Whatever Happened to Kato on The Green Hornet?

This is for all you Green Hornet fans...

In late 1935, radio director Jim Jewell was responsible for casting the new radio program, The Green Hornet. Not satisfied with the way the Chinese actors were portraying Chinese on the Dr. Fang program (circa 1933-1934), Jewell talked by phone with Cullen Landis, once a leading juvenile in the movies and now directing commercial films for Jam Handy. Since Landis was looking for two Chinese actors for a film and Jewell was looking for a Japanese for the role of Kato, they made a successful exchange. Actor Tokataro Hayashi was the first to play the role of Kato beginning in January of 1936. His talent contract assured him $25 per week to play the role, “whether by radio or visual broadcasting and for as many performances as are necessary.” As of September 8, 1938, his salary went up an extra $5 per week. Hayashi was renamed by Jewell as Toyo, and he is sometimes credited on paper as Raymond Hayashi and Raymond Toyo. 

Today, fans listening to the radio program prefer the earlier adventures because the actors playing the roles were best suited. When Toyo was replaced, the actor tried to speak Oriental but there can be no comparison when an Oriental tries to speak English. But there remains a mystery that has puzzled thousands of historians... until now. 

Sometime in 1942 (the exact date remains unknown), Raymond Toyo Hayashi came upon a problem that offered no solution. Because of the war, the U.S. government sent official notice that Toyo was to be sent back to Japan. Since Dick Osgood was broadcasting a series called March of Victory for the Hi-Speed Gas Stations, and a number of scripts had to be cleared through six departments in Washington, the little Japanese believed that Osgood might have an “in” with the government. But it was not so and when Britt Reid phones Kato from his office at The Daily Sentinel to make preparations for the evening’s adventure, he does so alone using a private line. Numerous episodes make reference to the private line, but many of the later ones do not mention it. Fans of the series often wondered why Reid would discuss such plans over a phone line that could be monitored by a switchboard operator, but this explanation was offered many times in the earliest of Green Hornet adventures.

Osgood could do nothing to aid Toyo. Trendle had no influence with members of Congress to have the notice served on Toyo waived. According to Osgood, the Japanese actor disappeared, “presumably to a concentration camp in the west.” No one at WXYZ ever saw Toyo again. This was what Osgood reported in his book, Wyxie Wonderland (Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1981). And for more than two decades, historians including Terry Salomonson and myself assumed the same.

Bob Keller in Waukesha, Wisconsin, brought to my attention some information that solves the mystery. A recently-published article by Clifford Hayashi reveals not only Raymond's past before he became an actor at radio station WXYZ, but what happened to the Japanese actor during and after World War II.

Small note I would like to add before you click the link and read this amusing story. Some of the facts are not 100 percent accurate. For example, Hayashi claims the actor was paid $60 a week at WXYZ. Both Terry and myself have a zerox copy of all the talent contracts at WXYZ and his starting pay was $25 a week, later raised to $30, as stated above. But for the most part, like any historical document, this is as good as it gets and we are very thankful Clifford Hayashi was able to compile this information, with the assistance of Raymond's daughter.

CLICK HERE:

http://www.nikkeiwest.com/index.php/the-news/archived-article-list/231-everyone-knew-raymond-muramoto

Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3

 All was not well in the cosmos with Carole Lombard. Forever immortalized on celluloid, she is perhaps best known for To Be or Not to Be, a satire that was released two months after her untimely death. “I believe that everything that happens is determined by an inflexible Fate,” Lombard later remarked. Ironic when you consider that her life was struck down by a number of hardships, including a life-changing auto accident. On January 16, 1942, returning home from a war bond our, Carole Lombard perished in a plane crash 30 minutes outside Las Vegas. Like James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, Lombard became iconic as a result of a pre-mature death and the public’s never-ending question: “what would she have accomplished had she not died so early?”

To Be or Not to Be was a brilliant satire of the times. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy. Doesn’t sound much like a comedy and at the time the film was released, neither critics nor public were in the mood to laugh, finding the picture tasteless and callous. Over the years, however, the movie has been re-evaluated and has since become a classic.

Carole Lombard

Miriam Hopkins was the original choice for Maria Tura. She turned the role down when she realized Jack Benny had all the laughs and her part would largely be his straight man. Lombard saw the overall quality of the material and took the part. Lombard took the female lead despite the strenuous objections of her husband, Clark Gable. After the shooting of this film was finished, Lombard told many people that To Be or Not to Be was the happiest experience of her career from start to finish.

