A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

(This post is a part of the 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon, hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts)

The 1940s saw a number of supernatural fantasy films on both sides of the Pond. From Hollywood emerged such movies as Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), I Married a Witch (1942), It's a Wonderful Life (1946). The British film industry produced such films as The Ghost Train (1941), Blithe Spirit (1945), and Miranda (1948). Arguably, the greatest British supernatural fantasy of the 1940s was A Matter of Life and Death (1946). The movie was produced, written, and directed by The Archers, a film-making partnership consisting of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It counted among the best movies The Archers ever made, and they made some of the greatest movies of all time.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) centres on RAF Squadron Leader Peter David Carter (David Niven), who miraculously survives after parachuting out of his damaged Lancaster bomber over the English Channel. As it turns out, Peter was supposed to die, but survived when his guide to the afterlife, Conductor 71 (Marius Goring) failed to find him in the dense fog. By the time Conductor 71 does make contact with Peter, he has already met and is in the process of falling in love with June (Kim Hunter), a United States Army Air Forces radio operator stationed in England. Fortunately, Conductor 71 tells Peter than he had been granted an appeal. If he can prove his case before a Heavenly court, he will be allowed to return to life.

The origins of A Matter of Life and Death (1946) emerged from World War II. After being united for much of the war, friction began to reemerge between the United Kingdom and the United States late in the war. Jack Beddington, head of the British Ministry of Information’s film commission, then approached The Archers about making a film that would address this friction. Fortunately, for movie lovers everywhere, the Archers agreed to do so. To a degree, A Matter of Life and Death (1946) had some basis in a true story. On March 24, 1944, RAF tail gunner Nicholas Alkemade bailed out of his failing Lancaster bomber from 18,000 feet without a parachute and miraculously survived. Another source of inspiration was the 1938 book Journey Around My Skull by Frigyes Karinthy, which chronicled his experience with a non-cancerous brain tumour and the surgery to remove it. To this mix, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger added a plot involving a romance between a British serviceman and an American, and the plot involving the Heavenly court.

From the beginning, The Archers wanted David Niven to play Peter. This would not set well with actor Marius Goring. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger offered him the role of Conductor 71, but he wanted to play Peter instead. Messrs. Powell and Pressburger solved the problem by telling Mr. Goring that if he turned down the role of Conductor 71, it would go to Peter Ustinov instead. For the role of June, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger had no particular actress in mind, beyond the fact that they wanted an American. They went to Hollywood with the goal of casting the role of June, and even considered Betty Field, who turned out to be in a play on Broadway. It was Alfred Hitchcock who suggested Kim Hunter. Mr. Hitchcock had used Miss Hunter to read lines off-camera for Ingrid Bergman's screen test for Spellbound (1945). 

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) was filmed at D&P Studios and Denham Studios in Denham, Buckinghamshire.The scene on the beach in which Peter meets June after he bailed out of his plane was filmed at  Saunton Sands in Devon. The village seen through the camera obscura belonging to Dr. Reeves (Roger Livesey) was Middle Street in Shere, Surrey. The film was shot from September 2, 1945, to December 2, 1945. 

Pre-production on A Matter of Life and Death (1946) would be both long and complicated.  Much of this was due to the construction of the escalator (nicknamed "Ethel") that connects Earth to Heaven above. The escalator was built under the supervision of the London Passenger Transport Board. It took three months to build  £3,000 to build (that's £116,226.85 today). Ethel was massive. It had 106 steps, each of which was 20 feet wide. To power Ethel, it took a 12 horsepower engine. Over the years, film trivia sites and accounts of the production have claimed that Ethel was so noisy that all dialogue had to be dubbed in post-production. This seems unlikely given cinematographer Jack Cardiff has said that the escalator was completely silent.

