8
THE GREEN HORNET Endpoint Program Guide by Martin Grams, Jr. & Terry Salomonson Jack McCarthy, the fourth and final actor to play the radio role of Britt Reid, alias “The Green Hornet,” was once described by a columnist at the Detroit Free Press as “a versatile actor who deserves the lead for his own radio program but more than likely he will not receive the recognition he deserves.” McCarthy had proven that he could handle the task when he played the title roles in Ned Jordan, Secret Agent and Bob Barclay, American Agent. The actor began his career at radio station WXYZ in the summer of 1939 playing supporting roles on The Lone Ranger and Sergeant Preston. He also served as an announcer and commercial pitchman for a number of radio programs originating from the same station. It was not until early 1947 that George W. Trendle considered the actor for a lead…and then only out of necessity. Relations between Robert Hall (the third actor to play the role of The Green Hornet on the radio) and George W. Trendle were heating up in early 1947, and it was decided that at the end of his contract, the option to renew would not be exercised. Jack McCarthy, who was doubling as a station manager at the time, was approached to play the role of Britt Reid. A revised talent contract was drawn up with an unusual clause stipulating that McCarthy’s date of employment would be based upon the termination of Robert Hall’s employment.

Program Guide by Martin Grams, Jr. & Terry Salomonson

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THE GREEN HORNETEndpoint

Program Guide by Martin Grams, Jr. & Terry Salomonson

Jack McCarthy, the fourth and final actor to play the radio role of Britt Reid, alias “The Green Hornet,” was once described by a columnist at the Detroit Free Press as “a versatile actor who deserves the lead for his own radio program but more than likely he will not receive the recognition he deserves.” McCarthy had proven that he could handle the task when he played the title roles in Ned Jordan, Secret Agent and Bob Barclay, American Agent. The actor began his career at radio station WXYZ in the summer of

1939 playing supporting roles on The Lone Ranger and Sergeant Preston. He also served as an announcer and commercial pitchman for a number of radio programs originating from the same station. It was not until early 1947 that George W. Trendle considered the actor for a lead…and then only out of necessity.

Relations between Robert Hall (the third actor to play the role of The Green Hornet on the radio) and George W. Trendle were heating up in early 1947, and it was decided that at the end of his contract, the option to renew would not be exercised. Jack McCarthy, who was doubling as a station manager at the time, was approached to play the role of Britt Reid. A revised talent contract was drawn up with an unusual clause stipulating that McCarthy’s date of employment would be based upon the termination of Robert Hall’s employment.

CD 10B: Episode #1041 “Axford’s Romantic Disaster” – 12/05/52Mike Axford gets to know Alita Carlisle, and discovers that she is clever, charming…and a spy.

www.RadioSpirits.comPO Box 1315, Little Falls, NJ 07424

THE GREEN HORNET is © 2011 The Green Hornet, Inc. Licensed for home use only. All rights reserved. The Green Hornet, Black Beauty, Kato and the hornet logos are trademarks of The Green Hornet, Inc. www.thegreenhornet.net. Manufactured under exclusive license by Radio Spirits.

Special thanks to Terry Salomonson for providing audiotransfers from the original transcription recordings.

Program Guide © 2011 Martin Grams, Jr. & Terry Salomonson and RSPT LLC.All Rights Reserved.

The Green Hornet (Gordon Jones) and his gas gun in the 1940 film The Green Hornet.

greenhornet_8pg_booklet.indd 1 10/4/11 11:06:29 AM

During his tenure at WXYZ, McCarthy wore many hats. He spent a number of years as a newscaster, and was a script writer (for The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street). His announcing and acting career at the station included Willie Piper (1946-48), Connee Boswell Presents (1944), and Fish Pond (1944). “I emceed the show that had one of the station’s top daytime ratings for years, I’ve Got Your Number,” recalled McCarthy. “I felt that I had accomplished something there that no one else ever had. Later, I moved upward on the management side.”

