Remembering Van Williams...and Al Hirt

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I saw the news today that Van Williams, the man who played the Green Hornet in the TV series The Green Hornet in 1966, died last week at the age of 82. That brought to mind that terrific theme, which went all the way back to the original radio series in the 1930s. The show's theme was "The Flight of the Bumblebee," which was written by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. For the 1966 TV series, the song had to be "jazzed up" a little, so who better than legendary New Orleans jazz trumpet player, Al Hirt. Hirt, who was best-known for the million-selling song "Java," recorded "The Flight of the Bumblebee" as the theme for The Green Hornet. The song appeared on Hirt's album, The Horn Meets "The Hornet, which featured Hirt and Williams on the cover together. Here's the great Al Hirt doing the theme to the late Van Williams' best-known role, The Green Hornet.