Sunday, May 26, 2019

THE SHADOW Dailies: "The Riddle of the Sealed Box" Week 6

Previously on The Shadow: Just before his death, the mayor sends a box of dirt on the local graft ring to retired businessman Richard Whilton. Whilton, of course, is promptly bumped off, and the box stolen. The Shadow makes the scene, finding a coin dropped by the killer, but the cops burst in and he has to fight his way out. On the way, he promises Whilton’s daughter Eunice to set things right. 

Lamont Cranston then paid a visit to community reformer James Belver, who suspects the dead guy’s attorney, Rufus Voggle. Voggle enters and casts suspicion on Eunice’s out-of-town fiance, Larry Sherrin. Spotting an ad for the coin in the Lost and Found, The Shadow flits over to the address in search of the killer. Instead, he finds the sealed box. Picking it up triggers an alarm, and the cops chase him to the roof, where he falls through a skylight to certain doom. 

When his fall is broken by a rising elevator car, he thrusts the sealed box into the hands of the man inside. He thinks this guy is the killer, and wants him caught with the evidence, but blundering cops allow the the guy to escape. Cranston then has another encounter with suspects Voggle and Sherrin, and reformer Belver. He gets good news: The police chief tells him he'll start working with the Shadow on the case. And bad: He gets a note addressed to the Shadow, telling him to get out of town. Is his identity blown? He asks Eunice to open is briefcase, where she finds his Shadow duds. Donning them, she distracts a would-be assassin and throws him off the scent. 

New developments: The Shadow learns that Eunice's father left Larry Sherrin 50 Grand in his will. Lawyer Voggle enlists Larry's snaky ex-girlfriend Theda Morenz and her shady pal Nick Kromer to brace Larry and find out if he has the sealed box, but Eunice and the Shadow bust in to spoil their play.

Larry escapes the trap, but Voggle sends Theda to try again at Larry's apartment. There he finds the box, which he's never seen before. As the cops bust in, he tosses it to the Shadow, who plunges out the window and falls to earth, where he's almost senseless, and at the mercy of Theda and Nick . . . 






Two weeks to go!

2 comments:

  1. My notes on this strip:

    06/17/40-06/13/42 (624)
    daily only

    wr: Walter Gibson
    art: Vernon Greene [09/12/1908-06/05/1965]

    The start date for the strip is based on when it started in the Washington Post. There is some small evidence that the strip ran to only 12/13/41 (468 strips) According to J Randolph Cox’s bibliography, the strip continued past this point until June 13, 1942.

    Distributed by the Philadelphia Public Ledger Syndicate. Most of the stories were reprinted or redrawn for use in Street & Smith's Shadow Comics.


    Episode Guide

    1- 48 The Mystery of the Sealed Box (based on 12/1/37 pulp “The Sealed Box”)
    A 1-A 36 The Shadow in His Sanctum
    B 1-B 36 The Shadow vs Hoang Hu
    C 1-C 72 The Shadow on Shark Island
    D 1-D 72 The Shadow vs The Bund
    E 1-E 84 The Shadow vs Shiwan Khan
    F 1-F 66 The Shadow and the Darvin Fortune
    G 1-G 36 The Shadow and the Adele Varne Mystery
    G37-G 54 The Shadow and Professor Scorpio
    GX1-GX24 The Shadow and the Gray Ghost
    GZ1-GZ18 The Shadow and the Star of Delhi
    H 1-H 48 The Shadow and the Earthquake Machine
    I 1-I 48 The Shadow and the Return of Althor
    J 1-J 18 The Shadow and the Cliff Castle Mystery (unfinished)


    Reprints

    Crime Classics featuring The Shadow (Eternity)

    07/88 1 d 1 - 36
    08/88 2 d 37 - 48, A1 - A24
    09/88 3 d A25 - A36, B1 - B24
    01/89 4 d B25 - B36, C1 - C24
    02/89 5 d C25 - C61 missing C50 or C51
    03/89 6 d C62 - C72, D1 - D24
    04/89 7 d D25 - D60
    05/89 8 d D61 - D72, E1 - E24
    06/89 9 d E25 - E60
    08/89 10 d E61 - E84, F1 - F12 missing E65 or E66
    09/89 11 d F13 - F48
    10/89 12 d F49 - F66, G1 - G18
    11/89 13 d G19 - G54

    The Shadow Scrapbook
    #1-48 The Mystery of the Sealed Box

    Shadow Comics (Street & Smith)
    03/41 "The Mystery of the Sealed Box"
    05/41 "The Shadow versus Hoang Hu"
    09/41 "The Shadow on Shark Island"
    11/41 "The Shadow versus The Bund" first half
    03/42 “The Shadow versus The Bund” second half
    05/42 "The Shadow versus Shiwan Khan"
    07/42 "The Shadow and the Darvin Fortune"
    07/42 “The Shadow and Professor Scorpio"
    09/42 "The Shadow and the Gray Ghost”
    05/43 The Shadow and the Return of Althor"]

    Pulp Action [Starring The Shadow] (ACG Comics)
    1999 1 1-48
    1999 2 A1-A36
    2000 3 F1-F33
    2000 4 F34-F66
    2000 5 G1-G27
    2000 6 G28-G54
    2000 7 2nd part of F3-F24 (reprinted in issue 3)
    2000 8 F25-F48 (reprinted in issue 3 & 4)


    Sources

    The Shadow Scrapbook, by Walter B Gibson, HBJ 1979

    Man of Magic and Mystery: A Guide to the Work of Walter B Gibson
    by J Randolph Cox; The Scarecrow Press, Inc., Metuchen, NJ, & London 1988

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