Variety reviewed McCarthy’s premiere broadcast: “Jack McCarthy, who plays Reid, was ably assisted by the other cast members in an all-around good thesping job. Commercials, aimed at the young listeners, were socked across a bit too often.” The sponsors, naturally, took no heed of the critics.

Beginning November 7, 1951, The Green Hornet had a new sponsor, the Orange Crush Company. Under special arrangement, recordings of previous radio broadcasts from 1946 to 1947 were repeated over the Mutual Broadcasting System with recordings of Orange Crush commercials dropped in for flavor. A new announcer would be needed for the re-recordings, and they wanted Fred Foy, whose voice was synonymous with The Lone Ranger. It was McCarthy, in his position as station manager, who helped secure Fred Foy for the series. Foy was hired as the spokesman for Orange Crush, and remained with the series until the radio program went off the air in December 1952. You will hear him in the 20 episodes in this collector set.

Clayton J. Howell, president and founder of the Orange Crush Company, partnered with California chemist Neil C. Ward in 1916 to incorporate the company. Ward, a beverage and extract chemist, perfected the exclusive formula that yielded the zesty, all-natural orange flavor. Howell was not new to the soft drink business, having earlier introduced to consumers Howell’s Orange Julep. Soft drinks of the time often carried the surname of the inventor along with the product name and, because Howell had already sold the rights to his own name, Ward was given the honors. Crush premiered as “Ward’s Orange Crush.”

2 7

explodes. What do these three things have in common? That’s what The Green Hornet wants to know.

CD 8A: Episode #1036 “The Cigarette Filters” – 11/19/52Lenore Case is struck by a car while crossing the street. Paul Galva, a Communist spy, is concerned enough to get Lenore to the hospital, but his partner is not so pleased with his actions. Lenore’s friendship with Paul leads to the discovery of a plot involving secret plans of sabotage in five key cities.

CD 8B: Episode #1037 “Shipment for Korea” – 11/21/52The Valley Drug Co. has fallen victim to a series of truck hijackings. When Ed Lowry and Clicker Binney do a little investigative journalism, they find more than they bargained for.

CD 9A: Episode #1038 “Gas House Ending” – 11/26/52Because Reid is one of the men who endowed the American Defense Foundation, he feels a personal responsibility for protecting valuable secret defense plans after Doctor Hayward’s experiments prove a success. When Red agents shoot the doctor and steal the plans, Reid has no choice but to put on the mask and seek justice.

CD 9B: Episode #1039 “Murder and Espionage” – 11/28/52The Green Hornet is wanted for murder, the Vanport Anti-Atomic Bomb plans are missing, and communist agents are on the loose!

CD 10A: Episode #1040 “Pretenders to the Throne” – 12/03/52When Tommy Bara is sent to the penitentiary, every thug in town tries to fill the power vacuum. Innocent bystanders are killed in the resulting melee, and The Green Hornet takes action.

The cover of the 1941 book The Green Hornet Returns

Fred Foy

greenhornet_8pg_booklet.indd 2 10/4/11 11:06:29 AM

36

After sponsoring The Green Hornet for 39 weeks, Orange Crush agreed to sponsor the program on a different network: ABC. Trendle, having exhausted the recordings available for re-use, informed the sponsor that new adventures would go into production. This meant a higher cost to the sponsor, because of the necessity of hiring actors, sound effects men, technicians and script writers. The sponsor was not happy with the higher price tag, but agreed to sponsor the program for 13 additional weeks. Beginning with the September 10, 1952, broadcast, a new batch of episodes were broadcast and recorded. They ran twice a week, for a total of 26 broadcasts (known among collectors and fans as “the final 26 episodes”). There had not been a new episode written and recorded since 1947.