With regards to the photography in A Matter of Life and Death (1946), it can be considered the reverse of The Wizard of Oz (1939). The scenes in Heaven were in black-and-white, while the scenes on Earth were in colour. One might think the scenes in Heaven were shot in black-and-white, but in truth they were shot in three-strip Technicolor. When the scenes were printed, color simply was not added.  As a result, the scenes in Heaven look different from most black-and-white movies of the time. In the credits, the process is referred to as ""Colour and Dye-Monochrome Processed in Technicolor." 

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) would be historic as the first film chosen for the Royal Film Performance. This occurred on November 1, 1946, at the Empire Theatre in London. It went into wide release in the United Kingdom on December 15, 1946. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) opened under the title Stairway to Heaven in New York City on Christmas Day, December 25, 1946. The title was changed for American audiences because of Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin, who were marketing the movie in the US. They argued that films with "death" in the title had never done well at the American box office. Emeric Pressburger pointed out the obvious example of Death Takes a Holiday (191934), but Messrs. Krim and Benjamin argued it only did well because Death was on holiday and hence there would be no death in the movie. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) did very well at the box office in the United Kingdom. In North America, it made $1.75 million, a respectable amount for the era.

While the public clearly loved A Matter of Life and Death (1946), critics in 1946 did not quite know what to make of the movie.  E.W. and M.M. Robson thought with A Matter of Life and Death (1946), The Archers  intended to "bash the British in the sight of our Allies." A critic in The Observer was puzzled by the film's tone, writing that it "leaves us in grave doubts whether it is intended to be serious or gay." American critics were much more receptive of the movie. Surprisingly, Bosley Crowther of The New York Times gave A Matter of Life and Death (or Stairway of Heaven, as it was called in the United States) a positive review. He wrote in his review, "And if you will listen now to this reviewer you will hear that the delicate charm, the adult humor and visual virtuosity of this Michael Powell—Emeric Pressburger film render it indisputably the best of a batch of Christmas shows."

Of course, now A Matter of Life and Death (1946) is not only regarded as one of the best supernatural fantasies of the 1940s on both sides of the Atlantic, but one of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's best films. Indeed, A Matter of Life and Death (1946) is an extraordinarily sophisticated film. The "other world" in the film is never referred to as Heaven, although there are several clues that it could be, including a brief scene of individuals being measured for angel wings. It is also unclear whether Carter's visit to a another world and the celestial court are real or simply hallucinations produced by his damaged brain. There are things in the plot of the film that can support both ideas. This sets A Matter of Life and Death (1946) apart from other films of the era, such as It's a Wonderful Life (1946), in which the events in the movie are undeniably real.

While the movie has an impeccable script, in addition to the direction of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and the cinematography of Jack Cardiff, it would not have succeeded without David Niven, Kim Hunter, and the rest of the cast. There isn't one bad performance in the entire film.

British critics were a bit baffled and even offended by A Matter of Life and Death (1946) upon its release, although it proved to be a favourite with audiences on both sides of the Pond. If there is a reason for its success, beyond the fact that it is a very sophisticated movie, it's that it is a film that insists, to paraphrase Song of Solomon 8:6, love is stronger than death. For those who have lost someone or very nearly lost someone, this is a powerful message and one that is full of hope. While there I have no doubt it had an impact on those who had lost loved ones during World War II, it still has an impact to this day.

The 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon

The 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon is Here! While many think of Hollywood when they think of movies, the fact is that many classic films originated in the United Kingdom. From the Gainsborough melodramas to the Ealing comedies to the Hammer Horrors, the United Kingdom has made many contributions to classic film. The Rule, Britannia Blogathon will run from Friday, September 18 to Sunday, September 20 2026.

Without further ado, here are this year's entries

Realweeegiemidget  Reviews: "FILMS… Revisiting Richard O’Sullivan, as a Hip Young Thing in an Early British Slasher Movie" 
Realweeegiemidget  Reviews:  "FILMS… Soft Top, Hard Shoulder (1993)"

Silver Screenings: "Monday at the Theatre: Curtain Up (1952)" 

Smoke in the Library: "Villain"

Films from Beyond the Time Barrier: "What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Four Sided Triangle"

Diary of a Movie Maniac: "If... (1968)"

Crítica Retrô: "Um Gosto de Mel (1961)/A Taste of Honey"

johnrieber: "O Lucky Man! Malcolm McDowell’s “Seinfeld” Connection!!"

