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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 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. 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? It
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 is about 18Mb - download time will depend on your
(broadband) speed TS_1998-06-17
Radio Detectives - The Shadow Knows.mp3 This MP3 CD contains 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 16 surviving episodes of The Shadow starring Orson Welles. 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 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 B.
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 C.
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 |