75 Years of The Lone Ranger

The history of The Lone Ranger in its various media incarnations.

When one hears Gioacchino Rossini’s “William Tell Overture,” one thinks of the legendary archer - that is, if you’re an expert in both classical music and historic folk heroes. But to several generations of audiences - both young and old - the legendary musical composition has also been linked to another folk hero who has also been a pop culture icon for over a half-century (and certainly far more famous than even William Tell himself): The Lone Ranger.

The Lone Ranger, along with his Native American sidekick Tonto, remains one of many fictional icons that has thrived in just about every kind of media that’s been part of both the 20th and 21st entertainment industry - and, more often than not, has become an American institution, just like Superman, Batman, Tarzan, and Charlie Brown, to name just a few. And unlike other pop culture heroes whose popularity has faded a bit decades after they first appeared (like The Shadow and Buck Rogers), The Lone Ranger has remained in the public eye, not only because of what he stands for - but also because he represented the basic idea of what a hero could and should be, an ages-old belief that’s still valid in the real world today, but under different circumstances, especially in the post-9/11 world. (How The Lone Ranger might react to today’s movie and TV action heroes - especially the high body counts that they rack up on-screen — if he existed in the real world of today is a subject probably worthy of debate.)

The Lone Ranger would even inspire one of his descendants to serve the cause of justice - namely, The Green Hornet, who debuted roughly three years after that of his ancestor’s. Over thirty years later, The Lone Ranger would also serve as an inspiration to yet another pop culture icon - Happy Days’ Arthur “Fonzie/The Fonz” Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) — which was fitting, since the 1970’s TV sitcom was set during the 1950’s, the decade when The Lone Ranger had gained a new generation of fans via television (and it wasn’t much of a stretch to have both characters meet in a 1981 episode of Happy Days, if only briefly).

The Lone Ranger made his debut in the early-1930’s, when the United States and the rest of the world was already affected by the Great Depression, its long-reaching effects changing the lives of a generation that had enjoyed prosperity during the 1920’s, and was now facing both financial misery and personal heartbreak. The 1930’s were also represented by military aggression overseas (thanks to Japan - and by decade’s end, Germany and Italy) that would pave the way for the Second World War in September, 1939. It was a decade in which heroes - both real and fictional — were needed to inspire and encourage a generation to rise above personal hardship and tragedy and not only better themselves, but also help those around them. In the United States, the American public would find a hero in President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose New Deal programs would help put the country back on solid footing, in more ways than one.

Yet, real-life heroes and idols like FDR weren’t the only ones that Americans idolized during the 1930’s - they also found fictional icons whose exploits helped them escape the pressures of the world that they lived in at the time, as well as brightening their already-difficult lives in an equally-difficult decade. From Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop on the silver screen to the newspaper comic strip exploits of Tarzan, Popeye, and Flash Gordon, these pop culture icons entertained the audiences of their day - and perhaps, gave them not only the hope that their lives might get better, but also the courage and strength to make it so. When The Lone Ranger radio series first debuted on Detroit’s WXYZ on January 30, 1933 (the same day that Adolf Hitler become German chancellor), the character was already on his way to becoming an American institution. (The series would later air on Mutual, then NBC’s Blue Network [now called ABC Radio].)

The series’ opening narration (spoken by several announcers for the majority of The Lone Ranger’s media history, including - more often than not - broadcasting legend Fred Foy, who worked on both the radio and TV versions) remains an example of its enduring popularity: “A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty ‘Hi-yo Silver!’ The Lone Ranger!” (In later years, the following catchphrase would added to the opening narration: “Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear…. The Lone Ranger Rides Again!”)

When George W. Trendle first created The Lone Ranger, he and chief writer Fran Striker probably found inspiration in not only legendary western author Zane Grey’s 1915 novel The Lone Star Ranger (no doubt inspiring both the radio hero’s name and back story) — but also German author Karl May’s Wild West stories of Old Shatterhand and the Apache chief Winnetou, the latter inspired by James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales; the above-mentioned literary sources would help Trendle and Striker in developing the relationship between The Lone Ranger and Tonto. In addition, The Lone Ranger was also probably inspired by the legendary British folk hero Robin Hood and Johnston McCulley’s literary creation Zorro, who like the Ranger, were dedicated to helping the common man; Zorro would also inspire The Lone Ranger in a larger sense, since both heroes wore masks to hide their secret identities (just like later masked heroes, including Batman, The Phantom, etc.) — but The Lone Ranger had another reason for keeping his identity a secret.

