Theatrical Release Date: January 9, 1940
Universal Studios Production #1010
Dates of Production: Thursday, September 7 to Friday, October 6, 1939
The Green Hornet, Inc. (i.e. radio producer George W. Trendle) was to approve of all scenarios, including the proposed plot, characters, action and dialogue by reviewing the scripts before they were filmed. This included all synopses and shooting scripts. Universal had to pay for vocal recordings or electronically transcribed voice tests of all the principal actors to be used in the film and approval was required from George W. Trendle in writing before actors could sign contracts. Trendle had to approve of the gas gun, Kato’s driving uniform and the make of automobile to be used in the production. Naturally, such oversight from the owner of a property was rarely achieved under a studio contract. Republic Pictures, however, broke box office records for a cliffhanger serial with Trendle’s The Lone Ranger, which prompted Universal to grant Trendle whatever oversight he asked for. Among Trendle’s requests was a copyright notice regarding the radio program on all advertising — including lobby cards, stills and posters.
Payment for the license cost the studio $20,000. Universal was obligated to mail Trendle quarterly statements of the world-wide gross film rentals beginning 60 days after the cliffhanger began distribution. If the total gross film rental exceeded $300,000, Universal was obligated to pay The Green Hornet, Inc. 15 percent of all world-wide film rentals in excess of that amount (100 percent of the gross revenue, not net). Certified statements were to be mailed to Trendle on a monthly basis, providing a breakdown of all funds received as a result of film rentals.
Clause 28 was unique, offering the film studio an option to produce an additional cliffhanger serial, provided it met the terms of the contract to Trendle’s satisfaction. The pricing would be slightly different — in order to exercise the option of producing a second series of films, the studio prior to May 31, 1940, would have to notify Trendle in writing of its intention to exercise the option, which would be accompanied by a payment of $15,000. on or before January 9, 1941. Universal would have exclusive title use until January 31, 1942, and non-exclusive title use until January 31, 1945, after which the studio would be required to enter a new contract for the reuse of the serials, or new productions.
The serial started shooting on the morning of Thursday, September 7, with an approved budget of $160,000 on the 25 percent basis. In order to take advantage of weather conditions that sparked news in California at the time, it was decided to concentrate on all exterior shots for the first three days of production. This included a trip along Ranch Road, a popular spot with movie directors for highway filming, for all the floral roadside scenes. The gas station was filmed on location on the road to Back Ranch. The junk yard was filmed in Glendale, while the interior scenes would later be filmed on the studio back lot. A number of car chase sequences were filmed on Mulholland Drive, and director Ford Beebe took advantage of the opportunity to film more material than required so the studio would have stock footage to use in future productions. The freight train was shot at Chatsworth, California. The flying airfield was filmed at the Metropolitan Airport. By the third day, however, the serial began fighting adverse weather and production ran behind schedule.
Knowing the latter part of the schedule was devoted entirely to interior stage work, Martin Murphy of Universal consulted Henry MacRae, famous “serial king” of the screen who had been with the studio since 1915; he suggested they add an alternating director (Ray Taylor) to relieve Ford Beebe starting September 14. “With these two men on the job we feel there should be no difficulty in at least completing the entire serial on schedule and for the budget amount,” reported Murphy to the studio executives.
On September 30, Murphy said in an inter-office memo “it appears the addition of Ray Taylor as an alternating director on this serial has worked out as planned. During the past week the company has made very good headway and are now running right on schedule.”
While the crew completed the interior shots on time, the studio used a number of techniques not uncommon in studio production — using everything on the lot at their disposal. The exterior scenes of the Acme Transportation Company and the scenes at the Whippet Garage were filmed at the studio garage. The parking lot was shot at the studio’s A-Gate. The airplane hangar was filmed on the backlot. The exterior of The Daily Sentinel Platform was filmed at the studio’s lumber yard. Most of the scenes of offices and interiors were shot on Sound Stage #15, while city streets were shot on the backlot’s “New York Street.”