The final 26 radio adventures for The Green Hornet were certainly crafted for the times. Rather than combat racketeers, The Green Hornet campaigned against communism and communist sympathizers. Americans felt uneasy with the breaking up of wartime alliances and the start of the Cold War. 1952 was an election year, so crooked politicians were among the Hornet’s combatants. Also notable were his numerous attempts to smash pervasive corruption on the waterfront, most likely because of highly publicized dishonesty at the Port of New York-New Jersey. The New York State Crime Commission, with the assistance of the New Jersey Law Enforcement Council, held public hearings which were well covered by news media eager to expose the problems. The Hornet’s efforts pre-dated the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, begun in August 1953.

Trendle attempted to please the sponsor, justifying the raise in production costs by incorporating the product in the adventures. In more than one episode you will notice a gangster or Sentinel reporter drinking a bottle of orange soda. This early form of product placement was not uncommon among Trendle’s radio productions. However, after the initial 13 weeks, Orange Crush had not been convinced. Exercising a clause in their contract, the soda pop company dropped sponsorship.

Steve McCarthy, a script writer for hire at WXYZ, had already written two additional scripts. Had The Green Hornet series continued, Britt Reid and Kato would have rescued the daughter of a University Professor who was being forced to give up a top secret

CD 5A: Episode #1030 “The Microfilm of Death” – 10/29/52Clicker Binney is assigned to cover a party at a South American embassy being given for a departing diplomat. The diplomat is expected to be carrying secret plans, but the search for the valuable microfilm leads to The Daily Sentinel. The Green Hornet and Kato help rescue Binney, smash a Communist spy ring, and assist with the safe recovery of the microfilm. This episode is actually a rewrite of “A Touch of Powder” (November 7, 1943). In the original episode, the threat came from German Agents instead of Communist spies.

CD 5B: Episode #1031 “The Hawkridge Gems” – 10/31/52The owner of a swank nightclub slips a well-to-do customer a mickey so she’ll reveal information about her valuables. The cigarette girl learns that the woman has diamonds in her hotel room, which promptly go missing!

CD 6A: Episode #1032 “A Friday Night in the Mountains” – 11/05/52En route to his mountain lodge, Britt pays Professor Mannheim a visit. When two suspicious men, claiming to be security agents, answer the door, a visit from The Green Hornet is in order!

CD 6B: Episode #1033 “The Simple Clue” – 11/07/52The Green Hornet investigates a murder on a train, a doctor, a mysterious notebook, and a plot to launch missiles at vulnerable sections of the east coast.

CD 7A: Episode #1034 “The Triple-Cross” – 11/12/52Tommy Bara, king of the racketeers, is released from Leavenworth. He is soon gunned down, but remains silent about who shot him…even after he comes out of his coma.

CD 7B: Episode #1035 “Ceiling on Crime” – 11/14/52A batch of home-distilled rot gut is being sold to unsuspecting customers. A crooked businessman is unfairly raising the rent on his apartments. A building

greenhornet_8pg_booklet.indd 3 10/4/11 11:06:29 AM

54

formula for the U.S. Government, and Britt Reid would have convinced his good friend Commissioner Higgins that prominent members of society were actually Communist agents smuggling the blueprints of an airplane factory. It was clear which direction The Green Hornet radio program intended to go.

Years after the conclusion of The Green Hornet productions, Jack McCarthy and George Trendle remained in steady contact. McCarthy moved to New York, where opportunities to work in radio were far greater than in Michigan. “Soon after I arrived I did a few commercial recordings for Ross Roy; then did a part on Crime Photographer on CBS,” he remarked in 1954. “The third week I was cast for a six-week sequence on Captain Video — mostly I think because of the wonderful helpfulness of Al Hodge. During this period I won an audition for Con Edison; they were looking for a man to do two newscasts on Channel 11 on Sunday evenings. On top of this, WPIX offered me a staff announcer’s job during the vacation period. This enabled me to bring the family over the first of June.” The Con Edison news deal was a contract granting McCarthy a year’s employment. In August 1954, McCarthy worked in a movie at Fox Studios for Calvert Distillery and, comparing the payment with his employment at WXYZ, made more money in two days, “than I ever did before in my life.” During the last week in August he did nine newscasts as a substitute on WOR-TV.