Liberal England: "Sammy Going South, Suez and the end of the British Empire" 

A Shroud of Thoughts: "A Matter of Life and Death (1946)"

Moon in Gemini: "The 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon: Waking Ned Devine (1998)"

The Spirochaete Trail: "Kill List (aka There's A Bigger Picture In The Business World)"

Godspeed Leslie Parrish

Leslie Parrish, who appeared in the movies Li'l Abner (1959) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and guest starred on shows from 77 Sunset Strip to Star Trek, died on November 14, 2025 at the age of 90. Her death was not made public until late August.

Leslie Parrish was born Marjorie Hellen in Melrose, Massachusetts on March 18, 1935. She grew up in Black Eddy, Pennsylvania. She studied piano when she was very young and studied piano and composition at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music when in her early teens. She was 19 when she became a model with the Conover Agency in New York City, primarily to earn money to continue her education at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. She was "Miss Colour-TV" for NBC, who used her to check skin tones for their colour broadcasts. It was not long before she was signed to Twentieth Century Fox.

At Twentieth Century Fox, she appeared in the movies A Man Called Peter (1955), Daddy Long Legs (1955), The Virgin Queen (1955), How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955), The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955), and The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (1956). She signed with MGM in 1956 and for the remainder of the 1950s she appeared in such movies as The Power and the Prize (1956), The Opposite Sex (1956), Hot Summer Night (1957), Man on Fire (1957), Missile to the Moon (1958), Tank Battalion (1959), and Li'l Abner (1959). She made her television debut in 1959 in an episode of Steve Canyon. In the Fifties, she guest starred on the shows 77 Sunset Strip; The Rough Riders; Bold Venture; Tightrope; The Aquanauts; The Roaring 20s; Bat Masterson; Hawaiian Eye; The Red Skelton Show; Perry Mason and Michael Shayne.

In the Sixties, Leslie Parrish's career shifted largely to television. She guest starred on the shows Acapulco; Hot Off the Wire;77 Sunset Strip; Bringing Up Buddy; Follow the Sun; Surfside 6; Perry Mason; Bachelor Father; The Red Skelton Show; Hawaiian Eye; Alcoa Premiere; Channing; The Lieutenant; Kraft Suspense Theatre; Kentucky Jones; The Reporter; My Three Sons; The Wild Wild West; Tarzan; Batman; Star Trek; Good Morning, World; The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; Insight; Iron Horse; The Big Valley; My Friend Tony; Family Affair; Petticoat Junction; To Rome with Love; Love, American Style; and Mannix. She appeared in the movies Portrait of a Mobster (1961), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), For Love or Money (1963), Sex and the Single Girl (1964), Three on a Couch (1966), The Money Jungle (1967), The Candy Man (1969), The Devil's 8 (1969), and Brother, Cry for Me (1970).

In the Seventies, she guest starred on Love, American Style; Hogan's Heores; Bearcats!; Marcus Welby, M.D.; Cade's County; O'Hara. United States Treasury; Adam-12;The Magician; McCloud; Logan's Run; and Police Story. She appeared in the movies The Giant Spider Invasion (1975), Crash! (1976), and The Astral Factor (1979). After the Seventies, Leslie Parrish retired from acting to focus on social activism and environmental causes.