Filming was completed on Friday evening, October 6, right on schedule. In 26 shooting days the unit completed 13 episodes of the serial — equivalent to one reel of finished product each day. The musical score was recorded on October 10 and arrangements were made to fly radio actor Al Hodge from Michigan to California to dub his lines on October 19 and 20. When Gordon Jones is masked as The Green Hornet on screen, it is the radio actor’s voice heard on the soundtrack.
During production of the serial, Trendle insisted the buzzing sound of a hornet was inserted into the soundtrack whenever the Black Beauty was speeding through the streets. It was his attorney, Raymond Meurer, who insisted that Al Hodge supply the voice of The Green Hornet so radio listeners could best associate the matching voice on film.
Even with a stunt man, actor and star of the title role, Gordon Jones had to be athletic for the title role. “You’re supposed to be an actor but you’ve also got to be a trapeze artist, a professional strong man, and a marvel of memory,” he remarked to the trade papers. “Yesterday, from 8 a.m. until midnight, I used up 24 pages of dialogue.”
Reportedly the entire serial script (all 13 chapters) ran 700 pages. “Last week, when we were on location, and the temperatures were in the 120s at Chatsworth, I thought I’d die,” Gordon continued. “I was in my whole regalia, fighting people inside a railroad locomotive cab, falling off cliffs, and carrying guys over my shoulders.”
Editing the serial was no easy task, but the first three episodes were completed and shipped out to movie theaters on November 7, three weeks before the trailer promoting the serial was completed. (The 15-page script for the trailer was dated November 17, 1939.)
The serial chapters were loosely adapted from original radio scripts. Script writers George H. Plympton, Basil Dickey, Morrison Wood and Lyonel Margolies received a large handful of scripts from which to choose material. The first chapter, “The Tunnel of Terror,” for example, came from the radio broadcast of October 12, 1937, which involved Reid’s efforts to shut down Henry Adsit of Liberty Construction, who managed to underbid everyone for city construction jobs — but at the cost of a tunnel collapse because of inferior lumber and materials.
Chapter six, “Highways of Peril,” was a loose adaptation of the radio broadcast of December 29, 1936, which involved Mr. Longworth, owner of a crooked transportation company plotting sabotage so his competition, Grant Mitchell of Six Point Airlines, would be forced to sell the business. After sabotaging four airplanes, Longworth finds himself a victim of his own scheme when The Green Hornet forces him to fly the next targeted airplane.
These chapter plays for the cliffhanger serial is a Godsend to fans of the radio program. The radio program was never recorded on a regular basis until the spring of 1938 so the stories adapted for the screen are from radio broadcasts not known to exist in recorded form.
The question of Kato’s nationality came into question for the cliffhanger serial.
Originally Japanese from the very first radio episode, news events of the escalating war overseas forced Striker and Trendle to change Kato to a Filipino. In 1937, Japan’s army conquered Shanghai, China. A broadcast of December 1937 featured Kato’s disgust for the war in the Far East. By July of 1939, it was decided to switch Kato’s nationality from Japanese to Filipino to avoid any distaste by radio listeners. Then, in June of 1941, months before the U.S. entry in World War II, Kato was officially declared a Filipino and numerous references were made during the radio broadcasts. But Universal had its own solution: Kato would be Korean in the serial, avoiding any possible reference to the Japanese, and Kato’s nationality was disclosed in the very first chapter of the serial. Keye Luke played the role of the Hornet’s aide, and between scenes during production, he sketched a portrait of actress Anne Nagel for a leading American magazine.
The financial rewards were enough to satisfy both the studio and Trendle, and Universal optioned to produce a second sequel. Years later Universal Studios would reissue the serial as a 99-minute motion picture. Edited down from the 13 chapters, the studio was able to profit again from the same film. This was common for most studios like Mascot and Republic, but fans today still prefer to watch the serial in its entirety, chapter-by-chapter.
NOTES: The above contains excerpts from The Green Hornet: A History of Radio, Motion-Pictures, Comics and Television, by Terry Salomonson and Martin Grams, Jr.
