PODCAST · arts

RKO Orson Welles - The Shadow - radio recordings

by Old Time Radio

33 radio recordings of RKO's The Shadow, recorded as main character by Orson Welles between 1937 and 1938 It doesn't happen that often that a cultural icon plays a /"genre/" role, and in the 1930's it probably happened even less. But before a certain well-documented Martian Invasion rocketed him to fame and a contract with RKO, a 22 year-old Orson Welles funded his theatrical productions with radio work, including a year on the Mutual Network's now-legendary /"superhero/" radio program The Shadow. The program, loosely adapted from the popular pulp magazine series, told the story of Lamont Cranston, a wealthy young man-about-town who used his hypnotic powers to cloud men's minds so that they could not see him, fighting crime as an Invisible Avenger known only as The Shadow. Welles played the dual role in 1937 and 1938, first for 26 episodes for the show's long-running sponsor Blue Coal, then for a summer series sponsored by Goodrich Safety Silver-Town Tires. For many years it was believ