That reason was explained in the origin story that Trendle and Striker had created for The Lone Ranger - as the story goes, a Texas Ranger named John Reid, who along with his brother, Captain Dan Reid, and several fellow Rangers hunted down outlaw Butch Cavendish and his “Hole In The Wall” gang, only to end up getting killed in an ambush arranged by Cavendish (and aided by Collins, a scout for the Rangers who was really working for the criminal, who ended up shooting him in the back for fear that he might betray him, like he did to the Rangers; Collins, however, survived - but later died after failing to kill both Reid and Tonto and head off with Tonto’s horse Scout). But as we all know, Tonto discovered that his childhood friend John Reid was the sole survivor of the ambush, and not only saved his life, but also helped nurse him back to health - paying back Reid for saving the Native American’s life years before, after renegade Indians left Tonto for dead in the wake of them murdering his mother and sister.

Not long after, while Reid recovered, Tonto buried the other Texas Rangers who were murdered by Cavendish and his gang - as well as preparing an additional (and fake) grave, at Reid’s request, to make the world think that he was also killed in the ambush. Soon after, Reid and Tonto came across a white stallion who was wounded by a buffalo, and nursed it back to health - the white stallion would become Silver, The Lone Ranger’s horse, which would inspire one of the greatest catchphrases in pop culture history, “Hi-yo Silver, away!” Reid, along with Tonto, then came across an old mentor of his who owned a silver mine (and another who knew The Lone Ranger’s secret identity), and who gave Reid and Tonto total access to the silver ore that was inside it (and the silver bullets that Reid fashioned from it).

Reid, determined to avenge his brother and colleagues’ deaths and to fight crime and injustice (with Tonto at his side, who frequently called the Ranger “kemo sabe,” which roughly means “faithful friend” in Tonto’s tribe’s language), became The Lone Ranger, wearing a mask made out of his brother’s Texas Ranger vest - and vowing never to shoot to kill, since all human life was precious and important to him, as evident by the silver bullets that he used to remind him of said vow. During the run of the radio version, The Long Ranger also proved to be a master of disguise, occasionally posing as an old prospector in order to gain information pertaining to criminal plots, thus further protecting the character’s dual identity.

It should be pointed out that the above-mentioned paragraph detailed The Lone Ranger’s origin story, the official version that is widely known by generations of audiences. Of course, it should also be noted that The Lone Ranger rode solo in the first eleven episodes of the radio series - and that Tonto didn’t make his debut until the twelfth episode; the reason why Trendle and Striker created him was mainly so that The Lone Ranger could have someone to talk to (even a crusading hero like the Ranger needed a friend or two).

In addition, there was also a 1938 episode of the radio series that offered a different account of how The Lone Ranger and Tonto first met - yet, in later years, that particular episode would be superseded by Trendle and Striker’s decision to retroactively have Tonto play a major role in The Lone Ranger’s origin. (Tonto, in several languages [including Spanish], means “fool” or “idiot” [which might have been a coincidence, since the character was portrayed as being intelligent -- while the name, in the Potawatami language [named after the Native American tribe that Tonto belonged to], stands for “Wild One.” When The Lone Ranger TV show was broadcast to Spanish-speaking countries during the 1950’s, Tonto’s name was changed to Toro - Spanish for “bull,” no doubt to avoid offending foreign audiences.) Also, there were several other 1938 episodes that gave different accounts of how Tonto acquired Scout, which would also be supplanted years later, when the decision was made to have Scout also play a retroactive role in The Lone Ranger’s origin.

Continuity glitches aside, The Lone Ranger radio series was a hit with radio audiences, both young and old — and generations growing up who have ever heard a curious Westerner ask the question “Who was that masked man?” on radio (and later on TV) knew what the answer would be seconds later: “Why, he’s The Lone Ranger!”

During the series’ twenty-one year run, four actors played The Lone Ranger, including future film producer/director George Seaton and Brace Beemer (who played the character longer than any other actor, including his TV counterpart Clayton Moore); John Todd, who stuck with the radio series longer than the actors playing The Lone Ranger, voiced Tonto for the majority of its run. Other cast members who acted on the radio version came from both the Detroit area and the Mutual and NBC Blue studio staff pools, including future film actor John Hodiak. Playing The Lone Ranger’s nephew (and his brother’s son and namesake) Dan Reid were a number of child actors, including James Lipton, who would continue his acting career as an adult (and who would later host Bravo’s Inside The Actors’ Studio).

