Kato's Revenge Colouring Book, Signed by Bruce Lee

An extremely rare and collectable edition of the classic vintage ‘Kato’s Revenge’ coloring book, published by the Watkins Strathmore Company of Racine, Wisconsin, in 1966. This book, which is 48 pages in length, was marketed to fans of the now iconic Green Hornet TV Series, which ran for 26 episodes between September 9th, 1966, and March 17th, 1967.

Martial arts legend, Bruce Lee, stole the show as ‘Kato’, the high-kicking crimefighter, who fought for ‘weekly’ justice alongside the titular character, ‘The Green Hornet’ (aka Britt Reid), played with charismatic assurance by Van Williams.

This particular book is very special and unique, as Bruce Lee dedicated the volume as follows: “To a dear friend Ted, from Bruce “Kato”. The juxtaposition of Bruce’s personal short-form signature, together with the Kato signature, is exceptionally rare - especially on official 1966 Green Hornet merchandise.

When Bruce travelled to Hong Kong to begin his movie career in the early 1970s, he discovered, much to his great surprise, that ‘The Green Hornet TV Series” was called “The Kato Show”, and that he, and not leading man Van Williams, was the star for local audiences!

The book measures approximately 10.5 X 8 inches (270 x 200mm), and the pages intended for colouring are all clean and unused. It exhibits some mild surface abrasion on the front cover, as well as minor age-appropriate soiling on some of the interior pages, but remains, overall, in very good vintage condition