Batman predecessors in pulp fiction, comic strips, newspaper headlines, and autobiographical details referring to Kane himself. As an aristocratic hero with a double identity, Batman had predecessors in the Scarlet Pimpernel (created by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, 1903) and Zorro (created by Johnston McCulley, 1919). Like them, Batman performed his heroic deeds in secret, averted suspicion by playing aloof in public, and marked his work with a signature symbol. Kane noted the influence of the films "The Mark of Zorro" (1920) and "The Bat Whispers" (1930) in the creation of the character's iconography. Finger, drawing inspiration from pulp heroes like Doc Savage,
The Man with the Flower in His Mouth the anonymous life of others, in order to grasp its sense. The BBC had been experimenting with John Logie Baird's primitive 30-line television technology since the previous year, running test transmissions both from Baird's own premises and from their own radio headquarters at Savoy Hill. In the summer of 1930 it was decided that a drama should be produced as a new test for and demonstration of the medium, and "The Man With the Flower in His Mouth" was selected for use because of its short length of around half an hour, its limited cast of only three characters and