This weekend’s superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at some of the earliest comic book adaptations of the iconic character the Green Hornet. That figure originated on radio in January 1936 and in a very early example of a shared universe, the Green Hornet’s secret identity was Britt Reid, grand-nephew of John Reid – the Lone Ranger.
Britt’s father was the son of the Dan Reid kid that frequently interacted with his uncle the Lone Ranger from the 1933 radio show on to the Clayton Moore television series. In fact, Britt Reid’s pride in his family’s heroic forebear inspired him to don a mask and costume and fight Detroit’s racketeers like the Lone Ranger fought outlaws in the Old West.
In the radio series and screen serials the Green Hornet’s gun was loaded with knockout gas but in comic books and television his gun fired electric blasts called the Hornet’s Sting. The Hornet’s sidekick was Kato, most famously portrayed on the tv series by Bruce Lee. Kato drove the Black Beauty, the Green Hornet’s souped-up, gizmo-filled car. The Black Beauty came before the Batmobile and any of James Bond’s tricked-out vehicles.
And just as the Lone Ranger show’s theme music came from classical music – the William Tell overture – the Green Hornet show’s theme came from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumble Bee.
Britt Reid’s father was the millionaire publisher of the newspaper The Daily Sentinel and he put his good-timing playboy son in charge hoping the responsibility would make him grow up and abandon his partying. Britt pretended to still be a shallow playboy to make sure his father and the public never realized he was secretly that scourge of crime the Green Hornet.
The police and even Daily Sentinel crime reporter Mike Axford (formerly of the 1932 radio series Warner Lester, Manhunter) misunderstood the Green Hornet’s vigilante activities and suspected the masked hero of being a criminal himself. The Hornet took advantage of that misperception by convincing some of his gangster foes that he was indeed an outlaw and wanted a cut of their illegal operations.
Completing the Green Hornet program’s supporting cast was Britt Reid’s sexy secretary Lenore Case aka “Casey.” And another show in the shared Lone Ranger-Green Hornet-Manhunter universe was radio’s Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. Continue reading
PART 70 – Some of the Fool Killer’s targets on both sides of the aisle in the April 1914 edition of James Larkin Pearson’s version of the folk figure: 
THE STEAM MAN OF THE PRAIRIES (1868) – Written by Edward Sylvester Ellis. Before the Frank Reade stories came this work that is often hailed as the first Dime Novel with a science fiction theme. 
JOHN WILSON VERMILLION aka TEXAS JACK VERMILLION and “SHOOT-YOUR-EYE-OUT” VERMILLION, was born in Virginia in 1842 to William and Nancy Vermillion. After the Civil War broke out in 1861, Jack enlisted in the 2nd Tennessee Cavalry sometime in 1862. 
Some accounts state Vermillion claimed to be from Texas and related Tall Tales that the Lone Star State had jackrabbits as big as horses. One illogical account claims that when Jack was asked why he was called Texas Jack he replied “Because I’m from Virginia.” Well, okay then! 
WOLFMAN MAC – This werewolf Movie Host was played by Mac Kelly, who took the obvious Wolfman Jack reference and ran with it! And good for him! Why not? Kelly had grown up watching Michigan Movie Hosts like the Ghoul and 
Retitled Wolfman Mac’s Chiller Drive-In, the show, the happy go lucky lycanthrope and his supporting cast debuted April 25th, 2009 on Detroit’s WMYD as well as MyNetworkTV affiliate stations in Florida. Devil Doll (1964) was the movie presented on that date. Continuing as virtual co-host was Boney Bob (Aaron Helferich) a wisecracking skeleton puppet in the spirit of 
ROBBERY UNDER ARMS (1985) – The irreplaceable Sam Neill has passed away. Other sites will be focusing on Neill’s more well-known projects like the Jurassic Park movies, Reilly – Ace of Spies, The Hunt for Red October, Omen III: The Final Conflict, Event Horizon and so many others. In keeping with Balladeer’s Blog’s theme I’m taking a look at Sam’s neglected Bushranger movie Robbery Under Arms. 
On to Robbery Under Arms, the film is based on the Australian novel of the same name, which was published in serialized form in 1882 before being collected in novel form later in the decade. Robbery Under Arms is a monumental work of fiction Down Under and has been adapted several times since 1907 – a year after Australia’s silent movie The Story of the Kelly Gang. 
STORIES OF THE CENTURY aka TALES OF THE WEST (1954-1955) starred future Jock Ewing Jim Davis as Railroad Detective Matt Clark. Part anthology series and part historical fiction, this series presented Clark crossing paths with assorted real-life outlaws of the Old West. During Season One (26 half-hour episodes) his female sidekick was Frankie Adams (Mary Castle). Season Two ran just 13 half-hour episodes and co-starred Kristine Miller as Matt’s sidekick Margaret “Jonesy” Jones. 
THE EPISODES: 
PART TWO: Ozidi’s maternal grandmother Oreame performs the ritual to transform him from a mere mortal into a spiritual warrior who is as strong as ten men, has eyes that blaze like lightning and can see through the lies of deceitful men and ears that can hear the whispers of the Niger River gods. The ritual includes bathing Ozidi in palm oil and river water. 
ALIEN: EARTH (2025) is now filming its second season. New cast members include comedienne-singer Tracey Ullman, former Bronn actor Jerome Flynn, Sam Spruell of Fargo and Peter Dinklage, the humorless fool who considers himself the official spokesperson of all people under a certain height. 
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