The Shadow Returns: The NBC Season

The Shadow speaks again! The mystery voice of the air, bringing more tales of the strange, the weird and the supernatural, is returning to the broadcast waves over a National Broadcasting Company network. The omniscient presence, wrapped in impenetrable secrecy, appears before the microphone . . . Although the identity of The Shadow remains a secret, his dramas of the strange and the unusual are familiar to many radio listeners who have followed its previous broadcast series.

— The October 5, 1932, issue of the Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican

After a full year on the Detective Story Magazine Hour, the short-lived Perfect-O-Lite Shadow series and the Blue Coal Radio Revue, The Shadow returned with a full season of supernatural and detective stories under the title, Blue Coal Mystery Revue, in what the September 25, 1932, issue of the New York Times referred to as “tales of the strange, the weird and macabre … original mystery stories dealing with baffling occurrences in all parts of the world.” Variety offered what was probably the earliest indication that The Shadow was making a return to the airwaves in its August 30, 1932, issue. “When Blue Coal debuts on Columbia, October 22, it will be the first time that one commercial will go out of its way to slip in a plug for another.” It was all part of the contract the coal company had made with Street & Smith. In return for the credit given it on the coal session, the publishing house agreed to furnish the scripts for the mystery play interludes on the program. Together with the free use of the stories, Street & Smith agreed to let Blue Coal revive “The Shadow” character, one described by Variety as “a figment that the publishers had given heavy play while they themselves were on the air up to last season.”

The announcement in the August issue was premature. The Shadow did not premiere over CBS in late October. Instead, it made the transition to NBC and began earlier that month. The October 1, 1932, issue of Billboard revealed some of the behind-the-scenes details regarding the production: “Last season’s program was a mixed musical and dramatic affair and the current bookings for time will have a musical on CBS of half-hour duration in the nature of a revue. George Earle, who had the half hour Sunday evening program last season, will again handle it as musical director [a position originally slated for Billy Artz]. Earle will also take part in the NBC program which will start October 5 at 8 p.m., where he will revive The Shadow and play the part presumably, altho the identity of the character in question is not being announced. The half hour will contain mystery and other strange tales. The series will be original, and an 11-piece band will be on hand.” *

* The November 12, 1932, issue of Billboard assessed the program, remarking: “This mysterious character which has been done both by Frank Readick and George Earle, is, of course, associated with modern mystery and detective stories.” While some might question a musician doubling as an actor, this wasn’t unusual during that stage of network broadcasting. Writers, directors and musicians would, on occasion, fill in for a bit part. Careful examination of the scripts verifies George Earle was, indeed, playing supporting roles on The Shadow, so it remains probable that he played “The Shadow” briefly, for at least one broadcast.

The October 5, 1932, issue of The Boston Globe offered a news brief for radio listeners on the same day the new series premiered: “The Shadow, mystery voice of the air, will speak for Blue Coal when a new series of stories, never before heard on the air, is inaugurated over an NBC-WEEI network tonight at 8 o’clock. Although the identity of The Shadow remains a secret, his dramas of the strange and unusual are familiar to radio listeners.” The mystery of the sinister voice was still being publicized, while newspapers across the nation had already divulged the identity. The October 5 issue of the Akron, Ohio, Times-Press claimed that the new Shadow was “not Columbia’s Frank Readick, and his identity will remain a secret.” The October 14 issue of the Grand Rapid Chronicle reported the Shadow’s return, contradicting the Ohio paper: “He’s on the NBC-WEAF net and his name, in case you haven’t heard, is Frank Readick. Last year he was just ‘The Shadow’ and enjoyed hearing remarks about his program, but now he takes his place among the headliners.” *

* The newspapers could only work with press releases issued from the network and often contradict each other, leaving one to wonder whether The Shadow’s identity truly remained a secret to anyone other than their readers. The October 2 issue of Radio Guide revealed Frank Readick as the former announcer, claiming a press agent revealed the fact and “now everybody knows ‘The Shadow.’”

The October 5 issue of The Washington Evening Star commented, “the stories in which he is to appear have never before been on the air.” This, however, was not entirely correct. Jumping on board with Edith Meiser was Alonzo Deen Cole, a major contributor to the bone-chilling stories. On May 28, 1931, radio station WOR in New York premiered The Witch’s Tale, one of radio’s earliest horror series — tales of ancient curses coming true, severed hands that crawled and mad scientists creating unearthly creatures. The scripts were both original stories and adaptations of classic literature, including "Frankenstein," "Rapaccini’s Daughter" and "Faust."

