Category Archives: GreenHornet

Newspaper fights exploitation of immigrants

Posted on June 22, 2021 by Bob Stepno

It was 1938 when the Daily Sentinel and publisher Britt Reid — as The Green Hornet — took on a Citizenship-Insurance Racket. https://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/G%20Series/Green%20Hornet,%20The/Green%20Hornet%2038-05-05%20(0234)%20Citizenship-Insurance%20Racket%20(aka-Political%20Racket).mp3 A corrupt ward politician, Joe Desmond, runs the scam, tricking naive immigrants into paying $100 for what … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, crime, editors, GreenHornet, journalism, newspaper crusades, Police, political corruption | 2 Comments

Newspapers, charity and a nose for news

Posted on March 3, 2020 by Bob Stepno

Wealthy owners have long been part of American newspapers, for better or for worse. This Green Hornet episode, Dead Man’s Topcoat, opens with a visitor asking newspaper publisher Britt Reid to write a check for $1,000 because a local charity … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, editors, GreenHornet, reporters, women | Leave a comment

Spring training and the Green Hornet

Posted on April 30, 2018 by Bob Stepno

http://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/G%20Series/Green%20Hornet,%20The/Green%20Hornet%2048-06-01%20(0861)%20The%20Hornet%20Bats%20for%20a%20Pitcher.mp3 Here’s a Green Hornet episode I haven’t written about yet: The 1948 tale’ s title “The Hornet Bats for a Pitcher” sums it up… A pitcher sent back to the minors keeps losing, leading a Daily Sentinel sports reporter … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, GreenHornet, sports | Leave a comment

Press, police & femme fatale

Posted on April 15, 2018 by Bob Stepno

http://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/G%20Series/Green%20Hornet,%20The/Green%20Hornet%2044-01-15%20(0636)%20Lowrey's%20Big%20Moment.mp3 It has been a while since I have written about old-time radio’s portrayal of the relationship between newspaper reporters and police officers. This 1944 Green Hornet episode goes beyond the series’ usual scenes of camaraderie between the cops and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, GreenHornet, reporters | Leave a comment

Radio reporter killed; Hornet on the case

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Bob Stepno

“A Man of Many Words,” July 7, 1946 https://archive.org/download/TheGreenHornet/Thegreenhornet-460706AManOfManyWords.mp3 This unusual 70-year-old episode of The Green Hornet begins with a heroic  (or foolhardy?) journalist defying death threats — but he’s a radio columnist, not one of the series’ usual newspaper … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, GreenHornet, radio | Leave a comment

Classified ads become news

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Bob Stepno

Page one news wasn’t the only part of the newspaper to make it into radio dramas. This story begins in the back pages — the classified ad section. That’s where Lenore Case, secretary to the editor of The Daily Sentinel, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, GreenHornet, newspapers | Leave a comment

Radioplays and women in journalism

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Bob Stepno

Happy International Women’s Day! For some crime-solving by a non-fictional woman journalist, see last year’s International Women’s Day episode of JHeroes. This year, we’ll start with fiction and get back to reality — including women war correspondents —  before the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, 19th century, adaptations, cavalcade, GreenHornet, historical figures, Lois Lane, true stories, women, World War II | Leave a comment

Mike Wallace on radio, from Information Please to the Green Hornet

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Bob Stepno

While this blog usually deals with fictional journalists and the  dramatized lives of historic journalists, today’s news is worth an exception. Legendary television newsman Mike Wallace, who died Saturday at 93, got his broadcasting start in radio, and this may be … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, GreenHornet, historical figures, journalism, radio, reporters | Leave a comment

Something Green for St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Bob Stepno

  The band played an Irish jig  whenever derby-wearing Michael Axford entered the scene in The Green Hornet Strikes Again, the 1941 movie serial closely based on the Green Hornet radio program. Cop-turned-reporter Axford, played by Wade Boteler in the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, GreenHornet, movies, radio, reporters, undercover, women | Leave a comment

Wasp and Hornet — Journalistic Vigilantes

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Bob Stepno

It’s been a year since Seth Rogen’s “Green Hornet” movie did its violence to the legend of the old radio hero by that name, whose newspaperman secret identity might have been portrayed as more of a role model for journalism … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, crime, ethics, GreenHornet, journalism, movies, novels | Leave a comment