The Shadow Without a Shadow, Part 1: Lights Out!

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:

On Wednesday: The Shadow and Suspense!