Walter B. Gibson
Encyclopedia
Walter Brown Gibson was an American
author
and professional magician
, best known for his work on the pulp fiction
character The Shadow
. Gibson, under the pen-name Maxwell Grant
, wrote "more than 300 novel-length" Shadow stories, writing up to "10,000 words a day" to satisfy public demand during the character's golden age in the 1930s and 1940s. He also authored several novels in the Biff Brewster
juvenile series of the 1960s. He was married to Litzka R. Gibson, also a writer, and the couple lived in New York
state.
neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, to Alfred Cornelius Gibson (1849–1931) and May Morrell Whidden Gibson (1863–1941).
Gibson graduated from Colgate University
in 1920 where he was a brother of Delta Kappa Epsilon, and began working "for newspapers in his native Philadelphia as a reporter and crossword
-puzzle writer," specifically for the Philadelphia North American, and later The Evening Ledger. In 1928 Gibson was asked by Macfadden Publications
to edit True Strange Stories; he did, for a time, identified as Walter Scofield, commuting back and forth to New York. In 1931, after submitting some crime stories for Detective Story Magazine
, he was asked by publishers Street & Smith
to produce the first print adventure of wealthy playboy Lamont Cranston, who, voiced by James La Curto, had risen to prominence in his guise as The Shadow, the character who narrated the Detective Stories radio drama
.
. This first Shadow story was published on April 1, 1931, just nine months after the character's appearance on the airwaves. Six months later, The Shadow was headlining a new radio show, and his pulp adventures—written by Gibson under the house pseudonym Maxwell Grant
—were going from strength to strength. Although launched as a quarterly publication, "within months, the magazine was on a twice-monthly schedule," causing Gibson to produce the equivalent of 24 novels per year. Described as a "compulsive writer," Gibson is estimated to have written, at his peak, 1,680,000 words a year, and at least 282 of the 325 Shadow novels.
As the character spun off into "comic strips, movies, reruns and parlor games," Gibson went with him, scripting some of the comic book and strip cartoons and serving as consultant on the Sunday night radio show.
Gibson is recognized as the creator of much of The Shadow's mythos, although his tales often conflict with the better-known radio
version. For example, Gibson's Shadow is, in reality, Kent Allard, an aviator, who sometimes posed as playboy Lamont Cranston. On the radio, The Shadow really is Cranston, a "wealthy young man about town." Similarly, Shadow companion Margo Lane arose not from the pulps but from the radio program; she was added to offer a contrasting female voice. In 1941, Gibson grudgingly added Margo Lane to the pulp novel stories and even hinted at a power of invisibility.
, psychic phenomena, true crime
, mysteries, rope knots, yoga
, hypnotism, and game
s. He served as a ghost writer for books on magic and spiritualism by Harry Houdini
, Howard Thurston
, Harry Blackstone, Sr.
, and Joseph Dunninger
. Gibson wrote the comic books and radio drama Blackstone, the Magic Detective
. starring a fictionalized version of Harry Blackstone. Gibson also introduced the famous "Chinese linking rings" trick in America, and invented the "Nickels to Dimes" trick that is still sold in magic stores to this day. He "wrote extensively on Houdini and his escape tricks and sleight-of-hand," and became involved after Houdini's death with seances. Houdini was known as much for his investigations into — and exposure of — false mediums, and after his death, his wife Bess held seances for ten years in an attempt to contact the deceased magician. She then passed this role on to Gibson, who for many years helped preside over the Houdini Seances at New York's famous Magic Towne House
with such well-known magicians as Milbourne Christopher
, Dorothy Dietrich
, Bobby Baxter, and Dick Brooks. Before Gibson died, he passed on the responsibility to Dietrich, currently of The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania
.
Under the pen name Andy Adams
, Gibson is credited with writing at least five of the twelve novels in the Biff Brewster
juvenile adventure and mystery series for adolescent boys: Brazilian Gold Mine Mystery, Mystery of the Mexican Treasure, Mystery of the Ambush in India, Egyptian Scarab Mystery, and Mystery of the Alpine Pass.