Leslie Parrish was certainly lovely, which explains why she was so much in demand as a love interest in movies and TV shows, but her presence on film and television went well beyond merely being ornamental. Leslie Parrish had real talent and could play a variety of roles. She may be best remembered as Daisy Mae, who was hopelessly in love with Abner in L'il Abner, and the sweet, but ill-fated Jocelyn Jordan in The Manchurian Candidate, but she could play roles well-removed from those. In the Batman episode "Ice Spy"/"The Duo Defy," she played the glamorous, slightly narcissistic ice skater Glacia Glaze, who was working hand in hand with Mr. Freeze (Eli Wallach). In the Star Trek episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?,' she played archaeologist and anthropologist Lt. Carolyn Palomas, who becomes the focus of the god Apollo's attentions. In the Wild Wild West episode "The Night of the Flying pie plate she played the leader of a trio of female con artists claiming to be from Venus. In Three on a Couch, she played Southern belle Mary Lou Mauve, one of three women dated by Christopher Pride (Jerry Lewis). Leslie Parrish was a remarkable actress with a great deal of talent, who also accomplished a lot with regards to various social and political causes.

Thoughts on the 60th Anniversary of The Monkees

Sixty years ago today, on September 12, 1966, The Monkees debuted on NBC. The Monkees would go onto become a cultural phenomenon, resulting in a highly successful recording career, a movie, and two television specials. It has also been my favourite sitcom since childhood. The Monkees also remain my favourite American band of all time. I already wrote an extensive post on the occasion of The Monkees' 50th anniversary, so today I will simply write my personal remembrance of both the show and the band.

The earliest I can remember watching The Monkees is when reruns of the show joined CBS's Saturday morning line-up in 1969. That having been said, I remember being excited when I saw the ads announcing The Monkees was coming to CBS, so I must have been aware of the show or the band before then. Given my age, it's possible I may have seen at least part of the original primetime run of The Monkees on NBC. I had certainly heard The Monkees by that time. My much older sister owned their albums and they were constantly played on the radio in thee mid to late Sixties. 

Regardless, I became hooked on the TV show when it was rerun on Saturday afternoons on CBS. According to my siblings, I could not be moved from the TV set and would throw a tantrum if my parents insisted that I did. I played my older sister's records and even cut the 33 1/3 records off Post Cereal boxes that came out in 1970. In 1972, The Monkees moved to ABC, although it was regularly preempted by sporting events, which did not make me happy.

The Monkees entered syndication in 1975, although I would not get to see it regularly. None of the stations carried it in the Columbia/Jefferson City market, and our reception of the St. Louis stations could be hit and miss. I wouldn't get to see it again until February 23, 1986 when MTV showed a marathon of The Monkees. A lot of times we learn that things we enjoyed as children really weren't that good, but that was not the case with The Monkees. I loved it as much in my early twenties as I did when I was five years old. The marathon was such a success that it sparked renewed interest in The Monkees. MTV began airing it daily and Nick-At-Nite also picked it up. Local stations began airing The Monkees again. I was able to watch it on KPLR out of St. Louis.

Unfortunately, MTV, Nick-At-Nite,  and local stations would eventually drop The Monkees, and I would go years without seeing it again. I did watch the special Hey, Hey, It's The Monkees that aired on ABC on February 17, 1997, but as much as I loved it, it wasn't the same as the original series.  Fortunately, in 2000 it was rerun back to back with The Partridge Family as part of the Screen Gems Network that was syndicated to local stations by Columbia Pictures. This programming block would only last for the summer of 2000, when the two shows were replaced by reruns of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie (the shows that had originally aired on the Screen Gems Network). Fortunately, I would not have to wait so long to watch The Monkees again.

It was in 2003 that Rhino Entertainment released the entire series of The Monkees on DVD, with each of its two seasons in a box set, along with the special 33⅓ Revolutions per Monkee. Never again would I have to go without watching The Monkees. Not that I would have to. In 2011, Antenna TV began airing The Monkees and did so for years. IFC also aired the show. FETV started showing it in 2017.  In 2019 MeTV began rerunning The Monkees and did so for time. More recently, it was added to Catchy Comedy's schedule. It was only recently that The Monkees became available on streaming. It can be seen on Tubi and The Roku Channel.

