1945-9-16 The Thoughts of Death

Broadcast September 16th 1945 on Mutual at 5:00 p.m. EST sponsored by D.L. & W. Coal Company "Blue Coal" and syndicated for the summer by Goodrich Tires

This is a lost episode and no recreation of it has yet been made. If you have a copy of the script please let me know.

Written by: Stedman Coles

Announcer: Don Hancock

Cast: Steve Courtleigh (Lamont Cranston/The Shadow) Laura May Carpenter (Margot Lane)

Music: Elsie Thompson

Synopsis:

Tony Ruskin, a brilliant student at the state college contacts Lamont using mental telepathy—only Tony committed suicide a few days before. Lamont has no explanation for the strange messages. Tony’s late father left a provision in his will that the boy take over his business after completing college or else Phillip Ruskin, Tony’s uncle, would gain total control. Tony was a student of Professor George but the day before his suicide he chose business over science. Lamont and Margot follow mental impressions to an old house where they find a small laboratory in a room containing a pump with tubes carrying blood into and out of the head of a gorilla. The living brain inside the head proves to be Tony’s. While Margot hides in the closet, The Shadow observes Professor George returning to work on his project. The Shadow pretends to be the voice of Tony, forcing a confession from the professor that he seeks eternal life by finding a way to keep the brain healthy.The professor drugged the boy and cut his head off before staging the boy’s suicide. Driven crazy with torment, the professor removes the attachment and smashes the pump, the arteries and the brain. As the professor cracks under the strain, The Shadow laughs before phoning the telephone operator for the psychopathic ward.