Stuff From the Box

As I mentioned in my last "Stuff From the Box" blog post, the only items left in the current box are rings. But today's ring is a beaut! 

First of all, let's take a look at this great cover to The Shadow Magazine, from 1936. The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the radio program Detective Story Hour, which was developed to boost sales of Street & Smith's monthly pulp Detective Story Magazine, while the first issue of the pulp series The Shadow Magazine went on sale April 1, 1931. 

On September 26, 1937, The Shadow, a new radio drama based on the character as created by Gibson for the pulp magazine, premiered with the story "The Death House Rescue", in which The Shadow was characterized as having "the hypnotic power to cloud men's minds so they cannot see him". In the magazine stories, The Shadow did not become literally invisible. The introductory line from the radio adaptation of The Shadow – "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"

In 1941, Blue Coal Dealers of America offered a neat premium ring, this plastic beauty with a piece of simulated blue coal where one might expect a cursed emerald or ruby.

You need to see it from every angle, right? Notice that The Shadow himself appears in high-relief on the sides of the ring - due to the cream-colored plastic, the details are hard to discern, but the brim of his hat is obvious.

In the print adventures, The Shadow is Kent Allard. The Shadow's best known alter ego is Lamont Cranston, a "wealthy young man-about-town" - there are definite parallels to Batman. 

The Shadow is more than happy to use a pistol, as you saw in that magazine cover. Get those bad guys! 

And oh yeah, the ring glows in the dark. My favorite thing! These rings are not common, but you can probably find one if you are willing to put in a little time. They can run up to (and over) $200, believe it or not.

Here's a neat blotter advertisement for The Shadow's radio adventures, brought to you by Blue Coal Dealers of America.

The next ring is much less fancy, but still fun - a plastic Tastykake ring, featuring the likeness (highlighted in gold!) of the Tastykake Baker. Tastykake was founded in 1914 in Philadelphia - I remember having their snack cakes when I lived in Pennsylvania - though in my memory is that some of them tasted weird to me. I was probably just used to Hostess and Dolly Madison products.