The Green Hornet

The Green Hornet was originally an radio adventure series, broadcast from 1936 until 1952. Designed as a follow-up to the success of The Lone Ranger, it originated from the same station (Detroit’s WXYZ) and shared most of the same creators, crew, and several supporting actors. Like a modern-day Lone Ranger, the hero would be a masked fighter for justice with a strict moral code, a faithful sidekick (Kato), a memorable steed (the car Black Beauty instead of the horse Silver), and a classical music theme (“Flight of the Bumblebee,” suggestive of the Hornet’s swift movements).

Instead of Western bandits, the Hornet mostly fought racketeers, corrupt politicians, and smugglers. By 1947, a series of episodes definitively explained that Britt Reid (the Green Hornet) was in fact the great nephew of the Lone Ranger (Britt's father Dan Reid, now elderly, had been the kid nephew of John Reid, the Lone Ranger).

The series was later adapted for comic books, film serials, and a 1966 television series, notable particularly for the expanded role given to Kato (played by martial arts star Bruce Lee). A 2011 film version offered a slightly different take on the characters.

As Muppet creator Jim Henson recalled, The Green Hornet was one of several adventure shows he listened to as a child: "I'd go home at four-thirty or five in the afternoon to hear shows like The Green Hornet and The Shadow and Red Ryder."

Connections

 * Cameron Diaz played Lenore Case in the 2011 film
 * James Lipton played child roles in the radio series
 * Gary Owens played the DSTV newscaster on the TV series (8 episodes, 1966-1967)
 * Seth Rogen played Britt Reid / The Green Hornet in the 2011 film
 * Christoph Waltz played Chudnofsky in the 2011 film