Soldiers of the Press was a 15-minute syndicated program that aired during the greater part of the USA's time in World War II, starting in February 1943 and lasting 'til August 1945. The series features dramatized accounts of events witnessed by journalists that had something to do with the conflict.
Apparently all of the journalists "heard" on the series were actually professional actors. Although the journalists responsible for the news stories were given credit for their work, it seems none of them appeared as themselves in the dramas. Which is fair enough, since journalists aren't professional actors. It is a bit of a missed opportunity in some cases, as the journalists covered included names like Walter Cronkite. The actual performers aren't credited but I swear I heard voices like Bill Johnstone and Raymond Massey.
The stories recounted on Soldiers of the Press give one a pretty good view of the different locales and theaters of operations during the war; some are recounted from the perspectives of journalists who were overseas when the US entered the war and how they suffered in internment camps. There are naval operations, aerial operations and more. It's bit jingoistic, but what would you expect from a wartime program?
The Old Time Radio Researchers have their collection of Soldiers of the Press in this YouTube playlist.
I was very disappointed to learn that one of my local comic shops - Another Dimension - is closing its doors at the end of April. Although I haven't been a regular shopper there in a decade I always felt it was the best comic book store in the city.
Before I even lived in Calgary, Another Dimension was the shop I most enjoyed visiting when my family would come to Calgary. In the early 1990s there were a lot of comic shops in Calgary (Another Dimension had more than one store in that day) but a number of elements at Another Dimension made a big impression-- they carried virtually every new comic book being published, they carried a library of trade paperbacks and they had a vast well-organized selection of back issues.
When I moved to the city Another Dimension wasn't the nearest shop (there were two other stores geographically much closer to my home) but it became the one I visited most often, thanks in part to it being nearby SAIT, where I attended college. I have happy memories of traipsing to Another Dimension in between classes so that I could delve into back issues. I also recall reading some comics on campus after a visit there, particularly an issue of the mini-series Blaze of Glory that I read in the SAIT library during my practicum.
In time, I moved to other parts of the city and Another Dimension became the nearer shop. I opened up a file at the store and was pleasantly surprised that unlike other shops in the city where I'd previously had files, I didn't have to pay a fee to open the file and I didn't get pushback if someone put the wrong book into my file. If they made a mistake, they apologized (there are other shops in the city that seem to think the customer is always wrong).
Eventually my relationship with the shop changed, in part because of my own career at Marvel Comics, especially writing for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. I now needed access to all kinds of back issues that I would normally never have sought out. I vividly recall buying a stack of issues for research that included an issue of Nighstalkers. At the till, my friend Riley held up that comic at me then slowly shook his head in disbelief.
Riley Rossmo was another part of what changed; he was a clerk at Another Dimension, but he was also a rising comic book artist. Because I knew him personally, I started following his career as of his Image series Proof. Although our careers in comics were very different, he and I always supported and boosted each other. One of my fondest memories is from the year when the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo declined to grant me a table in their artist's alley; instead, Another Dimension offered to have me sign at their booth, next to Riley. That one just one of many conventions where I encountered Riley and they were always fun.
Since quitting my job at Marvel and buying my own home (thus moving far from any comic shops) I haven't had the need or time to visit Another Dimension. I'm very sad to see the shop go - it was the best.
The Danny Kaye Show was a comedy-variety program starring Danny Kaye. It was heard on CBS from January 6, 1945 until May 31, 1946. Kaye was joined by Eve Arden (as Kaye's manager), Lionel Stander (as Kaye's elevator boy), announcer Ken Niles and orchestra leader Harry James. It was sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. Frank Nelson was heard in the first episode as "Mr. Pabst," Kaye's sponsor.
Now, I grew up on Danny Kaye; my mother was (and is) a big fan of Kaye's - she shared one of his albums with us when we were children and we listened to it very often. Later, when my brother and I shared a room, we would listen to her Best of Danny Kaye LP most evenings, to the point that I can still recall many of Kaye's comedic songs from memory. And that's without getting into all the movies we watched! Every time I dig up one of Kaye's films that I didn't see during my childhood, I wish I'd been exposed to it back then - I would have loved it much more. Similarly, listening to the Danny Kaye Show, I wished I'd heard it all when I was a kid. Among other things, almost all of the songs on the Best of Danny Kaye were heard on his radio program - possibly some of them originated there.