As to why The Monkees has remained my favourite sitcom for nearly sixty years, that is difficult to say. Much of it must be nostalgia. The Monkees reminds me of my early childhood, when I didn't have much responsibility and all of my needs were seen to by my parents. Watching The Monkees transports me back to a time when I felt safe and secure and my biggest worry was what was on television on any given day. And it is easy to see why the show would appeal to little boys. Over the course of the show, The Monkees faced gangsters, mad scientists, spies, Western outlaws, and even aliens. And through all of this they played some of the best pop rock songs of the era.

Beyond the nostalgia factor, another reason it is that in many ways The Monkees was ground-breaking. Not only did it employ the sort of zany humour common to sitcoms in the Sixties, but it was meta before meta was a thing. Not only did the show regularly reference pop culture ("The Spy Who Came in From the Cool" referenced both I Dream of Jeannie and From Russia with Love), but The Monkees regularly broke the fourth wall. For a Sixties show, it was very fast-paced and even experimental in nature, using jump cuts, sped-up film, and montages of the sort for which videos on MTV would become known. Indeed, The Monkees won Emmy Awards, including  Outstanding Comedy Series (beating out The Andy Griffith Show, Bewitched, Get Smart, and Hogan's Heroes) and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy. 

Ultimately, what I think appealed the most to me about The Monkees, especially as a young man, was that no matter what happened, The Monkees won in the end. Here was this down-and-out rock band composed of four twentysomethings who still somehow managed to defeat everything from alien invasions to organized crime to foreign spies. Quite simply, the messages of The Monkees were to never give up in the face of adversity, that even an underdog can win if the cause is just, and that good always defeats evil in the end. As corny as those messages may sound, I think they were important in 1966 and they are still important to this day.

As it is, I think The Monkees will continue to be popular for decades to come. The reruns on CBS and ABC on Saturday morning in the late Sixties and Seventies created a new generation of fans. The syndication run created yet more and the MTV run even more. Each revival of The Monkees has created new fans. Indeed, today I encountered a 19 year-old fan whose favourite show is The Monkees and whose favourite band is The Monkees. She wasn't even born in the century in which the show originated. The Monkees has been popular for sixty years now. I think it will remain popular for sixty more

The 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks

25 years later I still don't have words for the worst terrorist attack on our soil in American history. My heart goes out to the survivors of the victims in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93.

The Late Great Shelley Fabares

Shelley Fabares, who played Mary on The Donna Reed Show and Christine on Coach, died on August 22, 2026, at the age of 82. The cause was pneumonia.

Shelley Fabares ws born on January 19, 1944, in Santa Monica, California. Her aunt was actress Nanette Fabray. She began modelling when she was only three years old. She was only ten when she made her television debut in an episode of Letter to Loretta (later retitled The Loretta Young Show). In the Fifties, she guest starred on such shows as Producer's Showcase, Matinee Theatre, Captain Midnight, Annie Oakley, Fury, and Colgate Theatre. She had a regular role on the serial "Annette," staring Annette Funicello, on The Mickey Mouse Club. It was in 1958 that she began playing Mary Stone, the daughter of Donna Stone (Donna Reed) and pediatrician Dr. Alex Stone (Carl Betz), on The Donna Reed Show. She made her movie debut in 1955 in The Girl Rush. In the Fifties, she appeared in the movies Never Say Goodbye (1956), The Bad Seed (1956), Jeanne Eagels (1957), Marjorie Morningstar(1958), and Summer Love(1958)

In the Sixties, Shelley Fabares continued to appear onThe Donna Reed Show, although she eventually left the series for a film career. In the Sixties, she guest starred on the shows Mr. Novak; The Eleventh Hour; Arrest and Trial; The Twilight Zone; The Ghost & Mrs. Muir; Daniel Boone; Lancer; Bracken's World; and Love, American Style. She played opposite Elvis Presley in the movies Girl Happy (1965), Spinout (1966), and Clambake (1967). She also appeared in the movies Ride the Wild Surf (1964), Hold On!(1966), and A Time to Sing (1968).

