Margo Lane

Margo Lane
Penelope Ann Miller as Margo Lane in The Shadow.
Publication information
Publisher	Street & Smith Condé Nast
First appearance	"The Shadow" (1937 – radio) "The Shadow Magazine" (1941 – print)
In-story information
Supporting character of	The Shadow

Margo Lane is a fictional character in The Shadow stories. Margo is a friend and companion to Lamont Cranston, and spies for his alter ego, The Shadow, in the wealthy set. Her first appearance was in 1937 in the Shadow radio drama. Her first appearance in a print story was in The Thunder King, a story in the April 1941 issue of The Shadow Magazine.

Margo was created for the radio version of The Shadow in 1937, because it was felt that having Harry Vincent as The Shadow's chief aid, and thus two male voices, would not provide sufficient "vocal contrast". Margo was based on socialite Brenda Frazier and You Can't Take It with You star Margot Stevenson. The relationship between Lamont and Margo was modelled on the Thin Man film series. During World War II, Walter B. Gibson felt he could no longer write stories about spy rings, since they had now become a reality. Instead he focused on whodunits, which suited the Cranston persona of the Shadow. Thus the character of Margo came to the fore, and eventually became a permanent fixture in the stories, finally being promoted to a full agent. Margo appears in at least 55 of the Shadow novels.

While on radio Margo is The Shadow's confidante, in the novels Margo is depicted as a somewhat helpful nuisance who for years suspects but cannot prove the true identity of the Shadow, until finally in later years she becomes a full agent for the masked crimefighter.

She was initially portrayed on radio by Margot Stevenson, who was followed by Agnes Moorehead. Other actresses who portrayed Margo on the radio included Marjorie Anderson, Lesley Woods, Grace Matthews and Gertrude Warner. In an unaired 1954 TV pilot, Paula Raymond played Margo Lane opposite Tom Helmore as The Shadow.

On film, Veda Ann Borg matched wits with Victor Jory's Shadow in 1940; Barbara Reed portrayed her three times in the mid-1940s with Kane Richmond; and Penelope Ann Miller was Margo opposite Alec Baldwin in 1994's The Shadow.