1938-6-05 The Tenor with the Broken Voice

Broadcast June 5th 1938 syndicated for the summer by Goodrich Tires

This episode is included in Radio Spirits CD Set The Shadow: Strange Puzzles*

Written by:

Announcer: Ken Roberts

Cast: Orson Welles (Lamont Cranston/The Shadow) Margot Stevenson (Margot Lane)

Music: Rosa Rio

Synopsis:

A famed opera singer is struck down with a broken voice while singing the aria during the climax of Piochi. His replacement the following week is struck dead by a falling sand bag while attempting the same aria on stage. The directors of the opera house meet to decide whether to continue for the rest of the season, but when a third attempt to ruin the opera involves an explosive and deadly fire, The Shadow quashes it by ordering the asbestos curtain to be dropped. While Commissioner Weston insists on shutting down the opera, The Shadow pleads with the directors for assistance and requests Piochi be performed for a fourth evening, assuring a solution to the mystery. Discovering the night watchman stabbed to death and an electric cord rigged with the asbestos curtain to spark a horrible explosion when it rings down at the conclusion of the performance, The Shadow reveals the man behind the murders — the famed opera singer who was ashamed of the loss of his voice, and wanted to ensure no one else accomplished his feat.

Listen to this episode

Note:

*This episode is also available on The Shadow: Radio's Greatest Man of Mystery