh.
John Stanley’s demeanor as Holmes, is more supple and forgiving; his characterization seems to have a little more humaneness to it. He’s avuncular and paternal to Shirley’s Watson, which is played …well, I don’t know. I’ll listen to someone else’s reactions.
The upshot is that sidekicks can subtly do a lot to make the detective a superstar.
October 15th, 2019 at 11:29 am
Some doctoral student could do no better than to write a full dissertation on the use of sidekicks in literature in general, not just mystery fiction.
If it hasn’t been done already!
October 31st, 2019 at 5:13 pm
I’ve still got famous sidekicks on my mind. As far as radio goes, I’ve finally settled on my favorite. Turkish/Russian actor Leon Belasco plays zany second-fiddle to Herbert Marshall’s “Ken Thurston” (international agent) in “The Man Called X”.
Marshall’s turgid, prim, upperclass intonation versus the jittery, paprika-heavy, agitation of Belasco’s high-energy foil, “Pegan Zellschmidtz” (no one has ever been able to definitely spell this name) makes for hilarious chemistry. Without this teaming, the show is rather staid and flat; but once the writers added Belasco it’s a romp.
Similar to Brian Donlevy in ‘Dangerous Assignment’ –Marshall starts each episode by checking in with his chief for his latest mission. Then, he hops a plane for some far-off clime. Only –wherever he arrives, he immediately finds “Pegan” underfoot, blowing his cover, and gumming up the mission, much to the vexation of the show’s hero. Because, this pest is not officially his sidekick at all –just an underhanded, conniving leech following him around.
The hapless, money-hungry Pegan is either already in the destination city, engaged in some Harry Lime-style shady deal; or else he just happened to be at headquarters when Thurston got his orders and sneaked aboard his flight (expressly against agency policy).
If not by this device, he always appears later in the plot trying to milk the expense account of The-man-called-X. He will turn up in preposterous disguises, profuse with apologies but nonetheless muddying the clues; caging free food of drinks; or trying to steal girls away from his suffering superior.
Thurston sighs and sighs and sighs, but does use him for leg-work, (disdainfully tossing him a few rupees even though the cowardly Zellschmidt occasionally saves the entire case for him). It’s sparkling, droll, class-based comedy.
If I’m not mistaken, this kind of thing shows up in the later installments of Roger Moore’s Bond films. Also found in TV’s MacGuyver (another example). But it’s so effective, more writers should use it in more places. Just the thing to alleviate heavy-handed genre storytelling laden with too many hoary tropes.
October 31st, 2019 at 6:42 pm
Lazy, I hadn’t thought of THE MAN CALLED X in years until you left this comment. A super super job. I agree. On the radio Herbert Marshall was a rather dull performer. He really needed that kick in the side that the character
Pegan Zellschmidtz (I’ll use your spelling) gave him.