[PREV - SHADOWING_WOMEN]    [TOP]

SHADOW_OF_EIGHT_OUT_OF_MIND

                                             August 21, 2011       
                                             October 3, 2013       
"A Quarter of Eight" (1945)                                        
                                                                   
Margot Lane is not on stage in this one.                           
                                                                   
It dawned on me eventually that the Shadow's                       
"eyes" were missing: no Harry Vincent, etc.       On stage:    
                                                  Shrevy       
    But there is one late mention of              Rutledge Mann        
    "the Shadow's spies", and then                Joe Cardona        
    Hawkeye appears on stage.                                        
                                                     Though it's not as
                                                     though they have any
                                                     stage presence...
As usual, there's no mention of a "power to          they're just familiar
cloud men's minds", but then, a casual               names that perform
reader might think it's in play: the Shadow          minor plot functions.
"fades into darkness" (or somesuch phrase):
fence-stradling a contentious point?

   Walter Gibson was in with the
   "magic" crowd, the hyper-rational
   illusionists and debunkers, who          You can see this immediately in
   tended to look down on mysticism         the next of the shadow novels
   and spiritualism as the playground       "Crime out of Mind" (1946).
   of con-artists.
                                                           SHADOW_OUT_OF_MIND

       Lester Dent later complained about
       how his Doc Savage had inspired
       the craze for super-powered heroes.
       They were immensely silly, in his
       opinion, which makes you wonder
       how he thought his Doc Savage work
       should be read.


The next shadow novel,
"Crime out of Mind" (1946):

This is about a phoney nightclub
psychic, with every-other character
having an interest in stage magic--

There are more of the miscellanious
henchmen are around, including Harry
Vincent.

In this one, it's flat out stated that Kent
Allard is the real identity of the Shadow,
though the Shadow starts prowling around on      This kind of thing looks
stage as Allard without any apparent need        to me like Gibson of the
to hide this identity.                           pulps fighting for his version
                                                 of the Shadow, against the
   He's *repeatedly* abandoned this              hugely popular radio series...
   Allard identity, e.g. by faking               Foolhardy.
   his death.  You might think he'd    
   be concerned about this.                          And it's not like his
                                                     own vision is all that
                                                     wonderful... but then,
                                                     I can see wanting to
                                                     strike a blow against
                                                     "spiritualism".

                                                     If that seems nutty,
                                                     it's because we don't
                                                     take these stories that
                                                     seriously.  One can read
                                                     about vampires without
                                                     believing in vampires.


Then in the following story, 'Banshee",
Margot Lane returns.  She knows
Cranston.  Does she know he's the
Shadow?  In the first few encounters         This is another story
it's ambiguous.                              with a phoney medium theme

This is clearly written by Gibson, it
has his unique command of English:
A "blinky light"; A "stoopish" figure...




--------
[NEXT - SAVAGE_FUTURIANS]