What's YOUR Batman/Green Hornet Story?

[GMartin58]

I'd love to hear your Batman/Green Hornet stories! How did you get into this crazy world? Here's mine:

I was like most kids in 1966. I spent most of my days on my bike and reading comics so when Batman hit the air I was all over it. I was not really aware of the Green Hornet at the time and think I only saw one of the original shows. One of my grandparents got me a Green Hornet...something...as a present but I can't remember if it was a toy Black Beauty or what. I was all about Batman! For Christmas of '66 or '67 my aunt made me a Batman outfit and I won first prize in our local parade!

Later years during my radio career I had the opportunity to interview and know most of the shows stars; Adam, Burt, Yvonne and even Egghead himself, Vincent Price! The family was flying back from a funeral and had a layover in Dallas when I noticed Adam on the other side of the room. We had done a radio promotion together so I grabbed my son and headed over to say hello. We chatted and then he turned to the guy next to him and introduced Van Williams! Van and I hit it off and over the next few years did a number of radio interviews.

Now I'm retired but still loving Batman and have over the years discovered a new love for all things Green Hornet! A friend here locally does a really nice '66 Batman cosplay and so I'm putting together a GH outfit so we can hit the local comic store and other events. I have no doubt that I will still be watching and playing when they put me in the ground! "LET'S ROLL, KATO!"

Your turn!

[Scott Sebring]

Very cool!
Love it!

[HFFF1]

For me, I grew up in the 60s and was always fascinated by comics, Superheroes and the like.

When January 1966 came around, I could not wait until 7:30 EST to watch Batman. Then in September 1966, not only was Batman still on TV, but the Green Hornet was on Friday. There was Wednesday and Thursday Batman episodes and the Green Hornet on Friday. What more could you ask for!!!

Fast forward to today. On the wall behind me is a personalized autographed photo of Adam West in costume and a separate personalized autographed photo of Van Williams in costume. I should also mention a non-personalized autographed photo of Burt Ward in costume is also on the wall.

Those were the days indeed....

[AndyFish]

Came to Batman as a fan of the show during 70s reruns, but even as a kid I was picky about villains, and the Green Hornet crossover didn't impress me. My older sister would tell me about the GH show but I never saw it until much later. As a tween I got into old time radio while I would draw and after The Shadow I was a fan of The Green Hornet-- that lead me to the serials and then when I saw the bootleg VHS of GH at a comic con I was impressed with the color and the car, and in my teens I was a fan of Bruce Lee so that brought it back around.

[GMartin58]

...in my teens I was a fan of Bruce Lee so that brought it back around.

I was a huge Bruce Lee fan before he died but it didn't occur to me at the time that he was Kato! When I discovered The Green Hornet and who Kato was...that was just a huge BONUS!

[JimmyVale]

When I was about 10 in 1974, I found this in my stocking:




I was intrigued but the show was long gone and reruns weren’t being played where I lived. I was like, “Hey, what is this? It looks cool!” Mom and dad didn’t know anything about the Batman TV show.

For my birthday a year or so later, I got this:



That music was pretty interesting and I thought it was from the show. If you wanted info on Batman, you had to visit the comic book stand at the grocery store. If you wanted to know about the show - good luck. There was no internet, books on the subject, nothing.

I think the lack of info on those items fueled my fascination with the character. When I finally did see Batman TV series, I was a little disappointed to see it was a comedy. I didn’t like egghead and king tut at the time. It was nothing like the comics of the ‘70s.

I remember asking my parents about The Green Hornet and recall them telling me about the radio show. They also mentioned they listened to The Shadow. I don’t recall seeing much of anything about The Green Hornet back then. I think there was a Green Hornet Halloween costume at the five and dime and that’s why I asked what The Green Hornet was.



I now love the Batman TV show, but that frustrating lack of information about it back then set me off into this insanity!

[GMartin58]

I now love the show, but that frustrating lack of info about it back then set me off into this insanity!

Insanity is right! Great story.

In the mid 70's I was in the car with my mom...probably 14-15 at the time...and I was listening to a local radio station when the announcer said, "Coming up, Batman's Burt Ward and his girlfriend Playmate ---!" I don't remember her name. But I listened intently to the interview. Burt was in the studio with this radio guy and I thought that had to be the coolest job in the world! Fast forward to the end of my radio career a couple years back and one of the very last interviews I did on the radio was with Burt Ward and I told him he was really responsible for me being behind a mic! It was a great way to end a career with the one thing that fueled it all those years ago!

[JimmyVale]

I now love the show, but that frustrating lack of info about it back then set me off into this insanity!

Insanity is right! Great story.

In the mid 70's I was in the car with my mom...probably 14-15 at the time...and I was listening to a local radio station when the announcer said, "Coming up, Batman's Burt Ward and his girlfriend Playmate ---!" I don't remember her name. But I listened intently to the interview. Burt was in the studio with this radio guy and I thought that had to be the coolest job in the world! Fast forward to the end of my radio career a couple years back and one of the very last interviews I did on the radio was with Burt Ward and I told him he was really responsible for me being behind a mic! It was a great way to end a career with the one thing that fueled it all those years ago!

That’s awesome! I just finished a 33 year career in law enforcement (uniformed, investigations, and finally as a supervisor). I forgot about Batman when I was at the beginning of my career but I suspect the desire to catch bad guys and bring them to justice got into my subconscious.

I’m not 100% sure, but I suspect I ended up where I am because of Batman. When you think about that, it’s pretty funny.

[maniac cop 5]

I now love the show, but that frustrating lack of info about it back then set me off into this insanity!

Insanity is right! Great story.