This week I finished reading Fireball: Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3, by Robert Batzen. A fresh look at Hollywood's "Queen of Screwball Comedy," Carole Lombard, presents a thorough examination of the events that led to the shocking flight mishap that took her life on the side of Mt. Potosi in 1942. It also provides a day-by-day account of the struggles of Lombard's husband, Clark Gable, and other family, friends, and fans to cope with the tragedy.

In effect, having just completed the first sale of war bonds and stamps in the nation following its entry into World War II, Lombard became the first Hollywood start to sacrifice her life in the War (40 days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor). The War Department offered Gable a funeral service with full military honors, but he refused it, knowing that his wife would not approve of such spectacle.

Lombard was a tomboy with athletic prowess and spirit far exceeding her size (she was petite and stood 5' 2", with shoes). She became good friends with many in Hollywood, never let fame get to her head, and contributed both time and money to help further the careers of others. Jack Benny was so taken back by Lombard that two days following the plane crash, he was unable to attend his weekly Sunday evening radio program.

Based on extensive research rather than gossip, Fireball further explores the lives of the 21 others on the plane, including 15 members of the U.S. Army Air Corps, and addresses one of the most enduring mysteries of World War II. On a clear night full of stars, with TWA's most experienced pilot at the controls of a 10-month-old aircraft under the power of two fully functioning engines, why did the flight crash into that Nevada mountainside?

She was posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the first woman killed in the line of duty in WWII. FDR greatly admired her work for the war effort

Looking back, very few of her films are above average but among my favorite is a quick guilty pleasure titled Supernatural (1933), in which Lombard co-starred with pre-screen cowboy star Randolph Scott. The story dealt with ghosts and possession, a woman ala Roxy Hart executed for her crimes and her spirit invading the body of an innocent woman, taking possession of her senses only to seek revenge against the man responsible for her execution. Lombard found director Victor Halperin so vexing that at one point she reached out her arms and shouted to the heavens, “Who do I have to screw to get off this picture?” Since that day in 1933, that line may have been the most quoted on-set line in Hollywood history.

She portrayed a hooker in a risqué pre-Code drama called Virtue, which featured a tawdry plotline and women in stockings and garter belts who “would do anything to get ahead.” Understanding what sold tickets at the box office, Lombard gained a reputation for going braless onscreen, acquiring cult status at the grindhouses for nipples poking through silky dresses and displaying lots of leg. Before takes she would apply ice cubes to ensure her perkiness caught on camera.

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard

“I've lived by a man's code designed to fit a man's world, yet at the same time I never forget that a woman's first job is to choose the right shade of lipstick,” Lombard was once quoted. Sex sold and Lombard had no problems defending her honor behind the camera. She was known for swearing like a sailor but many theorize it was a defense mechanism against the wilds of male testosterone. Besides, she had competition. Jean Harlow was so sexy that she made nearly every line of dialogue into the Kama Sutra.

Her first husband was William Powell. Sparks flew between the two from the first rehearsals, and a healthy infatuation catapulted them to the nearest bedroom. He was almost 40; she was 22, making pictures by day and playing the field by night. After their divorce, Powell romanced Jean Harlow and the rest is history.

No Man of Her Own became the only picture both Lombard and Gable co-starred together. Both were married at the time to other people and neither seemed to be interested in a “test drive,” but they respected each other and their talents. If anyone tells you it was the movie that they met and fell in love and got married shortly following, you can debunk that myth.

Lombard performing on stage on January 15, 1942.

It was during filming of Twentieth Century that Howard Hawks and John Barrymore discovered that the fun-loving Carole Lombard was stiff and cardboard when the cameras rolled. This is one of the reasons why film buffs do not regard her as a great actress – not like Bette Davis and Greta Garbo. “She couldn’t act for a damn,” Hawks later remarked. “She just became completely phony.”

Before Clark Gable, she contented herself with sex and adoration, with doubts about marrying again after William Powell. There were other loves – George Raft, Russ Columbo – but the death of the latter came back to haunt her many times over. She was linked romantically to the crooner and his death traumatized her.

Recovery attempts of the plane wreckage. 