McCarthy did not like working freelance, but he knew that it was better than nothing, and he kept busy throughout the 1950’s. McCarthy was in line to play the role of Britt Reid in the 1952 unaired television pilot, produced by George W. Trendle, but budget concerns prevented the radio actor from making a trip to California for the chance to play the lead. In 1976, Jack McCarthy was a guest at the first annual Friends of Old-Time Radio Convention. There, he greeted fans, signed autographs and posed for photos. This marked his one and only appearance at a fan festival, as he died shortly thereafter.

This 10 disc collector set presents the final 20 radio broadcasts of The Green Hornet.

CD 1A: Episode #1022 “Political Cross-Fire” – 10/01/52Britt and Kato uncover a plot to discredit a mayoral candidate. The climactic scene takes place at a radio station!

CD 1B: Episode #1023 “The Spy Master” – 10/03/52Two men are shot dead right inside The Daily Sentinel building. An investigation leads to the discovery of scientists, suicide, and spies!

CD 2A: Episode #1024 “The Changing Alibi” – 10/08/52A waterfront racketeer commits murder…twice…but always seems to have an alibi.

CD 2B: Episode #1025 “Keys to a Robbery” – 10/10/52Lenore Case’s pleasure trip to the small seaside town of Cardenas turns into a full blown gangland mystery. The Green Hornet uses gas bombs, in addition to his gas gun.

CD 3A: Episode #1026 “Election Boomerang” – 10/15/52Britt Reid goes up against political czar Craig Redland, who arranges for a number of crude tactics…including the shooting of a police officer. Kato and Reid work out a clever plot to eliminate the crooked politician, and Reid proves there is no reason to don the guise of The Green Hornet every time a crooked politician interferes with American Democracy.

CD 3B: Episode #1027 “The Proof of Treason” – 10/17/52Professor Henry Baldwin is exploring the commercial use of atomic energy. He won’t share his discoveries with the communists, a decision that earns him a grenade attack...right in his own living room!

CD 4A: Episode #1028 “Jeff Warren’s Safe” – 10/22/52Jeff Warren fires one of his thugs…a thug who then gets the big idea to turn the boss over to the police and then take over the business. But, he won’t be able to prove a thing unless he can get the documents inside of Warren’s safe.

CD 4B: Episode #1029 “Unknown Assassin” – 10/24/52When an agent for the FBI is murdered, The Green Hornet and Kato set out to bust up the spy ring responsible.

The Green Hornet and Kato from 1939

greenhornet_8pg_booklet.indd 4 10/4/11 11:06:30 AM

54

formula for the U.S. Government, and Britt Reid would have convinced his good friend Commissioner Higgins that prominent members of society were actually Communist agents smuggling the blueprints of an airplane factory. It was clear which direction The Green Hornet radio program intended to go.

Years after the conclusion of The Green Hornet productions, Jack McCarthy and George Trendle remained in steady contact. McCarthy moved to New York, where opportunities to work in radio were far greater than in Michigan. “Soon after I arrived I did a few commercial recordings for Ross Roy; then did a part on Crime Photographer on CBS,” he remarked in 1954. “The third week I was cast for a six-week sequence on Captain Video — mostly I think because of the wonderful helpfulness of Al Hodge. During this period I won an audition for Con Edison; they were looking for a man to do two newscasts on Channel 11 on Sunday evenings. On top of this, WPIX offered me a staff announcer’s job during the vacation period. This enabled me to bring the family over the first of June.” The Con Edison news deal was a contract granting McCarthy a year’s employment. In August 1954, McCarthy worked in a movie at Fox Studios for Calvert Distillery and, comparing the payment with his employment at WXYZ, made more money in two days, “than I ever did before in my life.” During the last week in August he did nine newscasts as a substitute on WOR-TV.

