The Shadow

Orson Welles as "The Shadow"

The Shadow is a fictional character created by the American magazine publisher Street & Smith and the writer and professional magician Walter B. Gibson. Initially created to be a mysterious narrator of a radio program and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter B. Gibson, The Shadow has been published as novels, comics, and films, among other media. The Shadow radio soap opera includes episodes narrated by Orson Welles. This is a mysterious vigilant, hidden behind a wide-brimmed hat, a long coat and a kind of red scarf that covers part of his face. Fight crime in the dark, armed with two guns and mental powers. He announces his presence with a sinister laugh. His alter ego is the sophisticated millionaire Lamont Cranston, although he also protects his secret identity with two other appearances: the aviator Kent Allard, and Fritz, a janitor at a police station. In this way of maintaining a dual personality, the character resembles other figures such as Batman and Zorro.

The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930 as the mysterious narrator of the radio program Detective Story Hour, which was created to increase sales of publisher Street & Smith's monthly pulp magazine Detective Story Magazine. When listeners of the program began Asking newsstands for copies of "that Shadow detective magazine," Street & Smith launched a magazine based on the character, and hired Gibson to create a concept to fit the name and voice and to that I wrote a story in which he appeared. The first issue of The Shadow Magazine pulp series went on sale on April 1, 1931.

On September 26, 1937, The Shadow, a new radio soap opera based on the character as created by Gibson for the pulp magazine, premiered with the story "The Death House Rescue." in which the Shadow was characterized as having "the hypnotic power to cloud the minds of men so that they cannot see him." In the magazine stories, The Shadow did not literally become invisible.

The introductory phrase of the radio adaptation of The Shadow – «Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? "The Shadow knows!" – narrated by actor Frank Readick, became an idiomatic phrase in the US. These words were accompanied by an ominous laugh and a musical background, Le Rouet d'Omphale by Camille Saint-Saëns (composed in 1872).

At the end of each episode, The Shadow reminded listeners that “The weeds of crime bear bitter fruit! "Crime doesn't pay... The Shadow knows it!"

Some early episodes used the alternative phrase, "If you sow evil, you will reap evil!" "Crime doesn't pay... The Shadow knows it!"

Given the success of the project, the novelist Walter B. Gibson was hired to make a literary serial starring the character. For this, Gibson adopted the pseudonym Maxwell Grant, and with that name he published a long series of novels.3 In 1937, a new radio serial was launched, and for this the interpretation of The Shadow was entrusted to Orson Welles.

Illustrator Vernon Greene drew The Shadow comics from 1940 to 1942. Since then, comics of the character have been carried out by authors such as Al Bare, Jack Binder, William A. Smith, Frank Robbins, Howard Chaykin, Mike Kaluta and Bill Sienkewicz.

Throughout the character's entire history, he has been characterized by the use of the slogan: "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow Knows!". Likewise, another characteristic of the character's personality is to laugh when appearing in a place and/or disappearing, in the same way he uses this to intimidate or sometimes scare his enemies before starting a physical combat.