Thu 24 Dec 2020
An Old Time Radio Review: THE SHADOW “Death Rides a Broomstick” (1941)
Posted by Steve under Old Time Radio , Reviews[8] Comments
THE SHADOW “Death Rides a Broomstick.†Mutual, 02 March 1941. Bill Johnstone (Lamont Cranston, a/k/a The Shadow), Marjorie Anderson (Margot Lane). Script: Jerry Devine. Sponsor: Blue Coal.
Packed into this short 30 minute drama is boatload of old pulp clichés, beginning with a woman accused of being a witch in the Scottish highlands in 1741. Before she is burned to death at the stake, she issues a curse upon the McCavery clan responsible: “death to all male descendants still living 200 years later,†which is when the story then takes up.
Add a mysterious dark mansion where Margo and Lamont are greeted but turned away by a gangster who calls himself The Smiler, a open graveyard outside, an escaped convict who is a prisoner inside, a dingy tavern by the sea filled with all sorts of thugs, a twist in the tale, ending with the curse fulfilled and a spooky cackle in the air.
Pure nonsense of course, but with the lights turned down low, nonetheless a lot of fun.
December 24th, 2020 at 6:39 pm
I listened to The Shadow with regularity, but Bret Morrison played Lamont Cranston at that time.
December 24th, 2020 at 7:14 pm
That’s who I grew up listening to also. He was one of the guests at a very early OTR convention I was able to get to. This would have been in the early 1970s. When he did “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men..” and then the laugh, using a water glass cupped next to this mouth for proper effect, a chill went through my entire body.
December 24th, 2020 at 10:22 pm
My Mother always talked about listening to the Shadow in the dark with her sisters. By the time I heard the program it was the mid fifties and on in the afternoon as radio drama had its last fling.
If I hadn’t had measles I wouldn’t have heard it until the revival of old radio in the sixties.
December 25th, 2020 at 12:02 am
To my ear, Orson Welles and Agnes Moorhead, the only truly satisfying ‘just settle back and listen’ players, when it comes to ‘The Shadow’. Their voices are butterscotch. Yep, there were other voice actors in that series –and although they ably carried out their duties –there’s something still lacking for this listener.
Welles and Moorhead always had a ‘catch in the throat’, a ‘breathless’ quality in their performances which clinches it for me.
I also preferred when Shadow went up against realistic enemies like the Hun or like, Gangland. Although some of his very best episodes were lurid and supernatural …that’s a too-rich diet for me on a regular basis.
‘The Shadow’. Truth be told, a little hard to digest for me at this stage. Reason: cliches galore. Production was not just replete with tropes, it brimmed over. Filled up three times and slopping over at the rim. Not even ‘Green Hornet’ relied on such corny, hoary old plot crutches as does, ‘Shadow’. And Hornet is chock-full of ’em. But ‘Shadow’ just goes gaga …with the crustiest gags ever.
“Oh Lamont! Lamont! Why don’t you answer me??”
“…and because I left the receiver off the hook, your confession was relayed in full to police headquarters…”
“if you glance behind you, you’ll find Sergeant O’Malley ten paces behind you, he’s heard all you’ve admitted, and is drawing a bead on you even as we speak –isn’t that right, Sergeant?”
December 25th, 2020 at 12:32 am
Right on!
December 25th, 2020 at 12:16 am
I remember the benefits of ‘Blue Coal’ for my heating needs …better than I remember the performances of Bill Johnstone and Marjorie Anderson!
‘Signal Oil’ … ‘L&M cigarettes’ …’Fatima’ cigarettes ..the payroll savings plan …’Lucky Strike’ …’Chesterfield’ ..’Jell-O’ …Del Monte pineapple chunks …all coming out my ears
December 28th, 2020 at 12:58 pm
This episode features many of New York’s Radio Row including: Richard Widmark (James), Kenny Delmar (Weston), Everett Sloane (ship’s captain, judge), Frank Lovejoy (The Smiler), Arthur Vinton (Sailor’s Roost bartender), Santos Ortego (Uncle Garth), Ethel Owen (The Witch, phone operator) and Paul Huber (heating expert John Barclay). Elsie Thompson was the organist. All under the direction of Wilson “Bill” Tuttle. A nit-picky note is that the sponsor was the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Coal Co. (often known as the D. L. & W. Coal Co.) which promoted its ‘blue coal’ brand of anthracite via The Shadow program for many years.
December 28th, 2020 at 1:06 pm
Thank you for all these details, Karl. I really appreciate it. Back when I was collecting radio shows in earnest (on reel-to-reel tape), I was able to match names with voices a lot better than I can now. I was fairly sure of Everett Sloane and Frank Lovejoy, but not really for any of the others. Of course it helps that both Sloane and Lovejoy had voices that could not be mistaken for anyone else.