With his wife Litzka R. Gibson (née Gonser), he co-wrote The Complete Illustrated Book of the Psychic Sciences (Doubleday, 1966), a 404-page book which explains how to practice many popular forms of divination
and fortune-telling
, including astrology
, tasseography
, graphology
, and numerology
. Litzka also wrote her own books on topics as diverse as palmistry, dancing, and personal hygiene, sometimes under the pen-name Leona Lehman.
novel The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril, which was published by Simon & Schuster
in 2006. In addition, Gibson is the protagonist, along with Orson Welles
, in a historical mystery by Max Allan Collins
, The War of the Worlds Murder, published by Berkley Books
in 2005.
While not appearing directly, in P. N. Elrod
's "Bloodlist," Jack Fleming mentions that he knows the author of the Shadow Magazine
, and when he comes across a mobster guard reading "Terror Island" thinks to himself that he'll "have to write to Walter and tell him about his mobster fan."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and professional magician
Magic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
, best known for his work on the pulp fiction
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
character The Shadow
The Shadow
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...
. Gibson, under the pen-name Maxwell Grant
Maxwell Grant
Maxwell Grant was a pen name used by the authors of The Shadow pulp magazine stories.Street and Smith Publications, the publishers of The Shadow, asked Walter B...
, wrote "more than 300 novel-length" Shadow stories, writing up to "10,000 words a day" to satisfy public demand during the character's golden age in the 1930s and 1940s. He also authored several novels in the Biff Brewster
Biff Brewster
Biff Brewster is the central character in a series of 13 adventure and mystery novels for adolescent boys written by Andy Adams. The series was published by Grosset & Dunlap between 1960 and 1965....
juvenile series of the 1960s. He was married to Litzka R. Gibson, also a writer, and the couple lived in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
state.
Early life
Walter Brown Gibson was born on September 12, 1897, in the GermantownGermantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...
neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, to Alfred Cornelius Gibson (1849–1931) and May Morrell Whidden Gibson (1863–1941).
Gibson graduated from Colgate University
Colgate University
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...
in 1920 where he was a brother of Delta Kappa Epsilon, and began working "for newspapers in his native Philadelphia as a reporter and crossword
Crossword
A crossword is a word puzzle that normally takes the form of a square or rectangular grid of white and shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answers. In languages that are written left-to-right, the answer...
-puzzle writer," specifically for the Philadelphia North American, and later The Evening Ledger. In 1928 Gibson was asked by Macfadden Publications
Macfadden Publications
Macfadden Communications Group is a publisher of business magazines. It has a historical link with a company started in 1898 by Bernarr Macfadden that was one of the largest magazine publishers of the twentieth century.-Macfadden Publications:...
to edit True Strange Stories; he did, for a time, identified as Walter Scofield, commuting back and forth to New York. In 1931, after submitting some crime stories for Detective Story Magazine
Detective Story Magazine
Detective Story Magazine was an American magazine published by Street & Smith from October 15, 1915 to Summer, 1949 . The first pulp magazine devoted to detective fiction, it consisted of short stories and serials....
, he was asked by publishers Street & Smith
Street & Smith
Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc. was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to as pulp fiction and dime novels. They also published comic books and sporting yearbooks...
to produce the first print adventure of wealthy playboy Lamont Cranston, who, voiced by James La Curto, had risen to prominence in his guise as The Shadow, the character who narrated the Detective Stories radio drama
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
.
The Shadow
The popularity of the radio show's narrator inspired the show's sponsors (Street & Smith) to translate the character into print, and Gibson was duly asked to produce 75,000 words for the first quarterly issue of The Shadow pulp magazinePulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
. This first Shadow story was published on April 1, 1931, just nine months after the character's appearance on the airwaves. Six months later, The Shadow was headlining a new radio show, and his pulp adventures—written by Gibson under the house pseudonym Maxwell Grant
Maxwell Grant
Maxwell Grant was a pen name used by the authors of The Shadow pulp magazine stories.Street and Smith Publications, the publishers of The Shadow, asked Walter B...