Cole started as an actor in St. Paul, his home town, in his late teens and toured in dramatic shows and played extensively in stock companies prior to his development of radio drama. It was about this time he convinced the station manager at WOR to let him put on The Witch’s Tale, a series of creepy plays hosted by an old, cackling witch, to compete against the ballroom music on rival networks. When an offer opened the door for him to contribute to the Shadow broadcasts, some of his scripts were rewrites of previous Witch’s Tale broadcasts. The program still featured adaptations of short stories that had appeared in Street & Smith magazines, but now original stories were added to the mix with an emphasis of horror and ghosts rather than detectives.

The second broadcast of the series, “The Image” (October 12, 1932), was a tale about a professor of the occult who discovers, to his horror, how to transform into a werewolf. The episode ends on a high note when a police officer shoots and kills the beast, only to witness the professor’s niece accidentally falling for the same curse and transforming into a werewolf before his very eyes. “The Image” was previously dramatized on The Witch’s Tale on February 8, 1932. For the rewrite, the character of old Nancy (the host of the program) was replaced with The Shadow’s narratives. For the most part the script remained the same, but the names of the characters were changed.

Another early Shadow thriller was “Man Beast” (October 26, 1932), which told the story of a pair of lovebirds who stab the local sheriff, who longed to make young Johanna his bride. Johanna and Rudolph are apprehended attempting to flee, and the wounded sheriff accuses Johanna of being the cause of suspected witchcraft in the community. After being sentenced to burn at the stake for being a witch, Johanna discovers Rudolph signed over his soul to the Devil, officially becoming a warlock for the purpose of joining her in the other world.

The November 12, 1932, issue of Billboard appraised this episode, commenting that this particular story “is more like a fairy tale for older children, with the general theme different than such stories... the stories should be along the modern detective style or else the title of the half hour period means nothing…. Naturally, such a dramatization leaves the good old Shadow in the lurch and hardships him terribly. He really has nothing to do with such a story except act wise and so nullifies the value of the title.”

Alonzo Deen Cole not only scripted “Man Beast,” he also played the lead along with his real-life wife, Marie O’Flynn. Composed originally for The Shadow, this script would be performed again three years later for The Witch’s Tale under the same name for the broadcast of June 6, 1935.

The May 1933 issue of Science Fiction Digest noted: “The Witch’s Tale, written by the versatile Alonzo Deen Cole, is rated by radio critics as one of the five leading acts on the air.” After a seven-year run, Cole retired old Nancy and struck up a friendship with Phillips H. Lord, writing scripts for his Seth Parker and Gang Busters programs.

Other cast members playing supporting roles included Paul Huber, future voice of John Barclay; J. Scott Smart, before his years in the title role of The Fat Man; future screen actor Brian Donlevy in two episodes, “Live Bait” (February 15, 1933) and “Framed In” (March 8, 1933); Santos Ortega and Ted De Corsia, future leads for Commissioner Weston; Alan Reed (under the name of Teddy Bergman) and Everett Sloane, who would later play the recurring role of Shreevy the cab driver; and two pre-Margot Lanes with Marjorie Anderson in “Dance Hall Murder” (February 22, 1933) and Agnes Moorehead as the mentally-tortured June Conway in “The Drums of Death” (November 2, 1932).

The format of the series generally depicted a crime being committed and the detective (or male protagonist playing the role of a detective) defying the odds in order to solve the mystery, even when the story involved supernatural elements. The city editor of a major newspaper plays detective in an effort to solve the murder of two crime reporters in “Death Warrant” (November 16, 1932). A female detective goes undercover as a replacement dance hall girl in “Dance Hall Murder” (February 22, 1933). A detective on the bottle is fired from his job and, to reclaim his dignity, sets out to solve a crime he believes his nephew did not commit in “Fighting Comeback” (November 30, 1932). The ex-detective learns the witness to the case was a gambler working with a crime kingpin and attempts to force a confession from the guilty man. Having accepted one drink too many, he becomes the intended victim as the murderer laughs and confesses the truth, but the police barge inside, having overheard the confession. Then the ex-detective reveals a surprise — he was playing drunk to get the confession.