Lombard was the inspiration for actor Robert Stack, then a youth who taught her how to hold a gun and shoot skeet. Stack appeared in To Be or Not to Be on the recommendation of Lombard and until the day he died the actor never hid his admiration for the actress.

Lombard helped urge Lansing Brown toward self-forgiveness when a freak accident caused the death of Russ Columbo, and participated in subterfuge for Columbo’s frail and incapacitated mother, who was never told of her son’s death. Instead, a lavish European tour was dreamed up, and Russ would send her letters from exotic locations that spoke of his latest successes, while his remains settled into a crypt in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Glendale.

Lombard threw herself into redecorating her Hollywood Boulevard house and brought in “Billy” Haines, a leading man in the silent era who could not crack into talkies. He was gay and his effeminate speech patterns brought his orientation to the forefront. He became one of Lombard’s causes and her notoriety that accompanied her support of a gay actor meant more than cash and helped to launch a 40-year decorating career.

Lombard was responsible for the successful career of Alice Marble, tennis player, who was down on her luck. When Marble suffered a number of health issues, Lombard found a general practitioner and paid the bills. A few years later Marble would claim the California state singles title, the U.S. Open Women’s Singles title at Forest Lawn and a clean sweep at the Wimbledon in 1939.

The plane crash that killed her took place less than a month before the Oscars. Despite her mother's premonition of the disaster, she refused to take a train to Los Angeles. She was reputedly in a rush after getting wind of an alleged affair between her husband Clark Gable and a young actress named Lana Turner, who at the time were filming Somewhere I’ll Find You (1942). The decision for Lombard to take the plane was decided literally by the flip of a coin, with Carole winning the toss.

Fireball is a great read. If you don’t have time to read a biography about Carole Lombard, of which there are a more than eight (half of them amateur 40-page print-on-demand cheapies sold through Amazon.com and cut-and-pasted from Wikipedia), I recommend this book. Lombard’s life is summarized properly with great prose. Who knew that retired movie actress Clara Bow, residing fifty miles southeast of Mt. Potosi on a sprawling ranch called The Walking Box, witnessed the plane crash? I learned someone new with the turn of every page.

To purchase your copy, click here: http://www.amazon.com/Fireball-Carole-Lombard-Mystery-Flight/dp/0988502518/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434030929&sr=1-1&keywords=carole+lombard

Distressed Damsels and Masked Marauders

The motion-picture serial, routinely dismissed, overlooked, or undervalued by mainstream film historians, finally receives the acclaim it deserves in the meticulously researched book, Distressed Damsels and Masked Marauders, by Ed Hulse.

Drawing on the well-established conventions of pulp fiction and stage melodrama of the blood-and-thunder variety, "chapter plays" thrilled silent era audiences of all ages and, more importantly, made weekly movie-going a habit for millions of Americans. From Helen Holmes to Pearl White, Charles Hutchison and Ben Wilson, the stars of cliffhanger serials gave us so much... and left us wanting more. Produced for an adult audience during the silent era, it will come as no surprise to those who have watched many of the sound serials that cliffhanger chapter plays made a major transformation in the thirties toward a juvenile audience. Columbia Pictures knew the demographic -- why else would they have licensed such radio properties as Jack Armstrong, Hop Harrigan, Batman and Captain Video for their serials? Universal attempted to cash in on Buck Rogers, Smiling Jack and Flash Gordon with their entries -- the latter of which played a major influence on George Lucas and his Stars Wars movies.

Sadly, many of the silent serials are neglected by film buffs who do not share an appreciation for a visual art form that was crafted with a lack of a sound track... but the best of the serials stems from the silent era. That was why Ed's book, many years in the making, was worthy of momentarily dropping present-day projects to dig deep into his book, Distressed Damsels and Masked Marauders. Here, Ed offers a comprehensive history of serials from the halcyon days of The Perils of Pauline (1914) to the advent of talking pictures. His account is illustrated with hundreds of rare stills, posters, lobby cards, advertisements, and even frame blowups from surviving 35mm nitrate prints. The illustrations won't be found on the internet with a google search, adding value and appreciation to this fantastic tome. In debunking old myths and uncovering new information about vintage "cliffhangers," Ed provides an education for anyone who wants to learn all about the history of cliffhanger serials and for those who thought they knew all about them.

