“Johnny Green on Batman With his Green Men and girl” from the November 22, 1967 Door County Advocate
BATMAN had former Sturgeon Bay resident Johnny Green and his Green Men (and Green Girl) as his guests on last Thursday's televised show. Seated are Batman, Marilyn Winters and Johnny Green. Standing, from left, are Dick Person, John TromBatore, and Robert E. VanHolten.
Johnny Green on Batman With his Green Men and girl
By FRANCES BADTKE
The Green Men and their leader Johnny Green, a former resident of Sturgeon Bay, were seen in this area on the Batman show last Thursday night on ABC-TV.
Johnny and his men, as well as the girl in the combo, all have bright green hair, a trademark of the recording stars which has been copyrighted by them. The only other person with green hair is the Joker on Batman, which is how they got their chance at the big time show.
Thursday’s episode was called “Surf's Up, Joker’s Down,” [“Surf's Up, Joker’s Under!”] and the verdant tressed quintet were seen playing on the sands of California and suspected of being in cahoots with Joker, all because they all had green hair.
In the end everything is straightened out and right prevails, with vindication of our hero and his band and the fall of the Joker.
Johnny's mother, Mrs. Zekich, and family live at 146 Maple and she works in the electronics department of the Saville Organ Co. Johnny sent her colorful large postcards to send to the family and friends to let them know about the upcoming Batman episode, but alas, they arrived the day after the show, too late to mail.
Johnny attended Sturgeon Bay high school and has a number of relatives in the area. He started playing the accordion when he was eight years old and has since learned to play several other musical instruments. Johnny is 26 now and still unmarried.
He played for a time with the Royal Lancers and they had a hit record “I Fought The Law.”
For the past eight years he has worn the green hair (his own, not a wig) as the trademark of his own musical group and the idea has been copyrighted.
Johnny Green and his Green Men were the first band to play at the Corpus Christi dances, which have since become a regular event, using big name bands and attracting large crowds of enthusiastic teen agers.
The Green Men have a number of eye-catching outfits, including jackets of zebra cloth and another set in a leopard print.
He has played with a number of the big-time combos including the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five and Paul Revere and the Raiders. The Green Men have played at the New York World's Fair, the White House and there is a possibility that they will appear on an upcoming program of the Jackie Gleason show.
The combo has played in England, Hawaii and has traveled the United States extensively. He has met Sonny and Cher and a number of other celebrities.
The Green Men have worked out some flamboyant routines in their act and one of them is a fire eating act that Johnny stars in. Their act is always well received.
When visiting in Sturgeon Bay last spring he was one of the audience at the production of Sturgeon Bay high school’s “Kiss Me, Kate,” in which his brother Richard Horn appeared.
While here he toured the county and among other places visited the Leed plant and saw how they make electric motors.
His family is counted among his most ardent fans and they have started a scrapbook of his pictures and clippings on his appearances. Mary and Patty Zekich, Sue Horn and Richard, in addition to their mother were watching the color set of a friend when their son and brother appeared last Thursday on Batman.
Joan and Jackie Malvetz, also accordion players and their sister Barbara, are three of his cousins.
When asked if there was any statement they wanted to make about their brother, who it would seem, is about to make the “big time” Sue replied, “He’s great!”
And a lot of us who have heard him play or seen him perform agree with her.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[Johnny Green & the Greenmen Retrospective: https://web.archive.org/web/20161001213355/http://johnnygreenandthegreenmen.8m.com/retro.html ]
Articles by Frances Badtke
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/frances-badtke
Artist profiles
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/artist-profiles