[The Shadow 147] • The Crimson Phoenix

THE CRIMSON PHOENIX was published in the April 1, 1938 issue of The Shadow Magazine. The villain of this piece is known as "The Phoenix" not "The Crimson Phoenix." Sure, he wears an outfit of red, but he's never referred to by any other name than The Phoenix. So the story title is technically incorrect. But he's still a nasty villain - one of the most sinister The Shadow has ever met. Our story opens as a broad-shouldered little crook by the name of Leo Barry makes a visit to one of Manhattan's most notorious racketeers, Duke Duncan. Barry is there to try his hand at a little blackmail. He possesses a letter which proves Duncan committed a murder. A murder for which an innocent young man named Jack Skelly sits in Sing Sing, awaiting death by electrocution. Duke Duncan pays ten thousand dollars of blackmail money to obtain the letter. Not because he fears the blackmail. Duncan realizes that Barry's letter also contains information which he can use to blackmail multi-millionaire banker John Marsley for a million dollars. So the ten-thousand he promises to pay Barry is peanuts! The Shadow has been trailing Leo Barry, suspecting he is up to something nefarious. He follows Barry and Duke Duncan's underlings to the Midtown Trust Company where Barry removes the original copy of the letter from his safe-deposit box. The exchange is made; Barry receives the money and Duncan's henchmen receive the letter. The Shadow must now manage to read the contents of the letter and discover its secret without discovery by Duke Duncan or his minions. John Marsley is about to be blackmailed for the contents of the letter. But he's involved in something else as well. Some sinister plot that involves the security of our country! His young daughter Viola and her fiancee Stanley West are about to become involved as well. There will be a coded message that is gained and lost. The code book, which is the only means to read the critical message, also becomes a pawn in this strange tale. Alice Dodge is in love with the innocent Jack Skelly, who sits in jail awaiting the death chair. She is trying to find the letter that could pin the murder on John Marsley and free the man she loves. And Snap Carlo is the lieutenant of Duke Duncan who is tricked by Alice Dodge and has sworn to end her double-crossing life. And into all this confusion enters The Phoenix, a strange robed villain clad entire in red, right down to his high peaked hood and thin gloves. The Phoenix is after the million dollar blackmail money. And he's also after the secret coded message from overseas agents of the United States. He's a cruel and sinister genius of crime. It will take all the cunning of The Shadow to outwit this strange figure of crime and save the innocent from a death sentence. The Shadow appears in disguise as Lamont Cranston briefly, but spends most of this story in disguise as a harmless and inoffensive young man named Peter Lane. This is a disguise that The Shadow never had used before, and never used again. But in this story, he spends most of his time in this disguise and it serves him very well, indeed. The Shadow is assisted in one scene by his agent Moe Shrevnitz, the erstwhile taxi-cab driver who has long been in his service. Rutledge Mann is mentioned, but never actually seen. And no other agents of The Shadow appear in the story. Nor do any law-enforcement officers of any sort. The Shadow carries most of the action alone in this story. The story itself was written by Theodore Tinsley, the author who was groomed to do backup duty for Walter Gibson, should the necessity ever arrise. Tinsley wrote twenty-seven Shadow novels between 1936 and 1942. This was his sixth entry. He was quite faithful to the characterization created by Walter Gibson, and wrote in much the same style. He is noted, however, for his slightly more lurid style which included a dash more sex and violence. Tinsley throws in brief mention of Duke Duncan's moll, a breathlessly beautiful woman in a filmy lace negligee. Marsley's daughter Viola disrobes as evil eyes watch through a window. The Phoenix threatens to strip his victims naked and torture them. It's all very tame by today's standards, but steps a little beyond what Walter Gibson would usually write. Tinsley's Shadow, is slightly less invulnerable, and usually receives a slight wound or two in each story. A bullet slashes across the surface of his wrist, causing a white-hot flash of pain. His foot is caught in the cruel grasp of a bear trap, ripping the flesh. The flame of a revolver shot near his face causes temporary blindness. The Shadow, as described by Theodore Tinsley, is powerful and fast. But he can be hurt. A few notes of interest. Moe Shrevnitz can listen in to the conversations of the passengers in his taxi. A wire passes from a microphone in the back of the cab through the upholstery of the front seat and up to a tiny earpiece in Moe's ear. He uses that ability to eavesdrop in his one-and-only scene in this story. We also are treated to several descriptions of The Shadow changing his countenance in this pulp mystery. In some stories, he uses a strange gauze-like mask. In others, some type of putty. But in this story, he uses none of these techniques. In this story, he has the uncanny ability to change his facial features strictly by muscular movement. "But a ripple passed over his mobile face. His mouth and features seemed to writhe. Without changing anything save the habitual expression of his face, Lamont Cranston also vanished. In his place was a smiling stranger."You may also remember that in his various automobiles, The Shadow has a drawer hidden beneath the seat. This drawer contains his cloak, slouch hat, gloves and twin .45 automatics. In this story, we discover that it actually contains TWO cloaks and hats. The Shadow uses the spare, here, to fool The Phoenix. But the mind boggles at what else may be in those drawers that are haven't been told about. Let's not forget The Shadow's famous girasol ring. By 1938, apparently it was famous to most of Manhattan, as well. In the early years, The Shadow used the girasol ring as a means of secret identification. But the secret must have been let out by 1938, because when John Marsley sees the flashing fire opal on the finger of Peter Lane, he immediately recognizes him to be The Shadow. Part of this story involves a secret message from government agents overseas, regarding an international menace. Keep in mind that this threat of war was fictional, and written four years before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Yet the story is strangely prophetic. "A new and terrible war threatened the peace of the world. It was being deliberately fomented in the Far East. The United States was one of the victims to be attacked... its success depended on a surprise aerial attack without a second's warning."When Theodore Tinsley wrote this in August of 1937, little did he realize that his fictional premise would become fact with Japan's surprise aerial attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. Apparently, the color of The Phoenix was unimportant. Even though the title specifies "Crimson," the villain is never so identified in the story. In fact, Theodore Tinsley submitted the story to Street Smith in 1937 as "The Green Phoenix." But the editors had just received "The Green Hoods" from Walter Gibson three weeks earlier, and decided to change the outfit to crimson. So although all reference to "green" was changed to "red" in the story descriptions, the actual name of the villain was simplified to The Phoenix, with no reference to color other than in the story title. Perhaps an April Fool's joke? I always enjoy the stories written by Theodore Tinsley. They have that little extra lurid edge that just screams "pulp" to me. And I did enjoy this story, even though the story was half-over before The Phoenix was even mentioned. He certainly made up for lost time, in the second half, though. It all makes the story definitely worth reading.