McCarthy did not like working freelance, but he knew that it was better than nothing, and he kept busy throughout the 1950’s. McCarthy was in line to play the role of Britt Reid in the 1952 unaired television pilot, produced by George W. Trendle, but budget concerns prevented the radio actor from making a trip to California for the chance to play the lead. In 1976, Jack McCarthy was a guest at the first annual Friends of Old-Time Radio Convention. There, he greeted fans, signed autographs and posed for photos. This marked his one and only appearance at a fan festival, as he died shortly thereafter.

This 10 disc collector set presents the final 20 radio broadcasts of The Green Hornet.

CD 1A: Episode #1022 “Political Cross-Fire” – 10/01/52Britt and Kato uncover a plot to discredit a mayoral candidate. The climactic scene takes place at a radio station!

CD 1B: Episode #1023 “The Spy Master” – 10/03/52Two men are shot dead right inside The Daily Sentinel building. An investigation leads to the discovery of scientists, suicide, and spies!

CD 2A: Episode #1024 “The Changing Alibi” – 10/08/52A waterfront racketeer commits murder…twice…but always seems to have an alibi.

CD 2B: Episode #1025 “Keys to a Robbery” – 10/10/52Lenore Case’s pleasure trip to the small seaside town of Cardenas turns into a full blown gangland mystery. The Green Hornet uses gas bombs, in addition to his gas gun.

CD 3A: Episode #1026 “Election Boomerang” – 10/15/52Britt Reid goes up against political czar Craig Redland, who arranges for a number of crude tactics…including the shooting of a police officer. Kato and Reid work out a clever plot to eliminate the crooked politician, and Reid proves there is no reason to don the guise of The Green Hornet every time a crooked politician interferes with American Democracy.

CD 3B: Episode #1027 “The Proof of Treason” – 10/17/52Professor Henry Baldwin is exploring the commercial use of atomic energy. He won’t share his discoveries with the communists, a decision that earns him a grenade attack...right in his own living room!

CD 4A: Episode #1028 “Jeff Warren’s Safe” – 10/22/52Jeff Warren fires one of his thugs…a thug who then gets the big idea to turn the boss over to the police and then take over the business. But, he won’t be able to prove a thing unless he can get the documents inside of Warren’s safe.

CD 4B: Episode #1029 “Unknown Assassin” – 10/24/52When an agent for the FBI is murdered, The Green Hornet and Kato set out to bust up the spy ring responsible.

The Green Hornet and Kato from 1939

greenhornet_8pg_booklet.indd 4 10/4/11 11:06:30 AM

36

After sponsoring The Green Hornet for 39 weeks, Orange Crush agreed to sponsor the program on a different network: ABC. Trendle, having exhausted the recordings available for re-use, informed the sponsor that new adventures would go into production. This meant a higher cost to the sponsor, because of the necessity of hiring actors, sound effects men, technicians and script writers. The sponsor was not happy with the higher price tag, but agreed to sponsor the program for 13 additional weeks. Beginning with the September 10, 1952, broadcast, a new batch of episodes were broadcast and recorded. They ran twice a week, for a total of 26 broadcasts (known among collectors and fans as “the final 26 episodes”). There had not been a new episode written and recorded since 1947.

The final 26 radio adventures for The Green Hornet were certainly crafted for the times. Rather than combat racketeers, The Green Hornet campaigned against communism and communist sympathizers. Americans felt uneasy with the breaking up of wartime alliances and the start of the Cold War. 1952 was an election year, so crooked politicians were among the Hornet’s combatants. Also notable were his numerous attempts to smash pervasive corruption on the waterfront, most likely because of highly publicized dishonesty at the Port of New York-New Jersey. The New York State Crime Commission, with the assistance of the New Jersey Law Enforcement Council, held public hearings which were well covered by news media eager to expose the problems. The Hornet’s efforts pre-dated the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, begun in August 1953.

