LEGENDARY HEROES #26

THE GREEN HORNET


"The Green Hornet" was a radio series created by the same people and radio station that created "The Lone Ranger".  George W. Trendle and Fran Striker of WXYZ in Detroit decided to capture lightning in the bottle once more...and succeeded.  The drama focused on Britt Reid, the debonair newspaper publisher of The Daily Sentinel who, with his faithful valet Kato, became the masked vigilante The Green Hornet at night to fight crime.  The vigilante nature of the crimefighter resulted in his being considered an outlaw by the police.  This designation sometimes aided him in his fight against the lawless, as they considered him a criminal too.  Kato was originally of Japanese nationality, but as the United States crept closer to WWII his nationality was changed to Filipino.  It was also revealed that Britt Reid was related to the Lone Ranger.  The Lone Ranger's nephew was Dan Reid, father of Britt, which made him the grand nephew of the western hero.  Another major character in the series was Britt's secretary at the Daily Sentinel, Lenore "Casey" Case.  Her admiration of the Green Hornet was no secret and she was loyal to Britt Reid but exasperated by his playboy ways.  She discovered the true identity of the Hornet in 1947 and became a trusted ally for the rest of the series.

The show was launched on January 31, 1936 and was immediately popular with listeners in Detroit.  By April 12, 1938 the radio drama was carried nationwide on the Mutual Broadcasting System.  The theme song was the frenetic "Flight of the Bumblebees" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.  Each show ended with a newsboy of the Sentinel hawking an "extra" edition of the paper that carried the story of that episode's crime - like "Special extry! Paper! Police smash smuggling racket! Foreign diplomat involved! Read all about it!  Green Hornet still at large!"  The radio show moved to NBC Blue and ABC from November 16, 1939 until September 8, 1950.  General Mills was a sponsor during this period.  For a short period it returned to the airwaves from September 10 - December 5, 1952 and was sponsored by Orange Crush.  Three Big Little Books were published by Whitman and all were written by Fran Striker.  There were The Green Hornet Strikes (1940), The Green Hornet Returns (1941), and The Green Hornet Cracks Down (1942).  In December 1940 The Green Hornet comic book debuted and was published by Helnit Comics for 6 issues.  Harvey Comics took over the title and it ran until 1949, ending with issue #47.  In 1953, after the radio series ended, Dell Comics did a one-shot publication as part of their Four Color line.  

Universal Studios released a 13-chapter serial in 1940 with Gordon Jones in the title role and Keye Luke as Kato.  Anne Nagel appeared as Lenore "Casey" Case.  A second serial "The Green Hornet Strikes Again" was released as a 15-chapter serial by Universal but with Warren Hull as the masked crimefighter.  Luke and Nagel returned in their roles.  A 2011 movie starred Seth Rogan in the title role and Jay Chou as Kato, with Cameron Diaz as Lenore.  But perhaps the most popular entry was the 1966 ABC TV series with Van Williams as Britt Reid/Green Hornet and Bruce Lee as Kato.  In this version Kato was a martial arts expert which reflected the real talents of Bruce Lee who was quickly becoming recognized around the world.  In fact, Lee was so popular in Hong Kong that the TV show aired there under the title "The Kato Show".  Wende Wagner appeared as Lenore Case and the masked duo drove a souped-up, weaponized Imperial that they called the "Black Beauty".  The Green Hornet and Kato made a guest appearance on the "Batman" show during it's second season in a two-part episode that was played more seriously and less campy than the "Batman" show usually was.  "The Green Hornet" TV show aired from September 9, 1966 until March 17, 1967 for a total of 26 episodes.  The popularity of the show resulted in a new 1966 Big Little Book, a Dell paperback, and three issues of a comic book by Gold Key comics.

The greatest parody of the Green Hornet was in the Pink Panther movie series where Inspector Clouseau, played by Peter Sellers, has a valet named Cato who is instructed to attack the Inspector upon his arrival home to keep him on his toes.  Clouseau and Cato conduct their nocturnal crime fighting (?) in a Citroen that they refer to as The Silver Hornet.  Classic comedy that only Sellers could do.





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