The Danny Kaye Show enjoyed two seasons - a half-season from January-June, 1945, then a full season from October, 1945-May, 1946. There's quite a difference between the two seasons. Although Pabst remained his sponsor (and during the summer break they sponsored Harry James in a replacement show), all of Danny's stooges left between seasons. Danny did pick up a new stooge - Butterfly McQueen (who had just exited the Jack Benny Program) portraying the president of Danny Kaye's fan club and a new orchestra led by Dave Terry but otherwise the show became less of an ensemble program.
The other huge change is that Danny missed a few episodes; check that, a lot of episodes! Throughout the fall of 1945 Danny Kaye did not appear on the Danny Kaye Show while he went on a USO tour, with instead the casts of other shows filling in for him, including Frank Sinatra with Judy Garland, George Burns/Gracie Allen, Jack Benny and Eddie Cantor. They're decent broadcasts (in fact, the script for the Jack Benny episode was later repeated on his own show a couple of times) but they're not, in any meaningful sense, episodes of the Danny Kaye Show! I think it's especially notable that most of the guest hosts just insert a reference to Kaye in their scripts but otherwise play out as though it's an episode of their own programs- but Jack Benny structured his guest episode entirely around Kaye, with his cast having seen Kaye's film Wonder Man and upsetting Benny by showering Kaye with accolades as a great comedian.
Missteps? The show made a few. I like Danny's rendition of "Accentuate the Positive," but boy he sings it quite often on his show - four times in 1945! "Minnie the Moocher," "the Railroad Song" and "the Fairy Piper" turned up multiple times as well. But I should add this is only a problem during the first half-season - in the second season I didn't hear Danny repeat any songs.
Neither season feels quite like the right fit for Danny Kaye's talents; he loved speech and song, making funny voices. All he really needed were straight men, not stooges like Eve Arden and Lionel Stander. Why give him a popular bandleader like Harry James? Or a smarmy commercial spokesman like Ken Niles? The first half-season sounds like an attempt to make Danny sound like other popular comedy-variety shows of the 40s. But Danny was not Jack Benny. I like Arden and Stander just fine, but when the show went into jokes with their characters I simply thought, "that's not what I want from a Danny Kaye program." As for Harry James, he had a running gag about what a terrible performer he was; he'd show up in most sketches declaring, "I am James, the butler." Seriously, that was his entire gag.
So the second season - once Danny came back from the USO - should have been more to my liking, right? It's true that in the 2nd season Danny didn't have to compete with stooges for laughs (Butterfly McQueen's role wasn't that large) and there was a wider sampling of Danny's silly songs. But there were also a lot of guest stars - people like Orson Welles and Arthur Treacher. Probably the best guest star was Dick Powell, who popped up to promote his show Rogue's Gallery. Powell appeared in a sketch with Kaye in which Powell was constantly being knocked out by unlikely objects, a funny parody of his own program.
The bottom line is: the Danny Kaye Show could have been great. I felt Danny was restrained by the conventional format of 1940s radio comedy, not permitted to cut loose in the manner of his movie performances. I still would have loved this series when I was a child and I definitely point to the Jack Benny and Dick Powell episodes as diamonds in the rough.
For my final entry of "Shadow Without a Shadow," I'm visiting the Shadow episode "Death Keeps a Deadline" (November 1, 1942) by writer Max Ehrlich, which was re-written for Murder at Midnight as "Trigger Man" (May 17, 1946). As I indicated in my Radio Recap of Murder at Midnight, this is just one of several instances where Murder at Midnight repurposed an episode of the Shadow.
As with Wednesday episode of Suspense, this is a script where the Shadow's role had be written out for the revised script. So, let's examine how that was accomplished!
A massive difference between the two from the top is that while the Shadow has a brief bit of narration to set the stage, Murder at Midnight tells its story from the perspective of "Chicken" Charlie Nix, who narrates frequently through the drama. "Trigger Man" starts with Charlie telling us he's dying from a gunshot wound as he thinks back to how it all happened.
The Shadow opens with Lamont Cranston escorting Margo Lane to her apartment after a date night. As Lamont parts ways, a man asks him for a match, then draws a gun on him. It's mostly the same on Murder at Midnight, although the couple are simply walking together when the stick-up occurs. In both cases, Lamont and his counterpart - John Riley - startle the hold-up man by calling him by his nickname. On the Shadow, the gunman is dubbed "Rabbit" Eddie Burke; on Murder at Midnight, it's "Chicken" Charlie Nix. Lamont/Riley confidently asserts that Rabbit/Chicken doesn't have the nerve to use the gun. Lamont/Riley easily disarms and knocks out the hold-up man. Lamont/Riley explains to their female counterpart that they were aware of the hold-up man's psychological profile, knowing the man had never been able to use a gun (Riley is a plainclothes policeman).