The episode “When Wolf Meets Wolf” (January 18, 1933) was adapted from the short story of the same name by Frank Richardson Pierce, originally published not in an issue of Detective Story Magazine, but in the June 20, 1931, issue of Western Story Magazine, proving that while adaptations were from Street & Smith periodicals, they were not necessarily from the most likely one. Also different from the Detective Story Magazine Hour, the announcer did not close each broadcast with a sales pitch for the magazine that corresponded with the evening’s broadcast, but rather a pitch for the radio host’s appearance: “The Shadow appears on this program through the courtesy of the publishers of The Shadow Magazine.” This same promotion no doubt began with the five-episode series titled The Shadow in January and February 1932.

ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen . . . the Blue Coal dealers of your city bring you that well-known character of the air . . . The Shadow!

SOUND: Cymbal Crash . . . Misterioso Music

THE SHADOW: Again The Shadow . . . ha, ha . . . Weird, fantastic shape . . . He is silently watching - life and death - they march under his piercing gaze. What chance has mere man? Ha, ha . . . The Shadow knows!

According to a press release, each story was to have an appropriate musical background. The music for the broadcasts, by George Earle and his orchestra, did not suggest a theme but rather was a selection of previously composed music scores to bridge scenes and add emphasis for selected scenes. (See Appendix A for a list of music scores.)

The theme song for these early Shadow broadcasts was not “Omphale’s Spinning Wheel” from Le Rouet d’Omphale, Opus 31, by Saint-Saens which was used during the continuity series. As revealed in music sheets accompanying scripts from the 1932-33 season, the theme was “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by Paul Dukas (Durand). *

* Radio historians Terry Salomonson and Reginald M. Jones revealed that in March and April of 1938, The Lone Ranger radio program began using “Omphale’s Spinning Wheel” as part of the midpoint music between the first and second acts of the program. This lasted only a few weeks and was used only for selected episodes.

No longer competing against the popular Sherlock Holmes dramas (also scripted by Edith Meiser) which aired an hour later on a rival network, the October 11, 1932, issue of Variety appraised: “Through a tie-in with Street & Smith, publisher of Shadow Magazine, the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Coal Company has the basso pipes with the sinister chuckle back on the airlanes along the east coast only, to help scare the kids around the bedtime hour. It’s the same old ‘the Shadow knows!’ folderol, but backed up this time, judging from the debut script, by a weak collection of mystery stories.

“It is assumed that Blue Coal in starting off the series picked out the best of the scripts it had available. First plot dealt neither with crime, crooks or gangsters, but, apparently to be original, picked on a shabbily and loosely written war story, in which the Shadow’s menacing intrusions no more fitted than the introduction of a Rasch ballet into a ‘What Price Glory’ trench scene. This initial program had an ear-tickling cast of players but the aimless, poorly paced and punch-less story must have left them wondering what it was all about.

“For the use of ‘The Shadow’ character, mention of Street & Smith and their mag by that title is given in the credit copy. One ‘John Barclay,’ described as the ‘Blue Coal heating engineer,’ shoulders the plug assignment with a none too lengthy spiel on the proper way of caring for the furnace that gently leads up to the suggestion of how the best results to that end can be obtained.

“Same commercial is supporting a Sunday afternoon musical show on a CBS eastern hookup.”

For the NBC season, the role of the fictional John Barclay was played by actor Tim Frawley (usually listed on the scripts as T. Daniel Frawley). He made his Broadway debut in 1887, and later organized the internationally acclaimed Frawley Stock Company which toured America and the Far East. After retiring from the stage, he turned to radio where he was best known as the voice of the Old Ranger, the weekly narrator of the Death Valley Days program, and was a regular on the adventure serial East of Cairo (February 5 to October 8, 1930). Because he was a staff member at the NBC studios, and because The Shadow made a transition to there, it comes as no surprise that Frawley received the all-important task of making the sponsor look good.

A review of the radio scripts from the 1932-33 season reveals the earliest impression of the creepy dramas. Like many of the early radio dramatizations, the scripts applied the technique of the stage, including lots of dialogue and very little action. Music was used to bridge scenes but rarely used to heighten the emotional impact of a particular scene. Drama was created through a representational illusion of the setting and characters, often taking a while for the momentum to pick up. (The same could be said for many early talkies in cinema. The microphone was mobile so actors were not limited to standing in the same spot exchanging their lines, but they often stood in place for the camera. Action sequences, in turn, bore little or no dialogue.)

