The long-running radio program left The Shadow with an identity crisis. On the radio, The Shadow was “in reality Lamont Cranston, wealthy, young man-about-town.”
Actually, in the 325 novels, The Shadow only took on the guise of Lamont Cranston when he thought that posing as the millionaire playboy could benefit his battle against crime. The Shadow was “in reality” Kent Allard, an adventurer and pilot who crashed deep in the tropical jungles of South America shortly before The Shadow appeared in New York City.
Using the wealth he found in the jungle, he fought crime for the next 18 years across America and, at times, around the world.
The Shadow revealed his true identity as Allard in a novel aptly titled “The Shadow Unmasks” in August 1937.
