The Green Hornet: Cliffhanger Serials

The title role in the first Green Hornet serial, released in 1940, went to a guy named Gordon Jones. Jones had appeared in about 30 films in the previous nine years of his career, but this was probably his biggest break. Unfortunately, it wasn't much of a career changer. He was replaced in the second serial, and went on to small roles in various films and TV episodes for the next 23 years. His main recurring film role was as Splinters McGonagle in a half dozen Roy Rogers flicks, and he later had guest shots on Maverick, Wyatt Earp, the Rifleman and most other westerns (and non-western dramas) of the day.

More interesting was the casting of Keye Luke as Kato. Luke had already appeared as Charlie Chan's No. 1 son in several films with Warner Oland, and later filled the same role with Sidney Toler. In 1972 he provided the voice of Charlie himself for an animated TV series, and began a recurring role as Master Po in TV's Kung Fu.

For The Green Hornet Strikes Again, made later that same year, the lead went to Warren Hull, who had appeared in previous serials as The Spider and Mandrake the Magician. He later made one more Spider serial and appeared in a handful of other films and series, but these heroic leads would appear to be the high point of his career.

Wade Boteler, who played Mike Axford in both films, is unknown today, but enjoyed a long career, appearing in over 400 films.

The Green Hornet: Old Time Radio

The Green Hornet roared across the radio airwaves from 1936 to 1952, courtesy of George Trendle and Frank Striker, the same guys who brought us The Lone Ranger. As most folks know, the Hornet's alter-ego was Britt Reid, son of the Ranger's nephew Dan Reid.

I've read in numerous places that this relationship was intended right from the start. But according to a new book by Martin Grams and Terry Salomonson, that ain't exactly so. Online excerpts from the book The Green Hornet: A History of Radio, Motion Pictures, Comics and Television (2010, OTR Publishing), state that the idea was not introduced to listeners until the episode "Too Hot to Handle" in November, 1947. In fact, the authors tell us, Britt's father Dan Reid first appeared on The Green Hornet in 1936, six years before nephew Dan Reid showed up on The Lone Ranger. When Striker and Trendle actually got the idea is unknown, but it seems mighty unlikely it was there from the beginning. The misinformation now in print seems to stem from differing recollections of Trendle and Striker, and flat-out mistakes by Trendle's one-time lawyer, Raymond Meurer.

Among other factoids gleaned from the article . . .
- For the first three episodes, the show was called The Adventures of the Hornet. Green was added in episode 4.
- Britt Reid was originally Britt Reed and Kato was Cato.
- Kato was originally Japanese. He was changed to Filipino in 1938 (not, as some sources have claimed, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor).
- The idea for the series was Trendle's, inspired by the pulp and novel character Jimmie Dale (aka The Gray Seal) created by Frank L. Packard. The details, like characters' names, weapons and the Black Beauty, were apparently provided by Frank Striker.

Here are links to several sites offering streaming or free downloads of the show. The first, Radio MickDanger, offers the greatest variety, with episodes ranging from 1936 to 1952. It also features the pivotal episode mentioned above, "Too Hot to Handle."

Radio MickDanger
OTR.Network Library
Old Time Radio Fans
Old Time Radio Downloads
Free OTR Shows
Botar's Old Time Radio

 

  

The Green Hornet: TV Collectibles

As Scott Cupp noted here yesterday, SyFy Channel is doing a Green Hornet marathon tomorrow. (Thanks Scott!) I haven't seen any of these episodes in a coon's age, so my VCR will be working all day.

Here in the Pacific Time Zone, the marathon runs from 10am to 11pm. I checked the SyFy site, and they list the same times for Eastern viewers. Do they stagger programming by time zone? Could be. Please don't trust me, though. Check your local listings.

The Green Hornet: Holyoke Comics

 

 

Do Some Damage CHRISTMAS NOIR Round-Up

 

The Do Some Damage Christmas Noir extravaganza has come to an end, producing an amazing 35 stories. In case you missed any, here's the table of contents, complete with links. I read them all, and there's some great stuff here. Some tales are violent, some touching, some funny, some wild and crazy. Some may even manage to touch all those buttons at once.

I think the DSD folks have the makings of a fine eBook here. You'd best act fast, and read them for free while you can!

