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Orson Welles'
The Shadow |
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Who knows what evil lurks in the
hearts of men The Shadows does! The Shadow started out as a narrative character on
Detective Hour for American radio in 1930 - a year later Street &
Smith (who sponsored the
radio show) put the character into his own pulp magazine which lasted an
impressive 18 years. Eventually, in
1937, the character was given his own show on American radio. It was heard on
Sundays at 5:30 pm with sponsor Blue Coal, but had a new voice for Lamont Cranston, the young and relatively new theatre
and radio personality: Orson Welles. The 1937 programs also began to feature "The
Shadow" as a character in the stories, rather than merely as a narrator.
The series proved extremely popular with Welles at the helm however he left
after only 6 months. But the series of programs produced during that time
were fabulous (and legendary) productions owing a lot to the skill of Welles
in projecting The Shadow's menace
over the airwaves. Only 16 episodes of the first series have survived but
they do include the last Welles' episode "The White Legion" in which Welles, who had played
the role anonymously, is famously "unmasked" for the listener. A mere week
later The Shadow was
back on air for a second season - this time with B. F. Goodrich Tyres as sponsor - and who was to play The
Shadow? None other
than Orson Welles again! It was kept a
secret and Welles was never mentioned in the cast - but its definitely him
and there is universal agreement that Welles did play The Shadow for this
entire second season of 26
episodes Luckily all 27
episodes have survived - some only recently have seen the light of day (so to
speak). Welles did
finally leave the role after this second season ended in September of 1938.
He had bigger fish to fry É In the summer of
1938 CBS gave Welles a weekly hour-long show to broadcast radio plays based
on classic literary works. The show was titled The Mercury Theatre on the
Air, with original music
by Bernard Herrmann,
who would continue working with Welles on radio and in films for years. Their
October 30 broadcast of that year was H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. This brought Welles fame on an
international level, as the program's realism created widespread panic among
listeners (who believed an actual Martian invasion was underway), a panic
reported around the world. Fellow Shadow actors Ray Collins (Commissioner
Weston), Carl Frank and
Kenny Delmar helped put together a production that now ranks as the most
famous radio show ever made! Whilst Welles'
most famous Mercury Theatre effort was War of the Worlds, his production of John
Buchan's The 39 Steps in
which he played the hero Richard Hannay was very highly regarded and often opined as one of
his best. Other interesting productions included such well known classics as Dracula,
Treasure Island, A Tale of Two Cities, Sherlock Holmes & Hell on Ice (co-starring Joseph Cotten). With his fame
assured thanks to War of the Worlds, The Mercury Theatre on the Air gained a sponsor and morphed into The Campbell Playhouse in 1939. Excellent adventure stories in
this later series included Beau Geste (co-starring Sir Laurence Olivier & Noah Beery - the latter reprising his role from the
1926 silent film!), The Count of Monte Cristo & Hurricane (with Mary Astor recreating her screen role) Want to check out Jeffery Richards's 30 minute BBC
Radio documentary: The Shadow on Radio? What about an episode of The Shadow starring
Orson Welles? They can be freely downloaded to your computer -
just right button click on any link below and chose "Download Linked
File" (or words to that effect). The file sizes are about 18Mb &
26Mb respectively - download time will depend on your (broadband) speed TS_1998-06-17
Radio Detectives - The Shadow Knows.mp3 TSOW_1938-07-31
Revenge on The Shadow.mp3 These two MP3 CDs contain a 1998 Radio Detectives
documentary in which Sir Jeffrey Richards discusses the impact of
Orson Welles as The Shadow as well a short (7 minute) 1985 "The Story
of Welles' The Shadow" documentary led by The Shadow's announcer, Ken
Roberts. Then follows all 42 surviving episodes
of The Shadow starring Orson Welles. (The first 'Blue Coal' season of 16
episodes and the complete second 'B. F. Goodrich' season
of 26 episodes) Additionally 60 minute Mercury Theatre of the Air
dramatizations of The Thirty Nine Steps and The War of the Worlds
as well as Dracula, Treasure Island, A Tale of Two Cities, Sherlock Holmes & Hell
on Ice are also included. The Campbell Playhouse entries: Beau Geste, The Count of Monte Cristo &
Hurricane are included as well The entire set of episodes have been digitally
enhanced and are presented with clear and clean audio for the first time -
fabulous! A. Documentaries 1.