The Lone Ranger’s success in radio would also spawn an equally-successful spin-off series that introduced The Green Hornet, three years after the Ranger’s debut, and created by Fran Striker — the Hornet, in reality newspaper publisher Britt Reid (the son of Dan Reid, Jr.), who fought modern-day criminals with the aid of his Oriental servant Kato. The Green Hornet’s success in not only radio, but also other media outlets, would prove to be just as successful as The Lone Ranger’s. (However, it should be pointed out that separate companies now own both properties — which explains, at least for legal reasons, why the familial link between the two heroes has been ignored, especially in The Lone Ranger’s subsequent media incarnations. However, in one of the Green Hornet comic books published by Now Comics in the late-1980‘s and early-to-mid 1990‘s, a portrait of The Lone Ranger hangs in Britt Reid‘s home, but the character‘s visual depiction in said portrait is different from the more famous version — which will be explained a few paragraphs from now.)

Part of The Lone Ranger’s success (and his continued appeal to all ages) was his strict moral code which was and remains essential to his heroic status, a code that writer Fran Striker helped to establish when the radio series first aired (and which Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels — TV’s future Lone Ranger and Tonto — did their best to adhere to), and one best explained by the following speech:

“I believe…..
That to have a friend, a man must be one.
That all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world.
That God put the firewood there, but that every man must gather and light it himself.
In being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for that which is right.
That a man should make the most of what equipment he has.
That ‘this government of the people, by the people, and for the people’ shall live always.
That men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.
That sooner or later…somewhere…somehow…we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken.
That all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever.
In my Creator, my country, my fellow man.”

In addition, Striker and George W. Trendle also set up guidelines and ground rules that was essential to the Lone Ranger’s moral code, in addition to not killing criminals with his gun (and silver bullets) and not appearing in public without his mask or appearing in disguise — among the other ground rules were The Lone Ranger using proper grammar and precise speech (and free of any particular slang), and remaining wholesome and clean-cut (meaning, that he didn’t drink or smoke — which explains why there weren‘t saloons used as background settings in the character‘s various incarnations), as well as making all of the characters’ foes American-born (to avoid criticism from minority groups, including Native Americans).

By the mid-1930’s, The Lone Ranger, already a success on radio, was ready to branch out in other media outlets. Starting in 1936, the first Lone Ranger hardcover novel, called — what else — The Lone Ranger, was published by Grosset & Dunlap. Gaylord DuBois wrote the first novel — while the subsequent seventeen novels that were published between 1938-56 were written by Fran Striker (using the pen name Francis Hamilton); Striker would later re-edit and re-write portions of the first Lone Ranger novel, when it was reissued years later. (All eighteen Lone Ranger novels were reprinted in 1978 by Pinnacle Books.)
In 1938, Republic Pictures, who made producing movie serials both an art form and a science during Hollywood’s Golden Age, produced the first of two Lone Ranger serials — the plot gimmick of the first serial was that six men were suspected of being the masked western hero, and indeed, all six wear his famous outfit and mask (including George Montgomery and Lee Powell, the latter actor playing the actual Lone Ranger).

The following year saw The Lone Ranger Rides Again (1939), starring Robert Livingston in the title role. Though different actors played The Lone Ranger in both serials, they had at least one thing in common: Tonto was played by actor Victor Daniels in both serials — Daniels was also one of two actors known as Chief Thundercloud (whether or not he played the character of the same name on the Lone Ranger radio series remains a mystery). Today, there are only a few surviving prints of both movie serials available (some don’t even contain all of the first serial), either subtitled in Spanish or dubbed in French — mainly because George W. Trendle, who didn’t care much for the movie serials (and their treatment of The Lone Ranger), was given ownership of the film masters not long after they were released, and made no effort to store them properly afterwards, resulting in their eventual deterioration; whether or not Trendle meant to remains a mystery. (The visual depiction of The Lone Ranger in both serials — the one vastly different from the more famous depiction shown in the later TV show and feature films — was the same one that was shown in the character’s portrait in one of the issues of NOW’s Green Hornet comic books decades later, no doubt to avoid a lawsuit between both characters’ respective owners.)

Also in 1938, King Features Syndicate began to distribute a Lone Ranger newspaper comic strip — the strip was originally drawn by Ed Kressy, but Charles Flanders would replace him the following year and would continue to draw the comic strip until it ended in 1971. Many of the comic strips would be reprinted in various comic books published by both David McKay Publications and Dell Comics during the 1930’s and 1940’s — though it wouldn’t be until 1948 when The Lone Ranger finally got a comic book to call his own. (The Lone Ranger newspaper comic strip would later be revived briefly in 1981-84, courtesy of the New York Times Syndicate, and written and drawn, respectively, by comic book veterans Cary Bates and Russ Heath.)