Ed explores the budgets and profits of the serials, distribution, billboards and one-sheets, the rise and fall of independent film studios, the celebrity status gained by the screen stars, stunt men and injuries, and much more. Even more fascinating was lack of preservation for many of the cliffhanger serials (UCLA lacked sufficient funds to preserve all of John Hampton's nitrate prints, and in the ensuing years some deteriorated beyond the point of no return) and how that situation has changed in recent decades. Still, much of the damage has been made which is what makes this book all the more important.  

The largest chapter in the book centers on Pathe Exchange, Inc., also known as "The House of Serials," and the factory that produced some of the classics we still observe on the big screen. Ed confessed to me that the book was so large by the time he completed his project that Distressed Damsels and Masked Marauders is the first half. A second half, Handsome Heroes and Vicious Villains, will be published soon. Looking forward to it.

You can check out Ed's blog, with tons of information about cliffhanger serials, along with how to purchase his book and magazine here: http://muraniapress.com/editorial-comments/

Old-Time Radio Newsblurbs

VARIETY magazine (both weekly and daily) contains a ton of news blurbs for television, movies and old-time radio. Often a mention about a specific radio program or television series raises an eye brow because the information sometimes reveals a bit of trivia no one else seems to have been aware of. Here is a selection of news blurbs from VARIETY which I suspect many of you will find amusing.

February 15, 1940

Columbia Will Make 'Ellery Queen With Radio Cast -- Columbia yesterday closed a deal with Columbia Management for filming of the radio whodunit, 'Adventures of Ellery Queen,' and for the first time will use an entire air cast. Program is now broadcast over CBS as a sustainer and this summer fills the hiatus for Gulf during Screen Guild Theatre seasonal layoff.

Note: The movies were made, with the radio microphone on the front title screen. The radio cast never reprised the roles for the big screen. Nice to know they considered doing so.

July 10, 1946

Although Wyllis Cooper is credited as the writer of the new Lights Out! summer replacement show for Judy Canova on Saturday nights over NBC, he claims he has nothing to do with it. Cooper, presently chief of the motion picture and television department of the Compton ad agency, asserts NBC is following the same procedure it used last year by digging up a batch of his old scripts for the revival. Cooper is also considerably miffed at reports that he scripted the televised version of Lights Out! which NBC produced over WNBT in new York, on June 30. Fred Coe, NBC video producer, adapted the script from one of Cooper's old radio shows, he claims. "I discovered by purest accident—meeting a guy on the street—that it was to be broadcast," Cooper said. "It was an adaptation of, as I said, an original radio show I did 12 years ago." Reason for Cooper's ire at the tele show lies in the fact that, ever since he's taken over the Compton post, he's been plugging for all-film shows, as compared to live programming. Film, and its system of retakes to correct an error, would assure the broadcaster of a perfect program, according to Cooper.

Lee Marvin

May 25, 1955

Warner Bros. Tests Lee Marvin

For 'Cheyenne' vidpix, Lee Marvin was tested by Warners yesterday to essay title role in Cheyenne vidpix series. Simultaneously, studio tested Charles Nolte for the lead in King's Row, another of studio's up-coming telefilm series.

Note: Wow. Really? Lee Marvin?

June 30, 1958

To give you an idea of what a sponsor bites off if he chooses to sponsor Warners' 77 Sunset Strip, private-eye hour starring Efrern Zimbalist Jr., the price is $82,000 and $46,000 for repeats. No takers yet although ABC-TV has it niched for 9 p.m. Sunday . . . Nor do these so-called "cheapies" carry bargain basement tags.

July 30, 1958

Cole Updating 'The Witch's Tale' For TPA Syndication

New York, July 29. — One of radio's early and long-run dramatic series, The Witch's Tale, is to be revived in television film syndication with updated, modern scripts by its originating author, Alonzo Deen Cole. Leon Fromkess will produce the half-hours for Television Programs of America. Pilot will be shot in Manhattan during August. Series should hit market later in fall. Witch's Tale ran nine years live on the Mutual Radio Network and another seven years on transcriptions. Cole at one time licensed 52 live repeats made in Australia with Down-Under actors, and series was also translated for radio in Spanish and Portuguese. Cole's present contract with TPA was negotiated by Ray Levy. Still to be decided is whether the telepix series will be produced in New York or Los Angeles. Cole will do all the writing. Author Cole in recent years was sole scripter on the CBS-originated radio (later television) offbeat whodunits, Casey, Crime Photographer. Sponsors include Anchor Hocking and Carter.