In the Seventies, Shelley Fabares starred on the sitcoms The Little People (retitled The Brian Keith Show in its second season) Forever Fernwood, The Practice, and Highcliffe Manor. She also had a recurring role on One Day at a Time  as Francene Webster. She starred in the popular TV movie Brian's Song. She guest starred on the shows The Interns; Mannix; Longstreet; Owen Marshall, Counsellor at Law; Love, American Style; McCloud; Cade's County; Police Story; Ironside; The Rockford Files; The Rookies; Matt Helm; Medical Story; Medical Center; Marcus Welby, M.D.; Spencer's Pilots; Lucan; Vega$; The Incredible Hulk; The Wonderful World of Disney; Hello, Larry; Fantasy Island; and Mork & Mindy.

In the Eighties, she continued to appear on One Day at a Time. It was in 1989 that she began playing Christine Armstrong, the girl friend of title character Hayden Fox (Craig T. Nelson), on the sitcom Coach. She guest starred on the TV shows The Love Boat; Newhart; and Murder, She Wrote. She appeared in the movies Hot Pursuit (1987) and Love or Money (1990).

In the Nineties, Shelley Fabares continued to appear on Coach. She guest starred on the shows A Whole New Ballgame (playing Christine Armstrong). She was the voice of Clark Kent's mother, Martha Kent, on Superman: The Animated Series. She reprised the role on the animated series Justice League in the Naughts.

Shelley Fabares also had a brief recording career. Her song "Johnny Angel" went to no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. She had further hits with "Johnny Loves Me" and "The Things We Did Last Summer." She recorded three albums on her own and was featured on a few compilations as well.

Chances are good that Shelley Fabares will be best remembered as the popular and sweet, but independent Mary on The Donna Reed Show and the sophisticated and intelligent Christine Armstrong on Coach. Indeed, many of her film roles, from the movies she did with Elvis to the Herman's Hermits movie Hold On!, were very much like Mary. But Shelley Fabares could play other roles as well. On One Day at a Time, she played Francene Webster, the work rival of Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin). While Francene was intelligent like Mary nd Christine, she was also overly ambitious, self-absorbed, sharp-witted, and none too nice. On Highcliffe Manor, she played widow and owner of the manor, Helen Blacke, who was somewhat off-centre and largely oblivious to the sinister goings on at Highcliffe Manor. Shelley Fabares was a remarkable actress who was always a delight in anything she did.

The 60th Anniversary of the TV Series The Green Hornet

The 1960s saw a rise in nostalgia for media from the 1930s and 1940s, including everything from Old Time Radio to pulp magazines to movie serials to comic books. It was then only natural that there would be a television adaptation of the popular radio show The Green Hornet. The show starred Van Williams as Britt Reid and his alter ego The Green Hornet and Bruce Lee as Britt Reid's valet and partner in fighting crime Kato. It debuted sixty years ago today, on Friday, September 9, 1966.

The Green Hornet centred on Britt Reid (Van Williams), a millionaire playboy and publisher of The Daily Sentinel, who also happened to fight crime as the masked Green Hornet. Kato (Bruce Lee) was his valet, chauffeur, and partner when it came to fighting crime. In their fight against evil, The Green Hornet and Kato utilized a specially modified, weapons laden Chrysler Imperial called "Black Beauty." The Green Hornet also used a knockout gas gun and a device called the "Hornet's Sting," which emitted ultrasonic waves (it was used primarily to knock down doors). While Kato primarily relied on his skills as a martial artist, he also had knockout darts that he could deliver from his sleeves.

To the world at large, The Green Hornet was a notorious criminal, a cover he used in his fight against crime. Britt Reid's secretary Lenore "Casey" Case (Wende Wagner) knew The Green Hornet's identity, and hence the true nature of The Green Hornet. District Attorney Frank P. Scanlon (Walter Brooke) also knew Britt Reid's secret identity and the truth about The Green Hornet. Mike Axford (Lloyd Gough) was the crime reporter at the Daily Sentinel and was totally in the dark about The Green Hornet.

