The Green Hornet: A History of Radio, Motion Pictures, Comics and Television

ABOUT Martin Grams

Martin Grams
Author of more than 20 books about old-time radio, retro television and vintage movies.

Description

The Green Hornet was one of radio's best-known and most distinctive adventure shows. Britt Reid, publisher of The Daily Sentinel, was in the position to learn facts about criminals that only the police had access. Armed with this knowledge, a gas gun that rendered foes momentarily unconscious, and a black speedster known as The Black Beauty, he donned the guise of The Green Hornet. Feared by the underworld and sought after by the police, the masked vigilante fought racketeers, gangsters and saboteurs. When the police were faced with red tape, The Green Hornet, with his sidekick Kato, his faithful valet, circumvented protocol and legal procedure in their determined battle to put away crooks.

Since The Green Hornet first appeared on radio in 1936, he has made the transition to motion pictures, comics and television. Very little has been written about the masked marvel and what has been recorded in magazine articles and encyclopedias prior to this publication has never explored the character as deeply... or accurately. For the first time, the complete story of this crime fighter is unmasked, as prolific TV and radio historians Martin Grams and Terry Salomonson usher you into the Black Beauty.

A complete history of the radio series from the creation to conception sketches, reprints from production files to the untold adventures, biographic details of the cast and the characters they played (including Mike Axford, Kato, Gunnigan, Lenore Case, Linda Travis, Ed Lowry, Clicker Binney, Commissioner Higgins, etc.

"With a big-screen Green Hornet due in January, it’s time to look back and learn more about this masked hero and his colorful history in a variety of media. Grams and Salmonson, whose work is well known to old-time radio buffs, have dug deep and created a hefty paperbound book that one would have to call definitive. More than half of its pages are devoted to a detailed radio and TV episode guide. I don’t know what the new movie with Seth Rogen will be like, but I know that there is something magnetic about the idea of the Green Hornet and his trusty servant Kato; this book will tell you all you want or need to know about how he came to be and flourished for so many years."
-- Leonard Maltin, Movie Crazy