Title: Prelude to Terror
Air date: January 29, 1939
Plot summary: Mild-mannered Professor Baker is interrupted at his home by a gun-toting thug, who shoots and kills him. Why?
Because he's been working on a new and fantastically powerful explosive, that's why. A crook named Braden has somehow found out about the explosive, which is in the form of a gas, and has hit on an evil scheme. After Braden's mook came back from Professor Baker's with the explosive, Braden explains it to his gang of hoodlums. They will put the explosive gas into light bulbs, which they will scatter all over the city. When people start turning light switches on, the resulting explosions will cause tremendous damage. Braden will then contact the police and demand that the entire city be blacked out. When it is, he and his gang will steal as much as they can carry away in a night.
Commissioner Weston is, as usual, completely at a loss. Luckily Lamont Cranston knew Prof. Baker, knows Baker was working on an explosive, and connects the dots. He tracks down Cooper, Prof. Baker's valet, and from there he goes to Braden's lair.
Tropes:
- Big Blackout: Deliberately engineered by the villains, as Braden forces the mayor to put the whole city in blackout, so Braden's gang can rob at will.
- Blatant Lies: Commissioner Weston is freaking out and his mood doesn't improve when Lamont Cranston shows up at his office. After an agitated Weston tells Lamont that he doesn't want to hear any of Lamont's theories, Lamont tells him to calm down. The commissioner screams "I AM CALM!"
- Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: Newspaper vendors hawking headlines about the explosions in the city and the blackout order.
- He Knows Too Much: Cooper the valet is shot by Heaney while Cooper is talking to The Shadow. Luckily he's Not Quite Dead and manages to whisper the location of Braden's hideout before he croaks.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The Shadow filches one of Braden's explosive light bulbs and screws it into a socket in Braden's lair. When Braden flips the switch he and all the other crooks are blown up. (Lamont narrowly made it out before the explosion.)
- Villain Opening Scene: Heaney, Braden's minion, enters Professor Baker's house and kills him.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: One scene has a pilot circling the city, unable to land because it's been blacked out, and running low on gas. Did he land? Did he crash? Who knows?