A 30 minute
BBC Radio Detectives: The Shadow Knows 2.
A 7 minute
Ken Roberts' documentary: The Story of Welles' The Shadow B. The
Shadow starring Orson Welles (1st Season: Blue Coal as sponsor) 1.
TS_1937-09-26
Death House Rescue.mp3 2.
TS_1937-10-17
Murder by the Dead.mp3 3.
TS_1937-10-24
The Temple Bells Of Neban.mp3 4.
TS_1937-10-31
Three Ghosts.mp3 5.
TS_1937-11-28
Circle of Death.mp3 6.
TS_1937-12-12
The Death Triangle.mp3 7.
TS_1938-01-09
The League of Terror.mp3 8.
TS_1938-01-16
Sabotage.mp3 9.
TS_1938-01-23
The Society of the Living Dead.mp3 10.
TS_1938-01-30
The Poison Death.mp3 11.
TS_1938-02-06
The Phantom Voice.mp3 12.
TS_1938-02-20
Hounds in the Hills.mp3 13.
TS_1938-02-27
The Plot Murder.mp3 14.
TS_1938-03-06
The Bride of Death.mp3 15.
TS_1938-03-13
The Silent Avenger.mp3 16.
TS_1938-03-20
The White Legion.mp3 C. The
Shadow starring Orson Welles (2nd Season: B. F. Goodrich as
sponsor) 1.
TSOW_1938-03-27
The Hypnotized Audience.mp3 2.
TSOW_1938-04-03
Death From The Deep.mp3 3.
TSOW_1938-04-10
The Firebug.mp3 4.
TSOW_1938-04-17
The Blind Beggar Dies.mp3 5.
TSOW_1938-04-24
The Power Of The Mind.mp3 6.
TSOW_1938-05-01
The White God.mp3 7.
TSOW_1938-05-08
Aboard the Steamship Amazon.mp3 8.
TSOW_1938-05-15
Murders In Wax.mp3 9.
TSOW_1938-05-22
The Message From the Hills.mp3 10.
TSOW_1938-05-29
The Creeper.mp3 11.
TSOW_1938-06-05
The Tenor With the Broken Voice.mp3 12.
TSOW_1938-06-12
Murder On Approval.mp3 13.
TSOW_1938-06-19
The Tomb Of Terror.mp3 14.
TSOW_1938-06-26
The Old People.mp3 15.
TSOW_1938-07-03
The Voice of the Trumpet.mp3 16.
TSOW_1938-07-10
He Died at Twelve.mp3 17.
TSOW_1938-07-17
The Reincarnation of Michael.mp3 18.
TSOW_1938-07-24
The Mark of The Bat.mp3 19.
TSOW_1938-07-31
Revenge on The Shadow.mp3 20.
TSOW_1938-08-07
The Mine Hunters.mp3 21.
TSOW_1938-08-14
The Hospital Murders.mp3 22.
TSOW_1938-08-21
The Caverns of Death.mp3 23.
TSOW_1938-08-28
Death Under the Chapel.mp3 24.
TSOW_1938-09-04
Black Buddha.mp3 25.
TSOW_1938-09-11
The Witch Drums.mp3 26.
TSOW_1938-09-18
Professor X.mp3 D.
Mercury
Theatre of the Air starring Orson Welles 1.
MT_1938-07-11
Dracula.mp3 2.
MT_1938-07-18
Treasure Island.mp3 3.
MT_1938-07-25
A Tale of Two Cities.mp3 4.
MT_1938-08-01
The Thirty Nine Steps.mp3 5.
MT_1938-09-25
The Immortal Sherlock Holmes.mp3 6.
MT_1938-10-09
Hell on Ice.mp3 7.
MT_1938-10-30
The War of the Worlds.mp3 E. The
Campbell Playhouse starring Orson Welles 1.
CP_1939-03-17
Beau Geste.mp3 2.
CP_1939-10-01
The Count of Monte Cristo.mp3 3.
CP_1939-11-05
Hurricane.mp3 |