—were going from strength to strength. Although launched as a quarterly publication, "within months, the magazine was on a twice-monthly schedule," causing Gibson to produce the equivalent of 24 novels per year. Described as a "compulsive writer," Gibson is estimated to have written, at his peak, 1,680,000 words a year, and at least 282 of the 325 Shadow novels.
As the character spun off into "comic strips, movies, reruns and parlor games," Gibson went with him, scripting some of the comic book and strip cartoons and serving as consultant on the Sunday night radio show.
Gibson is recognized as the creator of much of The Shadow's mythos, although his tales often conflict with the better-known radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
version. For example, Gibson's Shadow is, in reality, Kent Allard, an aviator, who sometimes posed as playboy Lamont Cranston. On the radio, The Shadow really is Cranston, a "wealthy young man about town." Similarly, Shadow companion Margo Lane arose not from the pulps but from the radio program; she was added to offer a contrasting female voice. In 1941, Gibson grudgingly added Margo Lane to the pulp novel stories and even hinted at a power of invisibility.
Magic, non-fiction, and other works
Gibson wrote more than a hundred books on magicMagic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
, psychic phenomena, true crime
True crime
True crime is a non-fiction literary and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people.The crimes most commonly include murder, but true crime works have also touched on other legal cases. Depending on the writer, true crime can adhere strictly to...
, mysteries, rope knots, yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
, hypnotism, and game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
s. He served as a ghost writer for books on magic and spiritualism by Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts...
, Howard Thurston
Howard Thurston
Howard Thurston was a stage magician from Columbus, Ohio.-Life:Thurston had the largest traveling magic show for the time, requiring more than eight entire train cars to transport his props across the country...
, Harry Blackstone, Sr.
Harry Blackstone, Sr.
Harry Blackstone was a famed stage magician and illusionist of the 20th century. Blackstone was born Harry Bouton in Chicago, Illinois, he began his career as a magician in his teens and was popular through World War II as a USO entertainer. He was often billed as The Great Blackstone. His son...
, and Joseph Dunninger
Joseph Dunninger
Joseph Dunninger , known as "The Amazing Dunninger" was one of the most famous and proficient mentalists of all time...
. Gibson wrote the comic books and radio drama Blackstone, the Magic Detective
Blackstone, the Magic Detective
Blackstone, the Magic Detective was a 15-minute radio series which had a tie-in with several comic books. The program aired Sunday afternoons at 2:45pm on the Mutual Broadcasting System from October 3, 1948 until March 26, 1950.-Radio:...
. starring a fictionalized version of Harry Blackstone. Gibson also introduced the famous "Chinese linking rings" trick in America, and invented the "Nickels to Dimes" trick that is still sold in magic stores to this day. He "wrote extensively on Houdini and his escape tricks and sleight-of-hand," and became involved after Houdini's death with seances. Houdini was known as much for his investigations into — and exposure of — false mediums, and after his death, his wife Bess held seances for ten years in an attempt to contact the deceased magician. She then passed this role on to Gibson, who for many years helped preside over the Houdini Seances at New York's famous Magic Towne House
Magic Towne House
The Magic Towne House was a well known magic show spot on three floors at 1026 Third Avenue, north of 60th Street, New York City, in the 1970s and 1980s. It was in the posh area of the Upper East Side of Manhattan on Third Avenue and 61st Street next to Bloomingdale's Department Store...
with such well-known magicians as Milbourne Christopher
Milbourne Christopher
Milbourne Christopher was an American illusionist.President of the Society of American Magicians, an honorary vice-president to the Magic Circle, and one of the founding members of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, Christopher authored several books, including a biography of Harry Houdini, and...
, Dorothy Dietrich
Dorothy Dietrich
Dorothy Dietrich is an American stage magician and escapologist, and the first and only woman to have performed the bullet catch in mouth. She was also the first woman to perform a straitjacket escape while suspended hundreds of feet in the air from a burning rope Dorothy Dietrich is an American...
, Bobby Baxter, and Dick Brooks. Before Gibson died, he passed on the responsibility to Dietrich, currently of The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
.
