The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas that originated in the 1930s as pulp novels. It has since expanded to include radio dramas, pulp magazines, comic books, television, serials, video games, and films. The title character was initially created as a radio show narrator but was developed into a literary character by Walter B. Gibson in 1931. The radio drama, featuring Orson Welles, premiered in 1937. The Shadow character was depicted as having the power to manipulate men's minds, making them unable to see him. The radio program's iconic introduction, voiced by Frank Readick, and accompanied by a musical theme, has become a part of American idiom. Each episode concluded with a reminder that crime does not pay and The Shadow knows.
