The Shadow - The Complete Radio Show Collection - Volume 2

By: Walter B. Gibson

Narrated by: Orson Welles

Length: 40 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

The Shadow - One of the most popular radio shows in history. The show went on the air in August of 1930.

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!" The opening lines of the Detective Story program captivated listeners and are instantly recognizable even today. Originally the narrator of the series of macabre tales, the eerie voice known as The Shadow became so popular to listeners that Detective Story was soon renamed The Shadow, and the narrator became the star of the old-time mystery radio series, which ran until 1954.

A figure never seen, only heard, the Shadow was an invincible crime fighter. He possessed many gifts which enabled him to overcome any enemy. Besides his tremendous strength, he could defy gravity, speak any language, unravel any code, and become invisible with his famous ability to "cloud men's minds". Along with his team of operatives, the Shadow battled adversaries with chilling names like The Black Master, Kings of Crime, The Five Chameleons, and, of course, The Red Menace.

The Shadow's exploits were also avidly followed by readers in The Shadow magazine, which began in 1931 following the huge success of the old-time mystery radio program. The magazine was published by Street & Smith, who had also sponsored the old-time mystery radio program. Over the course of 18 years, Street & Smith published 325 issues of The Shadow, each one containing a novel about the sinister crime fighter. These stories were written by Maxwell Grant, a fictional name created by the publishing company. Although several different people wrote under the pseudonym, Walter B. Gibson wrote most of the stories, 282 in all.

Most of the novels published have been reprinted in paperback and The Shadow adventures remain popular today, with Shadow comic books, magazines, toys, games, cds and cassettes of old-time radio shows, and books bringing top dollar among collectors the world over.

©2018 BN Publishing (P)2018 BN Publishing

repeats stories

great if you like radio drama however many of the stories in the first part of the book are repeated in the second half.

Fuzzy

Great stories, very entertaining, the only problem is the sound quality is very scratchy and difficult to understand at any volume for much of the recordings.

Great old time radio

Classic stories. A few shows had a little to much static but overall good quality.

great to hear the old radio show

it had so many episodes, though some were very low quality. sometimes it was hard to hear what all was said, but if you love listening to The Shadow it is really enjoyable.

volume 1

love this series. got vol. 3 but where's vol 1?
. . . . .

Not the Orson Wells run on the Shadow

The quality of these recordings is excellent, but these are not the Orson Wells Shadow. These are the later runs the William Johnston’s and Bret Morrison years.

Nostalgic radio show

I love listening to old radio shows and the Shadow is one of my favorites. close your eyes and you'll be transported back in time to the 1940's.

there are a few issues with this audiobook. Not all the recordings are clear. some have static that overpowers the voice actors and others the recording must have degraded before being digitized because the voices fade out for a moment or two. these issues are expected in older recordings and all things considered, didn't take away from the performance to badly. my biggest issue is with the book itself. there are easily 10 duplicate episodes (10 chapters of 89 total). the audiobook could have been 6 hours shorter if the editor would have just listened for duplicate episodes.

Wonderful Radio Show, but...

This was an excellent radio show, offering a window into the past and some genuinely wholesome entertainment, but the sound quality varies wildly between "chapters", making some of them completely unlistenable. I ended up returning the title. 😞