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The year was 1930. To boost sales of their Detective Story Magazine, pulp publishers Street and Smith decided to sponsor a radio program where an announcer read stories from the magazine.
Rather than referring to him as "the guy who reads the stories," a man at Street and Smith's ad agency suggested naming him The Shadow.
Soon customers began asking for a pulp magazine of that name.
No such magazine existed at the time -- but Street and Smith knew an opportunity when they saw one, and quickly decided to created just such a title.
In time The Master of Darkness recruited numerous agents, among them the mysterious Burbank.
Little is known about Burbank, other than the fact that he is an "old friend" of the Master of Darkness, and that his mission is to facilitate communication among agents.
The Shadow copyright Advance magazine Publishers, Inc./ The Condé Nast Pubs.
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REPORT 12:
 FRANK HAMILTON
Franklyn Edward Hamilton, Jr. -- aka illustrator Frank Hamilton -- was born in 1918. Hamilton is famous (in the pulp world, anyway) for his recreations of classic Shadow covers, such as the one seen above, based on the cover of the Shadow adventure "Partners In Peril."
Hamilton has also created numerous original works, all done in his trademark "pointil
istic" style. Seen close-up, each of Hamilton's finely-wrought portraits looks as though a swarm of magic dots has, at the artist's command, assembled itself into a beautiful  illustration. (Pictured right is Hamilton's version of Lamont Cranston.)
Hamilton's work has appeared in pulp fanzines such as Echoes and Other Worlds, and in numerous books about The Shadow -- everything from The Night Master by Robert Sampson to The Duende History of The Shadow Magazine by Will Murray to Gangland's Doom by Frank Eisgruber (covered next report!).
Pictured left is Hamilton's little-seen portrait of The Whisperer, a pulpy clone of The Shadow ( illustration from The Great Pulp Heroes by Don Hutchinson).
Seen below is of one of Hamilton's best works, a montage devoted to the Shadows, Lamonts, and Margos of The Shadow radio series, which, as Hamilton wryly inscribes on the tombstone-like oldtime radio, ran from 1930-1954 in various incarnations. A one-of-a-kind gem by the inimitable Frank Hamilton! |
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THREE SHADOWY FRANKS - #3 OF 3
FRANK EISGRUBER'S SEMINAL SHADOW STUDY
"GANGLAND'S DOOM"
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