A couple of years ago, we located a test episode for The Green Hornet, in which the only series regular to appear was Bruce Lee.
Following is the first version of this test episode. Lee and guest Jeff Corey are present. Lynn Borden (Hazel) plays Lenore Case. Lloyd Gough is on board as reporter Mike Axford. Michael Lipton is Britt Reid/Green Hornet.
As with Jay Murray, who was in the other test video, Lipton never landed a starring gig. Producer William Dozier finally settled on Van Williams for the title role, with Wende Wagner as Lenore Case.
Rating: B.
6 comments:
Fascinating! I never knew this existed!
I can see why the actors were swapped out for Britt Reid and Lenore Case. Lynn Borden was a serviceable actress but Lenore's character really didn't stand out the way it did with Wende Wagner. Van Williams was cuter, and seemed to have a stronger dramatic hold of Britt/Green Hornet.
Are you aware there are parties trying to get a revived GH series (or film reboot) off the ground? If you are interested, there is a fan film made by Ape Prime Productions. It's on YT here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2Y8YFBdNzc
A French fan created another one which is very close to the 60s version of the character:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6baKbRQrt4&t=101s
Both beat out that Seth Rogan disaster by a mile!! It only goes to show who SHOULD be running Hollywood!!
I'll have to take a look at those videos sometime. Pray that a GH reboot doesn't end up at soap-crazy CW......
Belatedly:
I've recently acquired a couple of big books about The Green Hornet in all its media incarnations.
Both books have extensive documentation of the TV production, and in particular how William Dozier tried from the beginning to get ABC to do Hornet as an hour-long series - preferably in a later time slot.
Dozier felt that longer, more serious stories would be a better strategy for the less fantasticated Hornet - note that the series did three two-part episodes during its run.
One of the books, by Martin Grams, includes as an appendix a memo Bill Dozier wrote to the ABC brass, setting out in detail why Green Hornet would work better as an hour show, later in the evening (the network was on the fence about renewal at the time).
You ought to read it sometime …
I will if I can find it. What's the name of Grams' book, Mike?
The Green Hornet: A History Of Radio, Motion Pictures, Comics, And Television, by Martin Grams and Terry Salomonson, published in 2010 by OTR Publishing LLC.
I got mine at Amazon; you can probably get it there now (it's kind of pricey, but worth it).
You might also want to check out "Let's Roll, Kato!": A Guide To TV's The Green Hornet, by Billie Rae Bates, self-published in 2017; even more details about the TV production, with special reference to the input of Hornet creator George Trendle.
(Also available at Amazon, also pricey.)
Between these two books, every question you might ever have about The Green Hornet TV series should be answered.
I wonder if Barnes & Noble might have them......
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