Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men?

At one time, it looked as if The Shadow would become one of this centuries most famous fictional characters, along with icons such as Superman and Batman, but most people today would not be aware of the character.

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 1936, the character was given his own show on American radio, where he was played by a young Orson Welles. The series proved extremely popular and lasted on the radio until 1954, five years after his pulp magazine series had ended. During the run of the radio show the character of The Shadow (and his alter ego, Lamont Cranston) was played by Bill Johnstone and Brett Morrison after Orson Welles left in 1937. Although the radio show lasted for around 18 years, only around 200 episodes of the radio series are known to be in existence.