Review: "Lingo" (The Shadow)

[John Olsen]

LINGO was published in the April 1, 1935 issue of The Shadow Magazine.
Deep in the heart of Chinatown, underworld mobsters hold an election to
appoint a new czar of crime! But they reckon without The Shadow!

This is a pretty good story, as were most from 1935. We get some pretty
amazing action sequences from The Shadow. And the gangster-driven plot
kept me reading on into the night when I should have gone to sleep.
There are a few weaknesses but nothing that pulp readers won't easily
forgive. I know that some Shadow fans put this one in their top 25, and
although I don't like it that much, I can still vouch for it as being an
exciting Shadow story.

So just who is this Lingo of the story's title? He's Lingo Queed, an
opportunist who is poised to take over the reins of the underworld
criminal empire. He is called "Lingo" because of his ability to handle
various languages. Lingo can speak Greek, Italian and Chinese. And
probably others that aren't mentioned.

Currently, the head of all gangdom is Rook Hollister. But the underworld
is in turmoil. Lately, his every efforts have been thwarted by forces of
the law. Planned crimes are being broken up in the act; henchmen are
either captured or killed by the police. And this continual failure of
leadership has Rook Hollister's lieutenants preparing for a coup. Yes,
Rook's on the way out. He's scheduled for "the bump." (Meaning, they are
going to bump him off.)

All of Rook Hollister's chieftains meet in secret at Kow Doy's shop "The
Silver Dragon" in Chinatown. They plan an overthrow of their current
leadership. Rook Hollister must die! But unbeknownst to the gangleaders,
Rook has a spy in their midst. A spy who reports back to Rook, and warns
him of the impending danger.

Rook Hollister, kingpin of the underworld, decides to escape the wrath
of his underlings by faking his own death. He hires an unknown actor
named Donald Manthell who bears a striking resemblance to him. Then he
sets up Manthell to be killed in his stead. And sure enough, Manthell
dies from a thug's bullet. And Rook Hollister goes into hiding, waiting
until the time is ripe to retake his criminal empire.

Sliding into place as the new boss of the underworld is Lingo Queed. He
claims credit for the killing of Rook Hollister, and takes over the
reins of leadership. A new wave of crime is planned. It will take The
Shadow to thwart those plans! It will take The Shadow to defeat Lingo
Queed. And it will take The Shadow to reveal the hiding place of Rook
Hollister and bring him to final justice.

The Shadow makes effective use of all of his aides in this story.
Appearing are Clyde Burke, enterprising reporter on the staff of the
Classic, Harry Vincent, the clean-cut chap who has long served The
Shadow, Moe Shrevnitz, shrewd-faced cab driver whose taxi is actually
owned by The Shadow, Cliff Marsland, alleged member of the underworld
who is actually in The Shadow's employ, Hawkeye, the hunchy little
trailer, Jericho, one of The Shadow's lesser agents who gets to play
bodyguard for Lingo Queed, Burbank, vital communications man for The
Shadow and Rutledge Mann, investment broker and contact man for The
Shadow's organization. Whew; the gang's all here!

Representing the forces of law and order are acting inspector Joe
Cardona and Deputy Police Commissioner Wainwright Barth. Previous
commissioner Ralph Weston is still on leave, taking a vacation in
Garauca, South America. He went there in the Sept. 15, 1934 story "The
Garaucan Swindle," to become acting head of the national police, helping
clean up the country. He'll return to New York in the story "The Dark
Death" which would be published in Feb. 15, 1936.

In the meantime, Wainwright Barth is currently acting commissioner.
We're told that Barth is a past police commissioner, although in "The
Garaucan Swindle" we were told he was a previous banker. Maybe he was
both? Either way, there is definite tension between Joe Cardona and
Wainwright Barth. Their dislike for each other is obvious, here, and it
gives the story a bit more edge.

Yes, I liked this story. But I do get tired of some of the old cliches
that they keep trotting out. The annoying one in this story is that
everyone has a "double" somewhere in this world, and without two much
difficulty you can find him. And the likeness will be so perfect that
everyone will be fooled. In this story, Rook Hollister finds his double
in Donald Manthell, and nobody is the wiser. OK, I'll suspend my belief
yet again. Just like I believe everyone carries smelling salts, and
everyone knows morse code, and when the hypnotist dies, his victims
immediately come out of their trance, and on the outskirts of every town
are caves large enough to become a secret headquarters, and... Oh well,
you get the idea.

The Shadow's famous girasol ring, the purplish, translucent gem that
glows from The Shadow's third finger, appears in this story. In this
story, it is worn only by The Shadow and is used as a means of
identification. Agents seeing this ring secretly revealed on his finger,
know that regardless of his disguise that this is their master. In later
years, the ring was worn openly when disguised as Lamont Cranston (who,
by the way, makes no appearance, here).

The Shadow's vaunted ability at disguise is showcased in this story,
although the Cranston disguise isn't one of them. I won't spoil your
enjoyment by revealing those disguises, though. Just suffice it to say
that he gets to show off his abilities to his advantage.

Another point of interest is the newspaper, The Classic. That's the
tabloid paper for which Clyde Burke worked. In most Shadow stories it is
either referred to as the Daily Classic or the Evening Classic. Very
rarely is it referred to as the Morning Classic. This is one of those
stories. We are directly told that "The Classic was a morning sheet."
The only other reference to its being a morning paper appeared in "The
Third Shadow" a year later. So I figured it's worth mentioning.

Once again, as is typical of many pulp stories of the 1930's, racial
stereotypes are rampant. Jericho, one of The Shadow's agents, speaks
enough "de's, dat's and yassah's" to make you cringe. And Koy Dow's
speech isn't that much better, laced with "No shootee gunee - gunee
bringee cops!" Just remember that this story is a product of its times.

This Shadow story is considered a classic and is one you'll enjoy
reading. I know I did.

John

--

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"
The wonderful old pulp mystery stories are all reviewed at:

http://home.comcast.net/~deshadow/