THE GREEN HORNET WAS A MORE THAN CAPABLE HERO by Dave Goode

 

There is a myth about The Green Hornet television series that ran on ABC from September 9,1966 to March 17,1967. That in every episode the titled hero Britt Reid, alias the Green Hornet (portrayed by Van Williams) would get his rear end handed to him by the bad guys only to be rescued by his sidekick Kato (played by Bruce Lee). The bio-flick DRAGON:THE BRUCE LEE STORY ( 1993 ) did a great deal to perpetuate this myth and create some new ones. Being one of those Hollywood movies "based on a true life story". Give or take a lie or two.

Actually the Green Hornet was a capable combatant. Sure he usually took out
the bad guys with his gas gun or hornet's sting. But he could hold his own against one or two thugs using a mixture of judo and boxing techniques. And often did. But Lee's Kato was using that new fangled karate ( actually kung fu ) stuff. And the way he was doing it was a lot more impressive than the usual brand of 60s " television karate ". Though if you're of a certain age you will remember lively debates on the playground of who would win in a fight between James West and Kato.

Click here for OTR Green Hornet

After The Green Hornet series premiered I began listening to my dad's recordings of The Green Hornet radio series which told the story of Britt Reid who masqueraded as the criminal mastermind the Green Hornet to fight crime from the inside. Pretty cool stuff. And it also introduced me to the Flight of the Bumblebee written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov that was used as the Green Hornet's theme music.





 

 Later I would discover the serials THE GREEN HORNET (1940) and THE GREEN HORNET STRIKES AGAIN (1941) from Universal. Click here for the first serial >>>HERE<<<  and here for the second serial >>>HERE<<<

 

 If I was ever to hit the lottery one of the things I would try to do is put together a retro Green Hornet movie set in the 1940s. There would be a portrait of a masked man in a white hat on a great white stallion in the office of Dan Reid (Britt Reid's dad) at the Daily Sentinel newspaper. And Kato would be using karate against the bad guys. Though everyone except for Kato and the Hornet would be referring to it as judo or jiu jitsu and his shuto blows as "judo chops".

Grab some cool stuff and support this blog! We have comics, t-shirts, mugs, wall art, and much much more:

GREEN HORNET DOING JUDO

DR. JUDO VS GORILLA

LONE RANGER & TONTO DIVINE INTERVENTION

JUDO

JUDO COMICS by Dave Goode and illustrated by Vance Capley

Who Rides For Justice? by Dave Goode

 

 

 

 

I've long maintained that the most imitated heroes in comics aside from Superman himself were Tarzan and the Lone Ranger. Many of the Ranger imitations differed from the "daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains" in that they had secret identities. While the Lone Ranger much like el Santo lived the mask.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Lone Ranger also had his imitators in the movies as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite of these was the Durango Kid, portrayed in dozens of B-Westerns by Charles Starrett.

 

So popular were these flicks that there was a Durango Kid comic book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the masked western hero I always wanted to see, but never did, was the Copperhead. In the classic movie serial THE MYSTERIOUS DR. SATAN the hero is the Copperhead, a masked mystery man who would not have been out of place in a comic book or pulp magazine. In the first chapter of the serial we learn that this Copperhead is the son of the original Copperhead, a masked nightrider of the old west in a chainmail copper mask.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I wish that Republic had made a prequel to THE MYSTERIOUS DR.SATAN that featured the adventures of the old west Copperhead starring one of there many western stars like " Wild " Bill Elliott or Alan " Rocky " Lane.

 

 

 

 Who was your favorite masked cowboy? Let us know in the comments below. Also, don't forget to click the "Link" to see our books and comics.