Title: The House of Fun
Air date: October 22, 1939
Plot summary: A Mr. Van Buren is heard at a carnival, ordering a Mr. Lufton around. Van Buren angrily asks why Lufton has not procured a certain man, but Lufton protests that no such person has been to the "House of Fun". Van Buren says he will not take any excuses and wants that man immediately.
Cue Lamont Cranston and Margot Lane visiting the circus. They enter a funhouse attraction called, well, the House of Fun. Lamont is surprised to see ahead of them in line one James Tennyson, the president of Tuttle Steel—but it turns out the old man ahead of them isn't Tennyson, he's just an old man who looks like Tennyson. Everybody enters the attraction, which has the standard funhouse items, like spooky skeletons that jump out at you or distorting funhouse mirrors. Suddenly, ahead of them, "Tennyson" cries out in alarm, and appears to be pulled through a secret door! Lamont and Margot run to Lufton, the operator of the House of Fun, who reassures them that the old man simply reached the end of the attraction and left.
Cut to Lamont and Margot, out for lunch. Lamont grouses that some of his investments, like Tuttle Steel, have been doing poorly. Lamont then sees the old man from the House of Fun and goes over to say hello, only for the old man who said he wasn't James Tennyson to insist that actually he is Tennyson.
Lamont is not fooled. He realizes that there is some sort of plot to replace industrialists with impostors, and it ties back to the House of Fun.
Tropes:
- Circus Episode: Lamont and Margot go to the circus and wind up investigating a bizarre kidnapping scheme that is connected to a funhouse.
- Disney Villain Death: Van Buren lunges at The Shadow, and falls through a window and thirty floors down to his death.
- His Name Is...: Lufton, being relentlessly interrogated by The Shadow, finally cracks and names his boss. Or rather, he says "My boss is—", before three shots ring out and Lufton falls over dead. This is followed by Van Buren saying "You will never know, Shadow. You will never know." (Why The Shadow just stood around and let a murderer get away is not explained.)
- Hypnotic Eyes: Van Buren does the "look into my eyes" thing when ordering Fake Tennyson to do his bidding. (Namely, to sell off Tuttle's South American properties.) He tries this with Margot as well, but this time The Shadow is there to intervene.
- Just Following Orders: Lufton's excuse for why he's been kidnapping people. Apparently being ordered by Van Buren makes it OK.
- No Name Given: The actual name of the fake "James Tennyson" is never mentioned.
- Villain Opening Scene: The first scene is Van Buren demanding of Lufton why Lufton hasn't procured a suitable victim, and insisting that Lufton do so that night.