After a musical transition, we learn a year has passed. Rabbit/Chicken meets up with the boss of his gang, Tony Morello/Angelo Dinelli. Rabbit/Chicken bears a deep grudge against Lamont/Riley and insists he'll get back at him. Tony/Angelo tells Rabbit/Chicken that he looks sick and tells him to see his own doctor, Dr. Bryan/Leonard. Amazingly, this scene plays out mostly word for word aside from the name changes!
In the next scene, Tony/Angelo accompanies Rabbit/Chicken on his visit to Dr. Bryan/Leonard. The doctor claims Rabbit/Chicken has a bad heart condition - a severe aneurysm; he gives Rabbit/Chicken six months to live. Another near-identical scene!
Next scene: Rabbit/Chicken meets again with Tony/Angelo and muses that he's like a man standing around in a death house "waiting for the hot seat." Tony/Angelo gives him a drink and suggests that if it were him, he'd use his last six months to paint the town red, do everything he'd always wanted to do before but never had the nerve. He observes that now Rabbit/Chicken has the chance to be a real trigger man and get revenge on Lamont/Riley. At that point, the scenes diverge; in the original script, Tony points out a policeman named Donovan, who was the first one to arrest Rabbit and suggests he start by killing him. Rabbit kills the man, then the Shadow cuts to a commercial. On Murder at Midnight, the scene changes as Angelo leads Chicken to where Riley is and convinces him to kill him (although the dialogue in which Angelo drives Chicken to kill is mostly the same). Afterward, Angelo calls him Charlie because he's not a chicken any more.
In other words, Murder at Midnight has just killed off their version of the Shadow! At this point the two shows become very different.
On the Shadow, Lamont and Commissioner Weston confront Tony, convinced the trigger man committing murders is one of his men but Tony plays dumb (there's no equivalent scene on Murder at Midnight since Riley is dead). In the next scene, Lamont's cab driver buddy Shrevvy shares some gossip with Lamont and Margo about Rabbit's heart condition. This leads Lamont to deduce Rabbit is the trigger man they're looking for. In the following scene, Rabbit meets with Tony and insists he be given the chance to kill Lamont now. When Tony refuses, Rabbit kills him.
In the next scene, the Shadow confronts Dr. Bryan and asks for the truth about Rabbit's condition. Dr. Bryan explains Tony ordered him to lie to Rabbit about his heart. Lamont returns to Shrevvy to find he's lost track of Margo. Rabbit telephones Lamont to inform him he's kidnapped Margo and he'll kill her in one hour, then he'll hunt down Lamont and kill him; Rabbit ends the phone call. In the next scene, Lamont telephones the police for information to help him find Rabbit. We then switch scenes to where Rabbit is holding Margo as his prisoner. Before he can kill her the Shadow enters the room and tells him the truth about his heart condition. The Shadow notes the police are coming and he'll be arrested but Rabbit turns his gun on himself, killing himself just six months after the doctor's fake diagnosis. The story then ends on a typical Shadow wrap-up scene where Lamont and Margo relax after the episode's drama, Lamont explaining how the police guided him to Rabbit's location.
Murder at Midnight continues through Chicken's narration guiding the story, including a scene where he kills a fellow mobster named Tommy Devine for calling him "Chicken." One night Charlie is robbing a warehouse with Mike when they're surprised by the police and flee in their car. Charlie is nicked by a bullet and Mike brings him to a doctor. The doctor fixes him up and remarks Charlie has a good heart; this surprises Charlie, who realizes Angelo's Dr. Leonard had lied to him. In the next scene, Charlie goes looking for Dr. Leonard but finds he moved his practice to another location. In the next scene, Charlie goes home and receives a call from Angelo, telling him he's got another job for him. In the following scene, Charlie goes to Angelo's apartment and reveals he knows the truth about his heart. Angelo and Charlie shoot at each other; Angelo dies immediately. A policeman arrives and calls him "Chicken Charlie," easily slapping him around and disarming him. It looks like he's a chicken again and going back to prison (or maybe the electric chair?).
The first halves of these scripts are nearly word-for-word the same but they certainly do diverge, what with the Shadow's counterpart being killed. It is strange, too, that the Murder at Midnight version ends with the killer surviving - it seemed more poetic for him to die six months after the false diagnosis, as in the original script.