Trendle attempted to please the sponsor, justifying the raise in production costs by incorporating the product in the adventures. In more than one episode you will notice a gangster or Sentinel reporter drinking a bottle of orange soda. This early form of product placement was not uncommon among Trendle’s radio productions. However, after the initial 13 weeks, Orange Crush had not been convinced. Exercising a clause in their contract, the soda pop company dropped sponsorship.

Steve McCarthy, a script writer for hire at WXYZ, had already written two additional scripts. Had The Green Hornet series continued, Britt Reid and Kato would have rescued the daughter of a University Professor who was being forced to give up a top secret

CD 5A: Episode #1030 “The Microfilm of Death” – 10/29/52Clicker Binney is assigned to cover a party at a South American embassy being given for a departing diplomat. The diplomat is expected to be carrying secret plans, but the search for the valuable microfilm leads to The Daily Sentinel. The Green Hornet and Kato help rescue Binney, smash a Communist spy ring, and assist with the safe recovery of the microfilm. This episode is actually a rewrite of “A Touch of Powder” (November 7, 1943). In the original episode, the threat came from German Agents instead of Communist spies.

CD 5B: Episode #1031 “The Hawkridge Gems” – 10/31/52The owner of a swank nightclub slips a well-to-do customer a mickey so she’ll reveal information about her valuables. The cigarette girl learns that the woman has diamonds in her hotel room, which promptly go missing!

CD 6A: Episode #1032 “A Friday Night in the Mountains” – 11/05/52En route to his mountain lodge, Britt pays Professor Mannheim a visit. When two suspicious men, claiming to be security agents, answer the door, a visit from The Green Hornet is in order!

CD 6B: Episode #1033 “The Simple Clue” – 11/07/52The Green Hornet investigates a murder on a train, a doctor, a mysterious notebook, and a plot to launch missiles at vulnerable sections of the east coast.

CD 7A: Episode #1034 “The Triple-Cross” – 11/12/52Tommy Bara, king of the racketeers, is released from Leavenworth. He is soon gunned down, but remains silent about who shot him…even after he comes out of his coma.

CD 7B: Episode #1035 “Ceiling on Crime” – 11/14/52A batch of home-distilled rot gut is being sold to unsuspecting customers. A crooked businessman is unfairly raising the rent on his apartments. A building

greenhornet_8pg_booklet.indd 3 10/4/11 11:06:29 AM

During his tenure at WXYZ, McCarthy wore many hats. He spent a number of years as a newscaster, and was a script writer (for The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street). His announcing and acting career at the station included Willie Piper (1946-48), Connee Boswell Presents (1944), and Fish Pond (1944). “I emceed the show that had one of the station’s top daytime ratings for years, I’ve Got Your Number,” recalled McCarthy. “I felt that I had accomplished something there that no one else ever had. Later, I moved upward on the management side.”

Variety reviewed McCarthy’s premiere broadcast: “Jack McCarthy, who plays Reid, was ably assisted by the other cast members in an all-around good thesping job. Commercials, aimed at the young listeners, were socked across a bit too often.” The sponsors, naturally, took no heed of the critics.

Beginning November 7, 1951, The Green Hornet had a new sponsor, the Orange Crush Company. Under special arrangement, recordings of previous radio broadcasts from 1946 to 1947 were repeated over the Mutual Broadcasting System with recordings of Orange Crush commercials dropped in for flavor. A new announcer would be needed for the re-recordings, and they wanted Fred Foy, whose voice was synonymous with The Lone Ranger. It was McCarthy, in his position as station manager, who helped secure Fred Foy for the series. Foy was hired as the spokesman for Orange Crush, and remained with the series until the radio program went off the air in December 1952. You will hear him in the 20 episodes in this collector set.

Clayton J. Howell, president and founder of the Orange Crush Company, partnered with California chemist Neil C. Ward in 1916 to incorporate the company. Ward, a beverage and extract chemist, perfected the exclusive formula that yielded the zesty, all-natural orange flavor. Howell was not new to the soft drink business, having earlier introduced to consumers Howell’s Orange Julep. Soft drinks of the time often carried the surname of the inventor along with the product name and, because Howell had already sold the rights to his own name, Ward was given the honors. Crush premiered as “Ward’s Orange Crush.”

