Title: The Death House Rescue
Air Date: September 26, 1937
Guest Stars: Bill Johnstone (Paul Gordon), Elia Kazan (Lefty Collins)
Plot summary: Paul Gordon takes a job because he needs the money and is surprised to find himself the driver of a getaway car for a bank robbery. The thieves fatally shoot a cop during their getaway and leave Paul almost literally holding the bag. When Paul is convicted of murder and faces execution, The Shadow springs into action. He uses his powers to make the real thieves, Red Sloan and Lefty Collins, think that they have left incriminating fingerprints behind in Paul's car. Meanwhile, Lamont Cranston's Girl Friday Margo Lane urges him to forego his secret identity and come out in the open, but Lamont tells her that if he does, his mind-control powers could be used for ill.
Notes: Bill Johnstone, who voices Paul Gordon, would take over the role of The Shadow after Orson Welles left the show in 1938. And yes, that's future Oscar-winning film director Elia Kazan as Lefty, one of the hoodlums.
Tropes:
- Bluffing the Murderer: The Shadow gets the bank robbers to believe that they might have left incriminating prints in Paul Gordon's car. This causes them to attempt to wipe down the car, where, of course, the police are waiting. One of the thieves gets shot and the other confesses.
- Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: "Extra, extra...next week at this same time...The Shadow and the Red Macaw." This is how the next week's episode is promoted at the end of the show.
- Fall Guy: The unfortunate Paul Gordon knew nothing of the robbery, but instead accepted an offer to show up at a particular place at 9 a.m. with his car, because he needed the work. The thieves come barreling out of the bank and at gunpoint force Paul to be a getaway driver. When they finally lose the cops, they also ditch Paul, leaving him to take the rap for bank robbery and murder in the shootout.
- Look Behind You: How the Shadow distracts a prison guard, so he can knock him out and then probe the mind of Paul Gordon for details about the crime.
- Race Against the Clock: The Shadow has to expose the real crooks behind a bank robbery that turned deadly, before their patsy Pual Gordon is unjustly executed for shooting a cop.
- Telepathy: The Shadow probes the mind of Paul Gordon to find out details of the crime that he can use against the real guilty parties.