Thanks for following this 3-part series, I hope it was diverting. The episodes are available for your listening pleasure below:
My wife Bethany and I recently co-authored a book about our experiences in Angola; this is my second book about Angola, following the Benefit of Steel. We kept a daily journal during our visit to Angola last year and this book is drawn from what we wrote in that journal; it's also filled with paintings Bethany created based on scenes she observed during our visit.
We're working on getting the book into all the ebook and print markets that the Benefit of Steel has enjoyed, but for now you can buy the ebook directly from Bethany's store page or you can buy it on Amazon's Kindle page.
Bethany and Michael Hoskin are associate missionaries to Angola with SIM Canada. In July 2024 they travelled there for a month-long mission trip and kept a visual and written journal.
Enjoy reading about each day's activities which included repairing a mural at the CEML Hospital, leading worship at the Spiritual Life Conference at Tchincombe Farm and teaching an ESL Bible Study in Lubango.
Also included are a series of original illustrations by Bethany K. Hoskin with some original sketches, as well as poetry written by both her and Michael.
In today's "Shadow Without a Shadow," I'm looking at an episode of the Shadow titled "Nightmare at Gaelsbury" (February 2, 1941) by writer Jerry Devine. It was then retooled into the Suspense episode "the Kettler Method" (September 16, 1942), one of the earliest episodes of Suspense!
Now, the Lights Out episode we looked at was an instance where the Shadow was added to a script; this time he had to be eliminated from the script! So, let's analyze how that was accomplished:
Both scripts open in the office of the physician in charge of an insane asylum during a stormy night; in "Nightmare at Gaeslbury" it's Dr. Blair in Gaelsbury, in "the Kettler Method" it's Dr. Morriseey in Calston. The biggest difference with the Suspense version though is that it has a narrator who adds a lot of additional details at the start of each scene.
Dr. Blair is treating a difficult patient who believes he received secret knowledge from the sorcerer Cagliostro. He rants at Dr. Blair then is returned to his cell by the keeper McPherson. Dr. Blair tells his nurse that this man had been a scientist until a female patient died on the operating table. The nurse opines that Dr. Blair needs a rest and Blair mentions his friends Lamont Cranston and Margo Lane are coming for a visit. Suddenly there's a gunshot and Dr. Blair and the nurse discover they're locked inside his office. The insane patient (later named Griswold) can be heard laughing in the hall.
On Suspense, the keeper is named Caffrey and there's an added exchange where he brings the insane patient to see Dr. Morrissey. All the exposition about who the patient is (Kettler in this version) occurs between Morriseey and Caffrey instead of Morrissey and the nurse. Kettler enters and demands to see the male patient he had been operating on, a man named Benham. Kettler is convinced Benham is hidden somewhere in the asylum. Although the content of their exchange is very different, it leads to a conversation between Morrissey and his nurse that is mostly the same as the prior version. Morrissey mentions his friends Leslie and Claire Winton will be visiting him. The nurse also mentions she put some new bandage samples into his coat pocket (which become important later). Then there's a scream and a gunshot. Caffrey tries to get into the office but when Morrissey opens the door, Caffrey is near-dying and warns him Kettler is coming with the other patients. Kettler exclaims, "tables turn!"
Both scripts go to a musical transition as the scene changes. Both scripts open at a train station as the couples arrive in Gaelsbury/Calston. Mention should be made that the character of Leslie Winton will be the equivalent of Lamont Cranston in the Suspense version; he's played by John Gibson, who portrays Leslie as a very milquetoast type of character. Anyway, it's established that Margo/Claire has a headache that's bothering them. In the Shadow version, Lamont and Margo are pestered by a vendor and they agree to buy a jackknife for Margo's nephew (the jackknife is kind of a substitute for the bandages in Suspense). In both scripts, the couples are met by a man from the sanitarium - Tarfu/Kato, who speaks in a deep voice and limited vocabulary. Strangely, the descriptions of Tarfu and Kato are different - Lamont describes Tarfu as West Indian and 7 feet tall; Kato's nationality isn't given but he's guessed to be 8 feet tall!
Another musical transition as scenes change. The couples arrive at the sanitarium as Tarfu/Kato tells them to wait. They're visited by a man who warns them that the inmates are running the asylum; he's a famous musician (Sigmund Arnold on the Shadow, Arturo Alvarez on Suspense). The two scripts are much the same as the couples assume the musician is one of the patients. Dr. Griswold/Kettler then arrives and has Tarfu/Kato return the musician to his cell. Interestingly, in the first script he's called "patient number 8" but in the second he's "patient number 10." Dr. Griswold/Kettler introduces himself to the couples and claims that Dr. Blair/Morrissey is away on an emergency case, leaving him in charge of the sanitarium. When Margo/Claire mentions her headache that interests the doctor, who insists he can treat her case and invites Lamont/Leslie to enjoy some drinks or cigarettes in the office.