2 7

explodes. What do these three things have in common? That’s what The Green Hornet wants to know.

CD 8A: Episode #1036 “The Cigarette Filters” – 11/19/52Lenore Case is struck by a car while crossing the street. Paul Galva, a Communist spy, is concerned enough to get Lenore to the hospital, but his partner is not so pleased with his actions. Lenore’s friendship with Paul leads to the discovery of a plot involving secret plans of sabotage in five key cities.

CD 8B: Episode #1037 “Shipment for Korea” – 11/21/52The Valley Drug Co. has fallen victim to a series of truck hijackings. When Ed Lowry and Clicker Binney do a little investigative journalism, they find more than they bargained for.

CD 9A: Episode #1038 “Gas House Ending” – 11/26/52Because Reid is one of the men who endowed the American Defense Foundation, he feels a personal responsibility for protecting valuable secret defense plans after Doctor Hayward’s experiments prove a success. When Red agents shoot the doctor and steal the plans, Reid has no choice but to put on the mask and seek justice.

CD 9B: Episode #1039 “Murder and Espionage” – 11/28/52The Green Hornet is wanted for murder, the Vanport Anti-Atomic Bomb plans are missing, and communist agents are on the loose!

CD 10A: Episode #1040 “Pretenders to the Throne” – 12/03/52When Tommy Bara is sent to the penitentiary, every thug in town tries to fill the power vacuum. Innocent bystanders are killed in the resulting melee, and The Green Hornet takes action.

The cover of the 1941 book The Green Hornet Returns

Fred Foy

greenhornet_8pg_booklet.indd 2 10/4/11 11:06:29 AM

THE GREEN HORNETEndpoint

Program Guide by Martin Grams, Jr. & Terry Salomonson

Jack McCarthy, the fourth and final actor to play the radio role of Britt Reid, alias “The Green Hornet,” was once described by a columnist at the Detroit Free Press as “a versatile actor who deserves the lead for his own radio program but more than likely he will not receive the recognition he deserves.” McCarthy had proven that he could handle the task when he played the title roles in Ned Jordan, Secret Agent and Bob Barclay, American Agent. The actor began his career at radio station WXYZ in the summer of

1939 playing supporting roles on The Lone Ranger and Sergeant Preston. He also served as an announcer and commercial pitchman for a number of radio programs originating from the same station. It was not until early 1947 that George W. Trendle considered the actor for a lead…and then only out of necessity.

Relations between Robert Hall (the third actor to play the role of The Green Hornet on the radio) and George W. Trendle were heating up in early 1947, and it was decided that at the end of his contract, the option to renew would not be exercised. Jack McCarthy, who was doubling as a station manager at the time, was approached to play the role of Britt Reid. A revised talent contract was drawn up with an unusual clause stipulating that McCarthy’s date of employment would be based upon the termination of Robert Hall’s employment.

CD 10B: Episode #1041 “Axford’s Romantic Disaster” – 12/05/52Mike Axford gets to know Alita Carlisle, and discovers that she is clever, charming…and a spy.

www.RadioSpirits.comPO Box 1315, Little Falls, NJ 07424

THE GREEN HORNET is © 2011 The Green Hornet, Inc. Licensed for home use only. All rights reserved. The Green Hornet, Black Beauty, Kato and the hornet logos are trademarks of The Green Hornet, Inc. www.thegreenhornet.net. Manufactured under exclusive license by Radio Spirits.

Special thanks to Terry Salomonson for providing audiotransfers from the original transcription recordings.

Program Guide © 2011 Martin Grams, Jr. & Terry Salomonson and RSPT LLC.All Rights Reserved.

The Green Hornet (Gordon Jones) and his gas gun in the 1940 film The Green Hornet.

greenhornet_8pg_booklet.indd 1 10/4/11 11:06:29 AM