Under the pen name Andy Adams
Andy Adams (pseudonym)
Andy Adams is the Grosset & Dunlap pseudonym for three writers who authored the Biff Brewster series of adventure and mystery novels for adolescent boys in the early and mid-1960s. The real-world authors were Walter B. Gibson, Edward Pastore, and Peter Harkins....
, Gibson is credited with writing at least five of the twelve novels in the Biff Brewster
Biff Brewster
Biff Brewster is the central character in a series of 13 adventure and mystery novels for adolescent boys written by Andy Adams. The series was published by Grosset & Dunlap between 1960 and 1965....
juvenile adventure and mystery series for adolescent boys: Brazilian Gold Mine Mystery, Mystery of the Mexican Treasure, Mystery of the Ambush in India, Egyptian Scarab Mystery, and Mystery of the Alpine Pass.
With his wife Litzka R. Gibson (née Gonser), he co-wrote The Complete Illustrated Book of the Psychic Sciences (Doubleday, 1966), a 404-page book which explains how to practice many popular forms of divination
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
and fortune-telling
Fortune-telling
Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination...
, including astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
, tasseography
Tasseography
Tasseography is a divination or fortune-telling method that interprets patterns in tea leaves, coffee grounds, or wine sediments....
, graphology
Graphology
Graphology is the pseudoscientific study and analysis of handwriting, especially in relation to human psychology. In the medical field, it can be used to refer to the study of handwriting as an aid in diagnosis and tracking of diseases of the brain and nervous system...
, and numerology
Numerology
Numerology is any study of the purported mystical relationship between a count or measurement and life. It has many systems and traditions and beliefs...
. Litzka also wrote her own books on topics as diverse as palmistry, dancing, and personal hygiene, sometimes under the pen-name Leona Lehman.
Appearances in fiction
He is a featured character in the Paul MalmontPaul Malmont
Paul Malmont is an American author who has specialized in books considering the style and tropes of popular fiction of the past, making the writers of that popular fiction the heroes and protagonists of his own work.-Work:...
novel The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril, which was published by Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
in 2006. In addition, Gibson is the protagonist, along with Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
, in a historical mystery by Max Allan Collins
Max Allan Collins
Max Allan Collins is an American mystery writer. He has written novels, screenplays, comic books, comic strips, trading cards, short stories, movie novelizations and historical fiction. He wrote the graphic novel Road to Perdition , created the comic book private eye Ms...
, The War of the Worlds Murder, published by Berkley Books
Berkley Books
Berkley Books is an imprint of Penguin Group that began as an independent company in 1955. It was established by Charles Byrne and Frederic Klein, who were working for Avon and formed "Chic News Company". They renamed it Berkley Publishing Co. in 1955. They soon found a niche in science fiction...
in 2005.
While not appearing directly, in P. N. Elrod
P. N. Elrod
Patricia N. Elrod is an American novelist specializing in urban fantasy. She's written in the mystery, romance, paranormal, and historical genres with at least one foray into comedic fantasy. Elrod is also an editor, having worked on several collections for Ace Science Fiction, DAW, Benbella Books,...
's "Bloodlist," Jack Fleming mentions that he knows the author of the Shadow Magazine
The Shadow
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...
, and when he comes across a mobster guard reading "Terror Island" thinks to himself that he'll "have to write to Walter and tell him about his mobster fan."
Gibson references
- Cox, J. Randolph, Man of Magic & Mystery, A Guide to the Work of Walter B. Gibson. Scarecrow Press, 1988, ISBN 0-8108-2192-3. (A comprehensive Gibson bibliography, including essays on his various works.)
- Shimeld, Thomas J., Walter B. Gibson and The Shadow. McFarland & Company, 2004, ISBN 0-7864-1466-9. (A comprehensive Gibson biography with an emphasis on The Shadow.)
External links
- An Interview with Walter Gibson - Gibson talks about The Shadow at a 1977 comic convention.
- Walter Gibson - Wizard of Words - an essay by William V. Rauscher.