Martin Grams

Thursday, March 19, 2026

Thursday, March 12, 2026

The Lone Ranger and the Outlaws of Wild Horse Valley (1940)

For collectors of children's books featuring The Lone Ranger, one of the rare titles is The Lone Ranger and the Outlaws of Wild Horse Valley, published by Whitman in 1940. The publishing company recycled one of the prior pulp stories, so there is nothing in this that you cannot find elsewhere. But this book is so rare that most collector catalogs, price guides and reference guides do not include it. This PDF is being provided for a few weeks so be sure to download and enjoy asap.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v5ci5np3oylpl20/The%20Lone%20Ranger%2C%20Outlaws%20of%20Wild%20Horse%20Valley%20%281940%29.pdf?dl=0

Thursday, March 5, 2026

THE ADVENTURES OF THE SPACE EAGLE

In 1967, Whitman published the first of two books dramatizing the futuristic adventures of The Space Eagle, who was in reality Paul Girard, a millionaire whiz-kid playboy and heir to the world's biggest cosmetic empire, the House of Girard, who by night fought International crime at the request of the President of the United States. Many who used to work for George W. Trendle in Detroit, no doubt influenced by The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet, ultimately created their own legendary heroes of fictional lore. James Jewell created The Black Ace, The Silver Eagle and provided assistance with a successful franchise known as Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy. Raymond J. Meurer, attorney for George W. Trendle, created both the characters and the setting for what would become The Space Eagle (with assistance of Jack Pearl) who wrote the text for two Whitman hardcover books.

In the first book, Operation Doomsday, set in the near future after space travel was accomplished and norm, a Chinese Communist during the height of the Cold War named Dr. Lachesis Muta devised a diabolical scheme to start a nuclear war between Russia and the United States so that he could seize control of whatever was left of the earth. Mad scientist though he was, the plot had come fearfully close to succeeding. With bootlegged I.C.B.M.'s, launched from Muta's secret underground base in the mountains of Tibet, winging through space toward targets in the U.S.S.R. and the United States, only the Space Eagle and the untested S.W.I.F.T. had stood between the deadly nuclear warheads and total world destruction.

Armed with a number of gadgets and weapons, including tranquilizer darts shaped like eagle talons (ala Green Hornet gas gun), and his vessel, S.W.I.F.T. (Space Warp Infinity Finity Transport) which traveled through outer space and defies the laws of physics and time as according to Einstein. (Additional influences from The Lone Ranger saga was the President's two reference to Paul's great-great-grandfather was a U.S. Marshal in the Oklahoma territory during the wild west days.)

By special order of the President of the United States, a new department of the U.S. Government, known as he Spacial Intelligence Agency of the U.S.A. was formed. Paul Girard was the only member of the organization, taking directives from the President. Paul's secret base was set in the middle of the hundred-acre tract of heavily wooded land in West Virginia. His sister, Julie Girard, was the gadget genius.

In the second book, published in 1970, Operation Star Voyage, the Russians have managed to duplicate their own S.W.I.F.T., a ship capable of traveling past the speed of light. With assistance from Sam Aarons, a boyhood friend and friend of the family, Paul and Sam travel to an unexplored region of the galaxy to meet a race of space aliens that looked remarkably like Earthmen, except that they were pygmy-sized and were entirely hairless. Their skin was albino white, almost as transparent as glass. Paul explains to the aliens of the perilous arms race between the Free World and the Iron Curtain countries, how spartanism was discovered and how it led to the building of the S.W.I.F.T., and the crisis that existed on Earth because the Russians were developing their own matter-anti-matter engine -- and because they only source of spartanism was in their territory. Should the Russians get their hands on the spartanism, the safety of the entire galaxy was threatened.

Dr. Lachesis Muta, as it turns out, is alive and well and leading a band of renegade pirates. Laser rifles, space ships, space aliens, and an arch nemesis were bound to show up in additional volumes had a third and fourth book been published. Alas, the series ran only two novels. They are both enjoyable reads and easily affordable in the collector market.

