The Green Hornet (1936-1952) aired “Too Hot to Handle” on Tuesday, November 11, 1947 as its 832nd episode out of over 1,000 (it aired 2 episodes per week off and on over several years, running up the episode count). This is the 11th episode of the show we have showcased since 2011 and the first in almost a year. The Green Hornet was created specifically for radio by producer George Trendle, writer Fran Striker, and director James Jewell (the same team who created The Lone Ranger for radio three years earlier). The first episode of The Green Hornet aired January 31, 1936. The series proved so popular its run lasted sixteen years, with its final episode airing in late 1952. The 1940s saw two movie serials featuring the Green Hornet and his staunch ally Kato (The Green Hornet–1940, and The Green Hornet Strikes Again!–1941), which only served to heighten the popularity of the radio show. Several attempts at Green Hornet movies have been made (most recently in 2011) but none have proved as successful as the radio show (this includes the short-lived Green Hornet TV show from the 1970s, which nevertheless catapulted Bruce Lee to stardom in his role as Kato). Over its long radio run four actors were the voice of Britt Reid/the Green Hornet. From the show’s inception in 1936 through 1943 Al Hodge (1912-1979) was the voice of the Hornet. After his departure there would be three others who became the Green Hornet, the third and with the longest tenure was Jack McCarthy (1911-1977, photo top right) who who would assume the role of radio’s Green Hornet from 1947 until the show’s final episode in 1952.
(Top Left: Green Hornet Comics #37, December 1947)
The Green Hornet’s real identity is Britt Reid, publisher of the Daily Sentinel. During a visit to the Far East, Reid saved Kato’s life. Kato now links his fortune to that of Reid as a faithful companion, driver of the Black Beauty (forerunner of the Batmobile), and all-around aide-de-camp.
In the 1930s America was rife with criminal organizations, and not only they, but the common criminal element led to many a radio show featuring crime fighters of various stripes. Of those shows featuring crime busters with secret identities, or a special ability or power, or who employed scientific or advanced technology to thwart criminals, perhaps the most popular trio was Dick Tracy (1934-48), The Green Hornet (1936-52), and The Shadow (1937-54). To place the popularity of these “special” crime fighter shows (as opposed to straight detective or police programs, of which there were many) in some sort of perspective, the Great Depression lasted from 1929-39. During this difficult time the underworld took advantage of a ruined economy in any way it could, including bootlegging illegal alcohol during the era of Prohibition (1920-33). While this was but one enterprise crime families adopted, their schemes and violence were felt in many areas of public life. Al Capone was probably the most well known crime family boss of the time, but by the time The Green Hornet program hit the airwaves Capone was himself out of the picture, having been sent to a Florida prison in 1931, where he would die eleven years later. But crime and crime families continued without Al Capone. Scams, cons, local crime gangs, and any number of rackets bent on cheating the public or enriching one’s own pockets abounded (as they do today).
“Too Hot to Handle” is arguably the most noteworthy of any of the Green Hornet’s episodes, for it is the one where Britt Reid divulges to his father, Dan Reid, Jr., that he is the Green Hornet. Two episodes previous to this landmark episode (“Exposed” 10-28-47) Linda Travis, Britt’s father’s personal secretary, is sent to spy on Britt to learn why the Daily Sentinel’s circulation had been dropping. She inadvertently learns that Britt is the Green Hornet. In the next episode, the one prior to this current episode (“Graft Crosses a Bridge” 11-4-47), Britt tries to figure out how to deal with his secret identity being exposed, and in this episode he reveals to his father that he is the Green Hornet, whereupon his father, Dan Reid, Jr. (who passed ownership of the paper he founded to Britt), reveals to his son while pointing to a photo of the Lone Ranger hanging on his office wall, that he rode with the masked man back in the day (Dan Jr’s father being one of the 6 Texas Rangers ambushed and, with 5 being killed and the 6th only wounded and becoming the Lone Ranger, Dan Reid Sr’s younger brother John—as The Lone Ranger—then took Dan Jr. in), making the legendary figure in the photo (unspoken but obvious) Britt’s great uncle. This startling revelation takes up the entire first third of the episode, a full 10 minutes. The rest of the story has Britt as the Green Hornet in a solid, intense takedown of a criminal threatening to blackmail the police commissioner, as another chapter is about to be written in the Green Hornet’s never-ending crusade against crime. “Too Hot to Handle” is an iconic episode, making it one of the most memorable in the long history of the Green Hornet’s adventures.
Play Time: 29:28
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