Second of my two promotional matchbooks for THE SHADOW radio show, from 1945, joined The Collection today. While this latest procurement has far better and more inventive visuals, the first one still has some of the matches inside.

Vertical shot of THE SHADOW matchbook. Green, with The Shadow in... shadow (and red cape) pointing a gun, a skill smoking from its eyes, and, on the matchbook cover, a skeleton with a bloody knife.

Vertical, SHADOW matchbook interiors, against orange. The Shadow, with text, "The Shadow knows."

According to Martin Grams, Jr, in his definitive history of the radio show:

"For DL&W, in the summer of 1945, The Shadow graced the inside and outside of matchbooks... These matchbooks were velvet smooth and sold to Blue Coal dealers in multiples of 500. The price was $3.00 per thousand if the dealer wanted his name, address, and phone number printed on them.

To promote the matchbooks, a marketing tie-in was featured in the broadcast of September 9, 1945, titled "The Shadow in Danger" ...

Martin Grams, Jr. https://www.worldcat.org/title/727130183

The aforementioned, still-combustible set…

Not sure if there are more variations of them or if I now have the only two variants. If so, very cool. If not, please correct me.