On April 17, 1933, Ormond Gerald Smith, president of Street & Smith and founder of many popular magazines of the time, died of a stroke at his East 78th Street residence. A review of the script for the broadcast of April 19 shows no mention by the announcer regarding the death, but this doesn’t rule out such a special statement being made at the start or end of the broadcast and separate from the script. George C. Smith, vice president and treasurer of the company, died of pneumonia at his Park Avenue residence, surviving his brother by only 11 days. A friend of the two brothers told reporters the work and responsibility of directing the large publishing business was evenly divided between the two. Both names were featured at the bottom of the table of contents pages along with the edition notice, publishing information, copyright column of each issue of Detective Story Magazine. The final episode of the NBC season concluded on April 26, so a mention of George C. Smith’s passing would not have been heard on the program. WHAM in Rochester, New York, was behind a week, with the final broadcast on May 4, and a mention over those airwaves remains possible.

The Blue Coal Mystery Revue was broadcast on a network of 10 stations across the East Coast on Wednesday evenings from 8 to 8:30 p.m., EST.

WFBR

Baltimore, Maryland

WCSH

Portland, Oregon

WEEI

Boston, Massachusetts

WJAR

Providence, Rhode Island

WTIC

Hartford, Connecticut

WGY

Schenectady, New York

WEAF

New York City, New York

WRC

Washington, D.C.

WLIT

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

WTAG

Worchester, Massachusetts

In December 1933, the Knox Company of St. Louis approached Street & Smith seeking broadcast rights for The Shadow, unaware that NBC was airing the program along the East Coast. Street & Smith replied favorably with a counter-offer to sponsor a series of radio dramas based on another of their successful pulp magazines, Doc Savage, which premiered on news stands earlier that same calendar year. A series of 26 scripts was dramatized from February to August 1934 over KFRC in San Francisco. The productions were also recorded via electrical transcriptions in MacGregor and Sollie’s offices for nation-wide syndication, broadcast on more than 80 stations throughout the United States and Canada (verified in numerous advertisements in the Doc Savage Magazine), beginning in October 1934.*

* Street & Smith made numerous attempts to bring other pulps to the radio. Contracted for a total of 87 broadcasts, Pete Rice Western Adventures dramatized the heroic efforts of the sheriff of Buzzard Gap, Arizona. The program aired over Mutual three times a week, in quarter-hour installments. From September 3 to October 12, 1934, the program was heard Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In an effort to avoid the popular Tom Mix adventures over a rival network, from October 16, 1934 to March 9, 1935, the program was heard Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Special Treatment for Rochester

About two weeks after the premiere of the 1932-33 season, station WHAM in Rochester began broadcasting the same Wednesday evening scripts in consecutive order on Thursday evenings. Sponsored by area Blue Coal distributor H.H. Babcock Company, Jack Lee directed these repeat productions with a completely different cast, marking his only contribution to the series. Lee was a talented thespian who worked on the New York stage, including playing the role of a corpse in Martha Madison and Eva Kay Flint’s murder mystery, Subway Express. Charles Siverson supplied the music, also his only contribution. Each script was performed two weeks behind the New York City productions, but an episode was skipped shortly before Christmas and the Rochester broadcasts were only one week behind after the holiday. Only 29 of the 30 episodes were broadcast during this repeat run on Thursday evenings from October 20, 1932, to May 4, 1933.

A 1932 issue of Radio Guide described the spooky broadcasts in dramatic fashion. “Rain laden wind moans about the turrets of an isolated castle, a forlorn dog howls at the eerie, cloud-shuttered moon. Tense whispers disturb the oppressive silence of vaulted corridors. The Shadow, that awesome specter of the radio, glances apprehensively at a chronometer, crunches the glow from a cigarette and tensely awaits a white shirted youth’s permission to strike terror to the hearts of his followers. Weird music -- climactic chords in minor keys -- solemnly calculated to provide mysterious atmosphere in the absence of the motion picture industry’s flitting bats and flickering neon tubes.”

Special Treatment for Houston

In the same manner as Rochester, Street & Smith expanded the Detective Story Magazine Hour program in Houston, Texas. According to newspaper archives, the KXYZ Players were the real stars of the program. New and original radio scripts were created for the Houston broadcasts. For the premiere broadcast of September 16, 1932, for example, the story was titled “The Kid’s Last Chance.” For October 28, the drama was titled simply “The Kid.” This leads one to suspect the scripts dramatized were not the same ones featured across the rest of the country. Street and Smith’s name was clearly promoted in newspapers dated September 16 and October 14. One local newspaper described the evening’s scheduled presentation as “KXYZ Players Burlesque, a detective story.” There has been nothing to verify whether The Shadow was host.