The Green Hornet was created by WXYZ co-owner George W. Trendle and writer Fran Striker, with some input from director James Jewell. George W. Trendle and Fan Striker had earlier created The Lone Ranger, and The Green Hornet owed a lot to that character. In fact, it was established that Britt Reid was the great nephew of The Lone Ranger. The Green Hornet debuted on January 31, 1936, on WXYZ in Detroit and joined the Mutual Broadcasting System on April 12, 1938 and later the NBC Blue Network and its successors The Blue Network and ABC. The radio show proved to be very popular, so much so it expanded into other media. Helnit Comics and later Harvey Comics published comic books featuring The Green Hornet during the Golden Age of Comics. Two movie serials were made: The Green Hornet (1941) and The Green Hornet Strikes Again! (1941).

Like The Lone Ranger before him, it was perhaps inevitable that The Green Hornet would find his way to television. In 1951, George W. Trendle pitched a Green Hornet television series to the networks and even produced a 25 minute pilot starring Steve Dunne as Britt Reid/The Green Hornet. A Green Hornet series did not emerge and the pilot is now considered lost. Another attempt at pitching a Green Hornet series was made in 1958, but, again, no series emerged. It would take William Dozier, who had produced such programmes as Suspense and You Are There, to television.

While William Dozier would produce the camp classic Batman, it was not due to the success of Batman that William Dozier decided to produce a Green Hornet TV series. William Dozier had already secured the rights to the classic radio show before Batman debuted. Indeed, both Van Williams and Bruce Lee were already cast as The Green Hornet and Kato well before Batman premiered on January 12, 1966. Of course, there can be no doubt that it was the success of Batman that led to ABC placing The Green Hornet on its fall 1966 schedule.

As to casting, Bruce Lee was actually cast as Kato before Van Williams was cast as The Green Hornet. It was hair stylist Jay Sebring who brought William Dozier and Bruce Lee together. Jay Sebring had seen Bruce Lee at the Long Beach International Karate Championships in 1964, where Mr. Lee gave a gung fu exhibition. Jay Sebring told William Dozier about Bruce Lee while trimming Mr. Dozier's hair. William Dozier then asked Bruce Lee to come in for a screen test. 

William Dozier's initial plan was not to cast Bruce Lee as Kato in a Green Hornet series, but instead in a show to be called Number One Son. Bruce Lee would have played Charlie Chan's Number One Son (a role played by Keye Luke in the movies). In the first episode, Charlie Chan would have been murdered, leading Lee Chan (his Number One Son) to avenge his death. The prospective show was described as a "Chinese James Bond." ABC passed on the prospective show, not even ordering a pilot. When William Dozier was planning The Green Hornet, he naturally offered the role of Kato to Bruce Lee. Mr. Lee was initially reluctant to take the role, as he worried it would be a stereotypical houseboy role. Wiliam Dozier convinced him that this would not be the case. It was Bruce Lee who insisted on using Chinese martial arts in fight scenes.

While Bruce Lee was the only actor considered for Kato, other actors were considered for the role of Britt Reid/The Green Hornet. Two screen tests were made with Bruce Lee opposite two different actors: Jan Murray, best known for hosting various game shows, and Michael Lipton, who would become best known for the soap opera Somerset. Ultimately, neither would be cast as Britt Reid/The Green Hornet. Instead, the role went to Van Williams. who had played Ken Madison on Bourbon Street Beat and Surfside Six. 

Although William Dozier produced both shows, The Green Hornet would have a very different tone from Batman. While Batman was played for camp, The Green Hornet was played as a straightforward action show. Much of this was due to William Dozier's desire to differentiate the two. Most it was due to George W, Trendle's desire that the TV show remain faithful to the tone of the radio show. This would result in a conflict between George W. Trendle and writer Lorenzo Semple Jr. (who wrote the pilot and several episodes of Batman). Lorenzo Semple Jr. wrote the pilot with a largely comedic tone, to which George W. Trendle objected. William Dozier intervened in the dispute, but ultimately sided with George W. Trendle. Quite simply, there was a clause in the licensing agreement with George W. Tremble that stipulated that the TV series, "..shall not depict The Green Hornet in a manner substantially different from which he or other major characters were depicted on the radio series."