The Shadow then has a short scene that has no equivalent on Suspense in which supporting character Commissioner Weston receives a call from Dr. Blair who tries to inform Weston of the takeover that's going on at Gaelsbury. And that's the entirety of Weston's influence on this episode, which makes me wonder why this scene was even used.
Returning to the sanitarium, we have near-identical scenes in which Lamont/Leslie discover there are no drinks or cigarettes in the office. Turning on the radio they hear a broadcast mentioning Arnold/Alvarez's concert has been cancelled, causing Lamont/Leslie to realize the musician they met was the real person. Just as they try to confront the doctor they instead run into Tarfu/Kato, who informs them that Margo/Claire is going to receive a special operation. Lamont/Leslie object and the doctor enters and is quite put out when Lamont/Leslie "demands" to see her. Tarfu/Kato knocks out Lamont/Leslie from behind and the doctor gloats over his fallen body.
I should mention at this point that the Shadow episode is half-over and at the commercial break, yet the Suspense program, which has no commercials, is 2/3rds through their script!
Lamont/Leslie find themselves sealed in a room with Dr. Blair/Morrissey. There's some exposition as Blair/Morrissey explains what happened. We also learn Blair had his leg broken after being caught telephoning Commissioner Weston (no such injury was performed on Morrissey). It's after the big exposition scenes that the scripts diverge quite a bit. On the Shadow, Lamont remembers he still has a jackknife in his pocket. Lamont gives the knife to Dr. Blair and he waves it around at Tarfu, fascinating his simple mind as a diversion while Lamont escapes the basement.
Lamont escapes the sanitarium by climbing over the wall but is spotted by a pair of Irish cops who are passing by. Lamont tries to explain the situation to them but they assume he's an escaped mental patient and lead him back inside. Dr. Griswold even shows off Arnold to the policemen; when Lamont correctly identifies Arnold, the policemen believe the doctor's story, doubting a famous musician would be in the sanitarium. Griswold claims he doesn't want the responsibility of holding Lamont any longer and tells the police to take him away (apparently it's that easy! the police go along with this!). Fortunately, while leaving the facility they find Tarfu menacing Dr. Blair. The police drive off Tarfu with their bullets and apologize to Lamont for how they treated him.
Now, on Suspense Leslie gets the idea to masquerade as Benham, Kettler's deceased patient. Morrissey covers Leslie's face with bandages so that he won't be immediately recognized. In both scripts, Lamont/Leslie interrupt the procedures on Margo/Claire's headaches but the procedures and circumstances are quite different; Griswold wants to use insulin on Margo while Kettler wants to cut Claire's head open. Lamont appears to Griswold as the Shadow, claiming to be the ghost of Cagliostro to play on his mind, while Leslie enters the room in bandages claiming to be Benham.
On the Shadow, Griswold tries to flee the sanitarium and, in fear, shoots Tarfu with his gun; Tarfu stabs Griswold to death with the jackknife. On Suspense, Kettler realizes Leslie isn't Benham and is about to stab him when a sudden shot rings out; it turns out Claire stole Kettler's pistol and shot him with it.
Both close with Dr. Blair/Morrissey enjoying a quiet evening with Lamont/Leslie and Margo/Claire, listening to the music of Arnold/Alvarez while they recap how the plot was foiled thanks to their quick thinking. And as a closing line, Margo/Claire notes: "My headache-- it's completely gone!"
If you'd like to hear and compare these episodes for yourself, here you go:
This week I'm doing something instead of my usual Radio Recaps. I'm going to look at three radio plays that were heard on the radio adventure series the Shadow but were also heard on other programs without the Shadow - hence, the Shadow without a Shadow!
Our first examples are the Arch Oboler scripts "Nobody Died" (first heard on Lights Out December 9, 1936) and the Shadow version "Fountain of Death" (from November 27, 1938). Because the Shadow version came second it means that Oboler had to add the hero to his script from whole cloth - there was no hero in "Nobody Died."
In "Nobody Died" we open on an old woman calling for Dr. Miller. The two men attending to this 84-year old woman are soon joined by the female physician Dr. Miller who goes alone to see the woman, Adelina.