HOUSTON, TEXAS BROADCAST SCHEDULE

September 16, 1932 -- Friday, 10 to 10:15 p.m. CST

September 23, 1932 -- Friday, 10:15 to 10:45 p.m., CST

September 30, 1932 -- no broadcast

October 7, 1932 -- Friday, 10:15 to 10:45 p.m., CST

October 14 and 21, 1932 -- Friday, 7:30 to 8 p.m., CST

October 28, 1932 to March 5, 1933 -- Friday, 9 to 9:30 p.m., CST

March 12 to July 2, 1933 -- Sunday, 8:30 to 9 p.m., CST

The Fallacy of Live Radio

Like many live radio programs of the era, The Shadow program would on occasion run overtime. The broadcast of December 21, 1932, ran over 15 seconds, delaying synchronization. It worked the other way around when, on January 25, 1933, The Royal Gelatin Program ran over 15 seconds, delaying synchronization and the start of The Shadow presentation.

The Chevrolet Program

Weeks after the 1932-33 season concluded, The Shadow made a return to the airwaves, this time in the form of a satire. Comedian Jack Benny evolved slowly from his vaudeville roots to become a weekly comedy addition on variety programs featuring rousing orchestras and clever vocals. When the Canada Dry Ginger Ale Program dropped sponsorship in January 1933, Benny was hired as the weekly comedian on The Chevrolet Program in March. Frank Black and his orchestra, tenor James Melton and singer Grace Hayes supplied the musical entertainment, while Benny and his cast supplied the comedy. A four-part comedy skit, “Who Killed Mr. X?”, spoofing radio mystery thrillers premiered on the evening of May 26, 1933, and concluded June 16. Throughout the installments, Benny questioned those in the courtroom, Sherlock Holmes (played by Benny) is brought into the case, King Kong gets involved, and The Shadow (played by Ralph Ashe) appears as the sinister voice who laughs, informing the audience that Benny has the wrong suspect. The Shadow does not make an appearance in the first installment, but plays the role of the spooky narrator for the remaining three broadcasts. Ashe was able to mimic Frank Readick’s Shadow laugh almost to perfection and radio audiences might have thought it was Readick playing the role.*

* The “Who Killed Mr. X?” skit was dramatized previously on the Canada Dry Ginger Ale Program of October 24, 1932. The courtroom murder mystery about a headless victim was not broadcast in installments, and Fran Frey played the role of a phantom. It was common for skits to be recycled throughout the early Jack Benny broadcasts.

Less than a year after the mystery spoof reached the airwaves, the musical segments had blended into comedic format, but the fully developed comedy skits were not agreeable to an executive at Chevrolet, who rewarded Benny with a pink slip and replaced him with an all-music series featuring the Victor Young orchestra. Spoofing The Shadow character alongside such nationwide characters as King Kong and Sherlock Holmes was not unusual. The character of the horror host also was nationally known, thanks to the six film shorts, mystery magazine, and prior Shadow radio broadcasts in Oregon, Utah, Texas, Kansas and Louisiana.

One year later, from June 22 to August 3, 1934, The General Tire Program featured a reprise of the apparently successful mystery skit. In a comedy bit titled “Who Killed Mr. Stooge?” (also known as “The Stooge Murder Case” on the scripts), The Shadow made a return appearance as played by character actor Joe Franz. This was no doubt because the Jack Benny program had moved from the East Coast to California, which afforded an entirely different selection of supporting actors. The character of The Shadow, however, lasted a mere two broadcasts. With the broadcast of July 6, Franz was mimicking a character known as “The Phantom” in the same capacity as that of The Shadow, which lasted four consecutive broadcasts. Had Street & Smith objected to the unauthorized use of The Shadow character in the comedy skits? Quite possibly, considering The Shadow character was never featured in any future Jack Benny programs, even though a number of other horror and mystery hosts were, including The Whistler.

THIS IS JUST A QUICK CUT AND PASTE FROM THE ROUGH DRAFT OF THE MANUSCRIPT.

THE ENTIRE 800 PAGE BOOK WILL BE AVAILABLE IN MARCH 2011.

UPDATE (11/15/10): Due to the large volume of requests, and due to copyright restrictions, the author will no longer make copies of the NBC scripts described in this article.

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