The first installment of the Year of the Pulps was a no brainer as I wanted to lead off with Howards Fav Doc Savage. This installment was harder to choose as there are so many awesome pulps out there so I decided to go with MY fav...... THE SHADOW Walter Gibson was one of the most prolific writers ever, best known for his work on the pulp fiction character, The Shadow, but also producing classic works in a number of fields. Walter Gibson was born September 12, 1897 in Germantown, Pennsylvania. A fantastic writer that was also a magician another passion of mine as I have loved the craft since I first saw the works of the great Harry Houdini. Mr Gibson also served as a ghost writer for books on magic and spiritualism by famous magicians, including Houdini. Gibson penned more than 300 novel-length Shadow stories, writing up to 10,000 words a day to satisfy public demand during the characters golden age in the 1930s and 1940s. As much as I love the written word of the Shadow I am delighted to have the show available to us from RadioSpirits I listen to the the show daily on my XM radio. It amazed me on how many different actors played Lamont and also Margot. My favorite and best Shadow in my eyes (or rather ears) Bill Johnstone and Brett Morrison and I am afraid the worst to me was Orsen Welles now now dont get upset I loved Mr Welles in many roles however The Shadow is NOT one of them, his voice was entirely too whiney for the role let alone the menacing opening oh the sinister laugh and Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows! In fact Welles was the only actor who played Lamont on the radio who did not record the opening. I was happy to see Agnes Moorehead, was given the premier role as Margot evenn though the pulp character never had a leading lady until much later in the series. Fast forward to the not so distant past of the 1990s, 1994 to be precise played by Alec Baldwin, I went so crazy over this I made sure to get Howard and I all the formats I could get my hands on, Laser Disc, VHS, DVD, you name it we have it. The cast was so well put together, Baldwin was great as Lamont but adding the talents of Penelope Ann Miller as Margot, John Lone as Shiwan Kahn, not to mention Timm Curry, Johnathan Winters etc....man what a cast. There is not enough room to put all that I want in this installment of the Year of The Pulps so in summary the Shadow gave the children and inner children someone to look up to and as many know Howard and our nephew Steap even dressed as the Shadow for Halloween (a memory that still makes me smile) Please enjoy these pics as my closer.....
Posted on: Sun, 23 Feb 2014 01:47:19 +0000