When I was a wee’un, I liked The Green Hornet. I don’t really remember it. The only thing I remember about it was the Black Beauty on the rotating floor. (I liked Batman too, and I can remember more of it because of syndicated reruns.)
Does anyone remember the show, and whether it was any good?
Well, the Green Hornet’s side kick was Kato, played by the real, actual Bruce Lee, so that counts for something.
I think that storing your hot car upside down is going to cause a few problems with the oil draining out through the heads, and then coating the engine. But yeah it was cool. Don’t remember much else about it.
Kato kicked ass a lot and the car was cool. It was one of the first US introductions to martial arts.
It was Batman but played straight. That was a mistake. Batman worked as camp comedy, but a straight version of The Green Hornet was unimpressive.
Yes, Bruce Lee was in it, but the stories stunk. Imagine what Batman would have been like if it hadn’t been played for laughs. It was probably a mistake to have William Dozier do either, but he found a niche with Batman. I suspect the owners of the Green Hornet refused to let him do to their property what he did to Batman.
Nice bit of trivia, though: The Green Hornet was, of course, Britt Reid. His father was Dan Reid – the Lone Ranger’s nephew, making the Green Hornet the Lone Ranger’s grand-nephew. The same producers created both radio shows.
Oh, I thought this was going to be about the original The Green Hornet. Oh well.
Factoid: Kato in the serial was played by Keye Luke, who later played Master Po on Kung Fu.
I understand they always naturally escaped unharmed.
Oh, one more difference between The Green Hornet TV show and Batman: GH went up against gangsters, bank robbers, etc. – the basic 30s urban criminals*. Batman had the flamboyant supervillains. Kids were bored by it.
*Or the criminals in The Adventures of Superman, but that show wasn’t about Superman; it was about Clark Kent.
One of the supporting gast was Walter Brooke, who played the DA. Solid actor who was in just about everything at one time or another. Uttered a well-known one-word quote from a certain move of that era: “Plastics”
It was okay, but to a point. Unfortunately, Batman left it standing in the starters’ blocks. Strange that they thought the two shows could compete at the same time.