Time and a Half by Byron Quertermous
The Christmas Spirit by Chris Deal
The List by Stephen D. Rogers
All Wrapped Up by Gerald So
Safe Passage by Albert Tucher
White Christmas by Julie Morgan
The Bell Ringer's Carol by Jack Bates
Santa Plugs a Leak - A Santa Noir Story by Daniel B. O'Shea
The Santa Con by Dave White
Grotto Joe by Richard Godwin
Portraits of Detroit: Peter Oberon by Patti Abbott
Lump of Coal by Seana Graham
Santa in a Red Dress by John McFetridge
Bravely Green by Ray Adam Latiolais
The List by Kieran Shea
Fatty and Tinsel-Toes Kill a Christmas Goose by John Weagly
Not So Calm, Not So Bright by John Kenyon
Now I Have a Staple Gun, Ho Ho Ho by Jay Stringer
The Gift That Keeps on Giving by Paul D. Brazill
Christmas Carole by Allan Leverone
Tonight's Episode: Murder-In-Law by Eric Beetner
United We Fall by Sean Patrick Reardon
Death by Shotgun by Matthew J. McBride
The Reindeer Incident by Nik Korpon
A Christmas Carol II (Excerpt) by Evil Wylie
Santa Must Die by Cormac Brown
Not Even a Rat by J. E. Seymour
Room at the Inn by R. L. Kelstrom
Jingle Nelle, Jingle Nelle by Absolutely*Kate
The Meek by Dan Lafferty
Snakes 'N' Ladders by Col Bury
The Right to Bear Arms by Skye Chase
Secret Santa by Alan Griffiths
A Christmas Surprise by J. F. Juzwik
Skyler Hobbs and the Yuletide Terror by Evan Lewis

I'd like to call special attention to Room at the Inn by R. L. Kelstrom. For several years, R. L. and I have been swapping advice in one of Portland's grooviest critique groups. After spending half a lifetime on the fringes of law enforcement, counseling killers, rapists, drug addicts and pondscum of every stripe, R. L. came to know the mean streets as no other outsider can. Watch for more great street stories, coming soon! R. L. blogs at The Wisdom of Zipper.

Forgotten Books: HALO IN BLOOD by John Evans (Howard Browne)

The first time I read this book, mostly likely when Reagan was Prez, I was struck by how Chandleresque it was. This time, the surprising thing was how Chandleresque it wasn't.

Maybe that's because I re-read Roy Huggins The Double Take not long ago, which is almost more Chandleresque than Chandler himself. After my Forgotten Books review (click HERE), I got an interesting email from David Wilson, who had once interviewed Huggins. "Huggins got his start by copying Chandler," David said, "and I do mean 'copying', writing Farewell My Lovely in longhand.  It worked well enough for him that he recommended the process."

With Howard Browne (writing as John Evans), that is clearly not the case. Though the influence is obvious, Browne was not trying be Chandler, and his detective, Paul Pine, was not trying to be Philip Marlowe. By the time this book was published in 1946, Browne was already an experienced writer. He had his own voice, and there was no masking it.

There are tons of similes and metaphors, or course, or no one would be comparing this to Chandler. But would Chandler have tossed off lines like these?

I went back into the kitchen and drank two cups of coffee black as the devil’s reputation and strong as Tarzan of the Apes.

I made a show out of looking at my wrist watch. Two-thirty . . . and clients were as scarce as German generals named Cohen. 

There's a nice bit when the female lead pays a visit to Pine's apartment:

     “For a private detective,” she said over her shoulder, “you certainly read some odd books. Wilkinson’s Flower Encyclopedia; Warrior of the Dawn, by Howard Browne - whoever he is; and Marx’s Das Kaptial. What happened to your copy of Five Little Peppers?”
    “I loaned it to another detective,” I said.

Warrior of the Dawn, a Burroughsy adventure novel, was Browne's first book, published three years earlier.

Like Browne, Paul Pine is his own man. His resemblance to Marlowe is only skin deep.  Time and again, in situations where Marlowe would have saved his smart remarks for the narration, Pine mouths off, insulting everyone in sight. And while Marlowe, despite his sometimes-soft heart, is a pretty tough guy, Pine is not. It's a wonder he survives the book.

Thankfully, he does, so I'll soon have the pleasure of re-reading Halo in Brass, Halo for Satan, The Taste of Ashes and the sole short story, "So Dark for April."

Visit pattinase for the rundown on more Forgotten Books. 

Coming Tomorrow: The Do Some Damage Christmas Noir Round-Up.

Tarzan of the Movies

1932

1934

1939

The Compleat Cash Laramie (so far) (I think)

 

By now, I expect just about everyone on the planet has read "Melanie," the crackerjack new Cash Laramie tale from Edward A. Grainger (aka David Cranmer). But for those of you following this blog from other worlds, be advised that this is a big step for our man Cash. This time, the coolest sheriff in the West battles an evil far more insidious than those he's tackled in the past, and this time, the evildoer may not be the only one who pays a price.

"Melanie," of course, awaits your reading pleasure at THE TAINTED ARCHIVE, but where can you find Cash's five previous adventures? Glad you asked. (Each title below is a link to take you where you need to go.)

Cash Laramie and the Masked Devil appeared in the Express Western anthology A Fistful of Legends, published in December 2009.

Miles to Go turned up last May on BEAT to a PULP. 

Kid Eddie was featured on The Western Online in September.

The Wind Scorpion arrived in October in the amazing print anthology BEAT to a PULP: Round One.

Justice Served rolled out in the Winter 2010 issue of Dark Valentine magazine.

And Melanie appeared just this week on THE TAINTED ARCHIVE.

Where will old Cash turn up next? Who knows? Anyplace will do, as long as he returns soon.