7/31/1930 What happened today? The Shadow knows...

July 31, 1930.  On this date the Detective Radio Hour, sponsored by pulp publisher Street and Smith, featured a mysterious narrator called The Shadow.  This became so popular that by the following spring The Shadow Magazine sprang forth, starring a much more fully developed character, designed and usually written by the prolific Walter Gibson.  By 1937 The Shadow radio show had the characteristics now so familiar: "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?  The Shadow Knows!"  He had "the power to cloud men's minds so they cannot see him."  And "The tree of crime bears bitter fruit."  So watch out.