Whereas "Fountain of Death" begins in a motorcar as Lamont explains to Margo they're going to meet Dr. Anna Marla. It soon transitions to the two greeting the female physician Dr. Marla, who explains there's a 95-year old woman in the next room named Mrs. Cronin. Dr. Marla, Lamont and Margo go to see the woman together.
From there the two are very similar as Dr. Miller/Marla speaks to the old woman and promises to help her. Dr. Miller/Marla injects the woman with a serum which causes her to grow younger. While in the Lights Out version Dr. Miller created her formula while testing on mice to cure cancer, in the Shadow Dr. Marla was trying to cure aging itself - but the exposition is very similar. In both, the youthened woman makes the same exclamations as she realizes she's young again.
Both scripts then have a musical transition to indicate the passage of time. In Lights Out one of the two men from the opening scene is revealed to be the mayor and brings "His Excellency" (later named Joseph Brown) to meet with Dr. Miller. Brown investigates Dr. Miller's laboratory and when she refuses to explain how she youthened the old woman, Brown forces her to inject the mayor with her formula, despite her objections that she doesn't completely understand the formula yet. The mayor becomes a young man
In the Shadow, three days after the injection Dr. Marla is confronted by Gorlan, who is someone she recognizes from her home country.
Then the two reach a similar point as Brown/Gorlan muses how the formula could create an "invincible" army of young men. Dr. Miller/Marla objects "you cannot make men young to kill-- make them young to live!"
In the Lights Out version, Brown sends an underling to take the woman's notebook from her; a gunshot is heard, suggesting the underling has shot Dr. Miller to death. In the Shadow, Gorlan wants Dr. Marla to hand him a vial of the formula so that he can replicate it; when she refuses, he shoots her himself. In both versions, Brown/Gorlan declares the doctor has committed suicide.
But the Shadow has to add another scene before we continue -- after all, Lamont is the hero of this version! Lamont arrives at Dr. Marla's lab and finds her dying; she tells him Gorlan has the formula and he vows he'll track him down. After a commercial break, Lamont is trying to find Gorlan but none of his sources have ever heard of the man. Lamont gets so excited that he starts to flub a line but very quickly corrects himself! Fortunately for Lamont he's telephoned by Tom Brady, the foreign correspondent of the Examiner. Brady tells Lamont he saw Gorlan booking a trip at a travel agency. Lamont assumes Gorlan is going to skip the country aboard a boat but Margo notes that due to a strike there are no ships sailing. Lamont finally realizes Gorlan is going to take a clipper ship back to Europe.
After a musical transition, Margo and Lamont arrive at the clipper ship and Lamont boards the craft. A steward directs Lamont to Gorlan's cabin.
Back in the Lights Out original, Brown arranges for the military to begin receiving the formula. Brown intends to overthrow his country's true leader (strongly implied as Hitler) as he schemes with his top general. Having tested the formula on 50 of his men, Brown finally injects himself with the formula, becoming younger and stronger. Just then he's visited by the other villager from the opening who has brought Adelina with him. The man reveals the formula has caused Adelina's mind continue to grow younger, leaving her very simple-minded. Brown is agitated as he begins to realize the implications for him, given the extremely large dose he took.
In the Shadow, Lamont invisibly enters Gorlan's cabin and mentally tricks him into revealing where he's hidden the formula. The Shadow confronts Gorlan and demands he give him the formula. Although Gorlan can't see him, he feels certain he can shoot the Shadow with his gun, given the cabin isn't that large. The Shadow points out a stray bullet could hit the gasoline. Realizing the truth, Gorlan reveals he already analyzed the formula and memorized it. Gorlan offers an alliance with the Shadow and suggests they drink a toast of wine to celebrate their partnership. The Shadow refuses but Gorlan drinks his wine. The Shadow notes that Gorlan drugged his glass with the rejuvenation formula but he switched the two glasses, forcing Gorlan to drink the formula.
Now, in the Lights Out version, Brown is overwhelmed by the effects of the formula, growing younger and younger (replaced by younger actors) until he's an infant (and possibly youthens out of existence- hence the title, "Nobody Died").
Whereas in the Shadow, the Shadow suggests that Gorlan is growing younger. Gorlan goes insane with terror and jumps out of the clipper to his death. In a wrap-up scene, Lamont explains to Margo that he stole the sample of the formula and instead poured a stimulant into Gorlan's wine that caused him to think he was getting younger. Lamont decided to destroy the sample of the formula so that no one could use the formula for evil.
Here are the two episodes in case you'd like to compare them for yourself:
