The Lost Radio Adventures 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 #181 [NO TITLE LISTED] Broadcast Tuesday, November 2, 1937

Copyright Registration D-2-#53101, script received at Registration Office Nov. 10, 1937.

Plot: Jack Preston, a junior member of his father’s investment firm, runs up a $5,000 debt in Gangloff’s Plaza Club, an underworld gambling joint. In order to pay off the liability he prefers his father not know about, young Preston is forced into making investments for Gangloff, using someone else’s collateral against his account. Mike Axford and The Daily Sentinel staff have been investigating Gangloff’s illegal and rigged roulette wheels and slot machines, but his indebted victims don’t care to talk. When Reid meets up with young Preston and learns he went into debt, The Green Hornet goes to steal the I.O.U.s that would incriminate the guilty parties — and get back Jack’s I.O.U.

 

Episode #182 [NO TITLE LISTED] Broadcast Thursday, November 4, 1937

Copyright Registration D-2-#53102, script received at Registration Office Nov. 10, 1937.

Plot: Police Commissioner Langdon is frustrated that an organization is forcing bums to pay a percentage for rights to panhandle in specific territories. The organization belongs to Ogden Jenks, whose goal is to have Langdon out of office so a new commissioner, one of Ogden’s type, will overlook larger rackets. When Britt Reid learns about a private entrance to Jenks’ office suite, he becomes The Green Hornet and overhears some of Jenks’ conferences. When Jenks tries to murder the commissioner in his secret office, having learned the newspapers won’t run a story against Langdon, The Hornet arranges for reporters and police to find the secret entrance to the private office.

 

Episode #183 [NO TITLE LISTED] Broadcast Tuesday, November 9, 1937

Copyright Registration D-2-#53321, script received at Registration Office Nov. 19, 1937.

Plot: John Baldwin, an insurance racketeer, employs Jim Jaundell, former boss of a hi-jacking ring. Jaundell supposedly lives a respectable life, and try as they might, police can find nothing to criticize his conduct. Meanwhile, accidents involving trucks of Five State Corp. continue, but there’s no evidence leading to Jaundell. But Jaundell makes a mistake in attempting a shakedown of Baldwin by committing a murder, and The Green Hornet and Kato set out to stir things up, suggesting a double-cross between the crooks and exposing Baldwin’s insurance racket and Jaundell’s gang-land approach to murder.

 

Episode #184 [NO TITLE LISTED] Broadcast Thursday, November 11, 1937

Copyright Registration D-2-#53322, script received at Registration Office Nov. 19, 1937.

Plot: Ormand Weeks operates Ancestors Inc., which charges a fee to prepare a genealogical table for his customers. Weeks profits by “unearthing” material that his high-priced clients do not want public, offering to withhold the information for a price. For those desperate to prove they are legal heirs of a deceased millionaire, he charges a hefty sum for the fake documents. The Green Hornet tries muscling into the racket and when Weeks attempts to trick the masked man into capture by the police, The Green Hornet seeks vengeance by taking letters Weeks wrote that establish his guilt and mailing them. Being merciful, the masked man orders Weeks to get out of town and go honest — or else.

 

Episode #185 [NO TITLE LISTED] Broadcast Tuesday, November 16, 1937

Copyright Registration D-2-#53455, script received at Registration Office Nov. 26, 1937.

Plot: The Arnold and Gordon Corp. handles stock sales for Dr. Adrian, who developed an automobile headlight made with polarized glass. Through misrepresentation, crooked stockbrokers cheat investors, and when Britt Reid learns of it from Adrian, he and Kato set out to make Arnold and Gordon pay back every cent they’ve taken, with interest. The Green Hornet tricks the stockbrokers into buying all the stock they can with their own money, and the next day, they learn of its worthless value. Reid, however, plays the stock accordingly and profits enough to make a substantial contribution to a worthy charity.

 

Episode #186 [NO TITLE LISTED] Broadcast Thursday, November 18, 1937

Copyright Registration D-2-#53456, script received at Registration Office Nov. 26, 1937.

Plot: Politician Max Miller is trying to profit from the state’s new flood control measure, even though the federal government is taking care of the project. Police Chief Higgens is against Miller’s attempts, so Miller goes public against Higgens. Meanwhile, Damon Pitcairn, head of a concrete construction business, who has profited from graft with previous state projects, gets involved because of what Miller has on Pitcairn. When Britt Reid learns of the ruse, by way of Mike Axford’s disappearance, he sets out as The Green Hornet to steal and extort in order to smash Max Miller’s game and save taxpayers money.

 

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.

 

William Moulton Marston and The Secret History of Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman, created in 1941, is the most popular female superhero of all time. Aside from Superman and Batman, no superhero has lasted as long or commanded so vast and wildly passionate a following. Like every other superhero, Wonder Woman has a secret identity. Unlike every other superhero, she also has a secret history. Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore has uncovered an astonishing trove of documents, including the never-before-seen private papers of William Moulton Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman. She published her findings in 2014 in The Secret History of Wonder Woman, a book I highly recommend if you want to gain an appreciation for the fictional crime fighter.

Beginning in his undergraduate years of Harvard, William Moulton Marston was influenced by early suffragists and feminists, starting with Emmeline Pankhurst, who was banned from speaking on campus in 1911, when Marston was a freshman. In the 1920s, Marston and his wife, Sadie Elizabeth Holloway, brought into their home Olive Byrne, the niece of Margaret Sanger, one of the most influential feminists of the twentieth century. When his wife disapproved of Olive's residence in their home, he confessed they were lovers and drew a line in the sand. Ultimately, all three of them lived together under the same roof in extraordinary nonconformity. As an expert on truth, he invented the lie detector test. Do these fact surprise you? 

Cathy Lee Crosby as Wonder Woman

Jill Lepore traveled to numerous depositories, both private and public. From the archives of Columbia University, Mount Holyoke College, the University of Minnesota, Saint Louis University, the Smithsonian, the University of Virginia, and the Library of Congress, among others, the author did the legwork and her finished product is top-notch as a result. While most people in this day and age believe in writing a book based on standard web browsing, in what academics refer to as "cut and paste," Lepore compiled what is the most comprehensive biography of William Moulton Marston, and a deeper understanding of the various elements that make up Wonder Woman. To understand the formation of the character is to understand the creator.

If you want to read the vintage 1944-1945 newspaper strip, which was short-lived, you have a chance to buy a copy of a hardcover compilation here:

http://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Woman-Complete-Newspaper-Comics/dp/1631400282/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458956791&sr=1-1&keywords=wonder+woman+newspaper

One of the more amusing entries in the legend and lore of Wonder Woman is the 1974 made-for-TV movie which is now available commercially on DVD through Warner. A review from Variety magazine is reprinted for your amusement. And they hit the nail right on the head.

The Secret History of Wonder Woman will be consulted in years to come by historians and with the addition of two other books focusing on the comic adventures of the Amazon goddess, make up the essentials for your bookshelves. This is the kind of book that needed the treatment Lepore provided and regardless of the fact that some fans of Wonder Woman may not find this book as entertaining as an encyclopedia documenting every facet of the comic adventures, required a wide distribution from Alfred Knopf. Not only can the untold story be brought to light, but through her efforts the details of Marston and the influence that became Wonder Woman is now preserved.