That is not to say that The Green Hornet did not diverge from the radio show. On the radio show, The Green Hornet's link with law enforcement was Britt Reid's friend Police Commissioner James Higgins. Because Commissioner Gordon played such a large role on Batman, District Attorney Frank P. Scanlon became The Green Hornet's contact with law enforcement instead. On the radio show, it was not until later in the series that Britt Reid's secretary Casey would learn he was The Green Hornet, although on the TV show she knew from the beginning. While The Green Hornet's gas gun and his car Black Beauty were carryovers from the radio show, the Hornet's Sting was created for the TV show. 

As to The Green Hornet's appearance, the TV show differed from both the comic books and the movie serials. The comic books of the Golden Age depicted The Green Hornet as wearing a mask that covered the lower part of his face. The movie serials depicted The Green Hornet as wearing a mask that covered most of his face. The radio show never went into detail about The Green Hornet's mask.

Despite the differences in the two show's tones, The Green Hornet and Kato would appear on Batman. They made a cameo in the first part of the Batman episode "The Spell of Tut"/"Tut's Case is Shut"  during one of Batman and Robin's Batclimbs. Later in the season, The Green Hornet appeared in the episode "A Piece of the Action"/"Batman' Satisfaction." The episode called for a fight between Kato and Robin. According to Van Williams, the original script called for Kato to lose to Robin. Bruce Lee objected on the grounds that Kato would not lose to Robin. The script was then rewritten. In real life, Bruce Lee and Brut Ward (who played Robin) were friends who lived in the same apartment complex. 

Sadly, The Green Hornet was scheduled against The Wild Wild West  on CBS and Tarzan on NBC, two shoes that appealed to the same younger audience as The Green Hornet. This resulted in the show having ratings so low that it reportedly lost $40,000 per episode. It was then that ABC ultimately cancelled The Green Hornet. For a single season show, it would prove to have a particularly good afterlife. It was syndicated to local stations in the late Sixties and Seventies, often alongside Batman. It would later air on such cable channels as FX and Starz Action. It has aired on such digital broadcast networks as MeTV, Heroes and Icons, and Retro TV. 

The Green Hornet would develop a cult following, in a large part due to the presence of Bruce Lee. Here it must be pointed that in many ways the show was ground breaking with regards to East Asian Americans on American television. Prior to The Green Hornet, Jack Soo had played Rocky Sin on Valentine's Day,  the first American television show since The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong starring Anna May Wong and the very first sitcom to feature an East Asian American in a lead role. It was only the day before The Green Hornet debuted that another show featuring an East Asian in a significant role debuted. Star Trek featured George Takei as Lt. Sulu, the helmsman of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Of course, Sulu was only a supporting role while Kato was one of the leads.

The Green Hornet was also significant as the first show to extensive feature kung fu. While both Emma Peel on The Avengers and James West on The Wild Wild West incorporated Eastern martial arts in their fight scenes, neither character used Eastern martial arts as extensively as Kato on The Green Hornet. Bruce Lee's use of kung fu on The Green Hornet would help increase the popularity of Eastern martial arts in the United States. The Green Hornet would also boost Bruce Lee's acting career. Reruns of The Green Hornet had proven very popular in Hong Kong and Kato was so popular that it was often referred to as "The Kato Show." This would ultimately lead to Bruce Lee signing a contract with Golden Harvest.

In the end, The Green Hornet would be one of the most successful single season shows of all time, developing a cult following that it maintains to this day. Indeed, it is not simply a footnote in Bruce Lee's career, but one of the first showcases of his talent as an actor and a martial artist. Chances are good people will still be watching it sixty years from now.