In the mid 70's I was in the car with my mom...probably 14-15 at the time...and I was listening to a local radio station when the announcer said, "Coming up, Batman's Burt Ward and his girlfriend Playmate ---!" I don't remember her name. But I listened intently to the interview. Burt was in the studio with this radio guy and I thought that had to be the coolest job in the world! Fast forward to the end of my radio career a couple years back and one of the very last interviews I did on the radio was with Burt Ward and I told him he was really responsible for me being behind a mic! It was a great way to end a career with the one thing that fueled it all those years ago!

That’s awesome! I just finished a 33 year career in law enforcement (uniformed, investigations, and finally as a supervisor). I forgot about Batman when I was at the beginning of my career but I suspect the desire to catch bad guys and bring them to justice got into my subconscious.

I’m not 100% sure, but I suspect I ended up where I am because of Batman. When you think about that, it’s pretty funny.

Ha! Jimmy i did the same thing. I retired in 2000 with 30 years on the job as a city cop. Same thing, uniformed, investigator, and then supervisor.
I remember as a young boy wanting to be Batman and catch bad guys when i grew up.

[GMartin58]

That’s awesome! I just finished a 33 year career in law enforcement (uniformed, investigations, and finally as a supervisor). I forgot about Batman when I was at the beginning of my career but I suspect the desire to catch bad guys and bring them to justice got into my subconscious.

I’m not 100% sure, but I suspect I ended up where I am because of Batman. When you think about that, it’s pretty funny.

Ha! Jimmy i did the same thing. I retired in 2000 with 30 years on the job as a city cop. Same thing, uniformed, investigator, and then supervisor.
I remember as a young boy wanting to be Batman and catch bad guys when i grew up.

These are fabulous stories, gents! I love hearing what potentially put us on the path we walked. Inspiring.

[JimmyVale]

Maniac Cop 5, I’m glad to hear you made it to retirement and beyond!

As you know, law enforcement can be exciting, dangerous, stressful and at times, sad. Crime, trials, grand jury, criminal activity, people ruining their lives, etc all got a little depressing. I’m glad that phase in my life is over.

I watched the Batman serials with my kids in the mid 2000s and fun stuff like that and it kept things in perspective. We would’ve watched the Batman TV show if it had been available on DVD. Being the upstanding example citizen that I am, I couldn’t bring myself to buy bootlegs of the show back then.

As everybody here already knows, watching Batman, Superman, and The Green Hornet is a nice escape from reality for a while!

[maniac cop 5]

Maniac Cop 5, I’m glad to hear you made it to retirement and beyond!

As you know, law enforcement can be exciting, dangerous, stressful and at times, sad. Crime, trials, grand jury, criminal activity, people ruining their lives, etc all got a little depressing. I’m glad that phase in my life is over.

I watched the Batman serials with my kids in the mid 2000s and fun stuff like that and it kept things in perspective. We would’ve watched the Batman TV show if it had been available on DVD. Being the upstanding example citizen that I am, I couldn’t bring myself to buy bootlegs of the show back then.

As everybody here already knows, watching Batman, Superman, and The Green Hornet is a nice escape from reality for a while!

Same to you Jimmy- glad you made it out ok. I miss the people but not the job.

I like to think Batman, The Green Hornet, and Stan Lee kind of set my moral compass when i was young. Plus a dash of Forest J Ackerman for a little devious fun. Every good investigator has to be a LITTLE devious as you well know. Lol!

And to keep this on topic i watched both shows as a kid and was a big Bruce Lee fan in the 70s which led me to train with 3 of his students and a sideline career as an instructor.
In the 80s i was in an out of town comic store to buy a signed/ numbered copy of The Dark Knight Returns and ran across a Green Hornet large button and flicker disk. That started an obsession with collecting GH that eventually led to my collection being one of the largest at that time and being featured in Model and Toy Collector Magazine. That collection mostly went away with a divorce but ive built up a nice collection of other stuff since then.

Watching the old episodes of both shows brings back simpler, happier times past.

[maniac cop 5]

That’s awesome! I just finished a 33 year career in law enforcement (uniformed, investigations, and finally as a supervisor). I forgot about Batman when I was at the beginning of my career but I suspect the desire to catch bad guys and bring them to justice got into my subconscious.

I’m not 100% sure, but I suspect I ended up where I am because of Batman. When you think about that, it’s pretty funny.

Ha! Jimmy i did the same thing. I retired in 2000 with 30 years on the job as a city cop. Same thing, uniformed, investigator, and then supervisor.
I remember as a young boy wanting to be Batman and catch bad guys when i grew up.

These are fabulous stories, gents! I love hearing what potentially put us on the path we walked. Inspiring.

And to think they once thought comics CAUSED juvenile delinquency!
Who knows what kid reading about Batman today might save someone's life in the future?

[JimmyVale]

“…And to think they once thought comics CAUSED juvenile delinquency!
Who knows what kid reading about Batman today might save someone's life in the future?”

You just struck a nerve!

Those arrogant know-it-all people who said comic books were garbage, bad, stupid, etc. were all DEAD WRONG! I can’t speak with authority about current comics, but the ones from the 1970s and earlier were 100% innocent and positive.

The people who made those statements probably never bothered to actually read one. That guy who wrote “Seduction of the Innocent” was just trying to make a name for himself, no doubt.

Comics were one of the best things that ever happened to me. Reading that stuff increased my vocabulary, big time. I aced the reading / English section my college entrance exam and got credit for the 1st two years of College English, I’m certain, BECAUSE I spent all that time reading comic books! There was advanced sentence structure and advanced vocabulary words in those stories!

The graphic novels of today may not be suitable for kids but the comics from back then surely were AOK!!

Thanks for listening to my rant!

[GMartin58]

I find it really interesting how each one of us has a special attachment to various aspects of The Green Hornet. It's been extra special to rediscover the Hornet again after all these years.