Note: No such television series was ever produced. Darn.

November 14, 1958
Nero Wolfe Video Rights Sold To CBS

Television rights to the Nero Wolfe mysteries penned by Rex Stout have been acquired by CBS-TV as a basis for a new teleseries, according to Harry Ommerle, web program veepee visiting with Coast execs this week. Pilot film is being mapped for sometime after the first of the year. Harry Ommerle, who planes back to New York tonight after a three-day stay here, also said that the web is dickering Audrey Meadows to star in its projected weekly televersion of My Sister Eileen.

April 10, 1957
Hughes to Script First '13' 

Hollywood, April 9. Russell Hughes will script the initial stanza of Box 13, Jaguar Productions telefilm project based on Alan Ladd's former radio series, and Jaguar's first venture into tv. Hughes also scripted many of radio "Boxes." Lensing is slated for early summer, with exec producer Albert J. Cohen currently testing male leads. Ladd owns Jaguar, but doesn't intend to appear in the teleseries.

March 18, 1958

Alan Ladd is fulfilling a long-suppressed desire by turning director. Producer-star plans to direct teats for his Jaguar Company's Box 13 series. And he's decided to try for an unknown for the lea.

Note: Only one television pilot was filmed, a few years prior. This second attempt never happened.

Audie Murphy

June 9, 1961

WHISPERING SMITH LOUDLY DENOUNCED BY SENATE PROBE

Washington, Jane 8. — Whispering Smith should be neither seen nor heard by children. The Revue Studio's western series for NBC-TV was singled out for special treatment today as the Senate Juvenile Delinquency Committee put televised crime-and-violence through the gantlet generally. The subcommittee launched hearings designed to find out, as chairman Thomas Dodd (D. Conn.) put it, whether the tv industry is letting itself slide "into the same category as the violent Roman spectacles of 2,000 years ago." Latter got high ratings too, Dodd remarked. The hearings, held in the big Senate caucus room, featured a screening of the first episode of the Audie Murphy Whispering Smith series beginning last month over NBC-TV. Called "The Grudge," the program showed how Murphy, as a quiet spoken lawman, triumphed over a murderous widow, her venomous daughter and befuddled son, who were all set on killing him as an act of revenge.

Revue Studios' Richard Lewis, executive producer of the series, was grilled at length about why the segment was interlaced with such scenes as the mother horsewhipping her son and shooting her daughter in the back. "Bad For Adults, Too" quoted Sen. John Carroll (D.Colo.), who snapped that the show was "not only bad for children but bad for adults" and was incensed over what he claimed was a distortion of the Whispering Smith he read about as a boy. The Smith he pictured was a chip off the same block as Hopalong Cassidy and other wholesome types. He accused Lewis of trying to make a "smasheroo" to compete with the top-rated tv westerns. But Lewis stoutly insisted the program was no more violent than other western fare and its theme of revenge was as old as the Greek classics. Neither did the "Grudge" episode, written by Richard Nelson and directed by Herbert Coleman, depart from NBC's own TV Code, he said. As for its impact on tots, Lewis opined that they would most likely emulate the admirable Smith rather than the revenge-crazed mother. Carl Watson, NBC-TV's director of broadcast standards, agreed with Lewis that the series was fairly standard western fare. But he added that NBC had asked Revue to dilute some of the more violent episodes.

May 26, 1958

Don Sharpe and Nat Wolff have wrapped up a sale of "Derringer" to NBC-TV for Monday night. It will probably be called a western despite its New Orleans locale. Don Quinn and Henry Russell wrote the show's theme song of the same title .

Note: The series was eventually titled Yancy Derringer, not "Derringer."

April 1, 1959

I LOVE A MYSTERY AS EBI'S TV SERIES

Hollywood, March 31.
Carlton Morse's long run radio series, I Love a Mystery, is being converted into a tv series by Earl Ebi, former producer at J. Walter Thompson agency. As producer he will have as associates Morse, executive producer, and Sandy Barnett, also ex-JWT, who will act as editorial supervisor. Pilot script has been completed and others are being prepared. Series will be sold either as a half-hour or hour collection of mystery stories.