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Lost Radio Episodes of "THE GREEN HORNET"

It was not until May of 1938 that The Green Hornet radio program was recorded on a regular basis. Prior, the radio broadcasts originating from WXYZ in Detroit, Michigan, were never heard again after the initial broadcast. No sooner did the broadcast conclude, the actors tossed their scripts into a box in the corner of the room and began rehearsals for the next drama (usually The Lone Ranger). As a result, the first two years of the program does not exist in recorded form. Thankfully we have the radio scripts to consult. Enclosed are plot summaries based on the script pages, "lost" adventures of the masked man and his faithful valet, Kato.

Episode #202 [NO TITLE LISTED] Broadcast Thursday, January 13, 1938

Plot: Wilfred Chatterling, wealthy bachelor about town, is caught speeding and is given a ticket. Appearing before Judge Woodmancy, who is known for being strict, Chatterling gets 30 days behind bars. Since he wants to avoid being married to Muriel Pankow, the jail term provides a pleasant solution. When Britt Reid learns the stiff sentences are thwarted by Mark Pringle, an attorney who was once a gangster’s mouthpiece but never disbarred, he suspects the attorney, the judge and the bail bondsman of profiting from the victims. The Green Hornet attempts to set a trap, but Kato overhears the men planning to cross The Hornet, so Reid sets up a plot of his own to smash the racket.

Episode #203 [NO TITLE LISTED] Broadcast Tuesday, January 18, 1938

Plot: The brokerage house of Stevens and Wade was in bad shape. Three months ago it was threatened by lawsuits on every side, and before the partners landed in jail for violating a dozen laws, Benjamin Wade was found dead in his study — an apparent suicide. Now, Hymie Hawks is hurt in an auto accident and in his dying words confesses to Ed Lowry, a reporter on the scene, how he murdered the prominent stock broker, faking evidence to suggest suicide. Hymie dies before he can reveal who hired him. Lowry writes a story for The Daily Sentinel, and Reid uses Lowry as bait to catch the killers. After gassing a fake cop, The Green Hornet learns the names of the guilty parties and arranges for evidence to fall into the hands of the police to convict Kirk Stevens.

Episode #204 [NO TITLE LISTED] Broadcast Thursday, January 20, 1938

Plot: Jane Birch of the school board is accused of graft and resigns without making a statement to the press. The Daily Sentinel had learned she was receiving a cut from wholesalers from whom she ordered musical instruments, books and school supplies. Late at night, Kato and The Green Hornet set out to meet the school board’s Henry Altman, one of the individuals taking a cut from the pay of the teachers he promoted and arranged for Jane Birch to take the rap for him. The masked men tie and gag their victim; Kato keeps the man unconscious with injections for two days while Reid tracks down the missing Jane Birch, who tells all to police when she believes The Hornet killed Altman and she may be next.

Trivia, etc. Fran Striker reused this script, with slight revisions, about a crooked councilman and a school board member named Jane, in “Find the Woman,” broadcast March 2, 1948.

Episode #205 [NO TITLE LISTED] Broadcast Tuesday, January 25, 1938

Plot: A bill is being introduced in the state legislature to regulate finance companies, making fraud more difficult. The finance companies, however, hire lobbyists to oppose the bill. When Reid learns how they are putting pressure on representatives from upstate communities to vote against the bill, he becomes The Green Hornet. Issuing wholesale threats, The Hornet hopes public concern will turn against the lobbying and sets off smoke bombs in the Grand Hotel in broad daylight to lure the legislators who are against the bill to leave the capitol long enough for the measure to pass.

Episode #207 [NO TITLE LISTED] Broadcast Tuesday, February 1, 1938

Plot: Having walked in front of a speeding bus, Andrew Clark, is dying and confesses to reporter Ed Lowry that he took his own life because he was swindled and broke. Steered to real estate crooks through an ad in The Daily Sentinel, he was fleeced. Clark’s wife visits the newspaper office intending to shoot Britt Reid because of the advertisement, but Reid takes the gun away and hears her story. The Green Hornet sets out to smash Arnold Bixby by picking up Mert Holmlund, a suspected killer, outside police headquarters and driving to Bixby’s office, where he establishes a set-up that has the police following The Hornet’s trail. The scheme works and some of the money Bixby stole from the public is recovered.

NOTES: These plot summaries were reprinted from The Green Hornet: A History of Radio, Motion Pictures, Comics and Television, by Terry Salomonson and Martin Grams, Jr.