As the Lone Ranger radio series grew more popular during the 1940’s, General Mills’ Kix cereal — the show’s sponsor — offered a number of radio premiums, from the Long Ranger 6-Shooter Ring, which was appropriate for the time period that the series took place in, to the Kix Blackout Kit (a premium offered during World War II) and the Kix Atomic Bomb Ring (first offered in 1947, two years after the beginning of the Nuclear Age), which was more suited to the 20th Century than the 19th. The success of the radio premiums would help pave the way for more Lone Ranger-related toys in the coming decades, including a line of action figures and accessories from Gabriel Toys in 1973.

In 1948, Dell Comics finally gave The Lone Ranger his own comic book — the first six issues consisted of newspaper comic strip reprints, but with #7, the comic book featured original material, most of it written by Gaylord DuBois, who wrote the first Lone Ranger novel back in 1938. Dell’s Lone Ranger comic would not only last a total of 145 issues (as well as three annuals and an adaptation of the 1956 feature film) over a span of fourteen years, but also spawn spin-off titles starring Tonto and Silver during the 1950‘s.

In 1964, two years after Dell’s version came to an end, Western Publishing’s Gold Key comics picked up the publishing rights to The Lone Ranger; the Gold Key comic, which featured Dell reprints in its first twenty issues, began publishing original stories by #21, in 1975 — but by #28, in 1977, the book itself was canceled. (By the early-1980’s, Gold Key would go out of business.) Also in 1977, Swedish comic book publisher Hemmets Journal AB published a three-part Lone Ranger comic book. In recent decades, The Lone Ranger’s comic book adventures have been published by Topps Comics (in a 1994 four-part limited series by Joe R. Lansdale and Timothy Truman) — and currently, by Dynamite Entertainment, which has received widespread critical acclaim (and an Eisner Award nomination), but a bit of criticism from die-hard Lone Ranger fans concerning the graphic violence depicted in Dynamite’s version.

By the late-1940’s, the era of the old-time radio programs were coming to an end, as television was starting to make its mark on the entertainment industry. As many of the top entertainers of the time who owed their success in part to the radio shows that they hosted were moving over to TV, the same was also true for a good number of popular radio heroes who entertained a generation of kids and adults — and The Lone Ranger would prove to be no exception. George W. Trendle, already riding high with the success of the Lone Ranger radio series, decided to bring his masked creation to TV in 1949, resulting in a media adaptation that remains — in the minds of several generations — the most famous and popular of the character’s long history; it would also be one of the first successful TV westerns in the media‘s history.

Though Trendle was credited as the producer of the TV version, he was a bit inexperienced in that already-growing medium, so he hired longtime MGM film producer Jack Chertok to supervise production of the Lone Ranger TV series; Chertok would produce the majority of the series‘ run (182 out of 221). When Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels took on the roles of The Lone Ranger and Tonto for the TV version, they were about to become not only becoming the definite portrayers of both characters, but also pop culture icons. The first seventy-eight episodes of the Lone Ranger TV series (produced between 1949-52) were produced and broadcast, non-stop, for seventy-eight straight weeks — then rerun again for another seventy-eight weeks!

By the time Trendle and Chertok were ready to produce another fifty-two episodes starting in 1952 (which, like the previous seventy-eight episodes, would be broadcast non-stop for a whole year — then rerun non-stop the following year), Clayton Moore got into a dispute with them over money, as well as the actor wanting better treatment (something that the actor would finally acknowledge decades later) — which is why, from 1952-54, Moore was replaced as The Lone Ranger on the TV version by actor John Hart. Yet, Hart never clicked with TV viewers who favored Clayton Moore over him, and the fifty-two episodes in which he played The Lone Ranger wouldn‘t be shown again on TV until the 1980‘s. (Ironically enough, Hart would reprise his TV role as The Lone Ranger in the 1981 episode of Happy Days that was mentioned at the beginning of the article — as for why Clayton Moore wasn’t given that honor, it’ll be fully explained several paragraphs from now.)

In early August 1954, George W. Trendle sold the rights to the Lone Ranger franchise to producer Jack Wrather’s production company. Wrather — who would also go on to produce an equally-successful (and longer-running) TV series starring another pop culture icon, Lassie — then rehired Clayton Moore to play The Lone Ranger for another fifty-two episodes that ran non-stop for a whole year, then rerun non-stop the following year. (Both Entertainment Rights and Classic Media now own both the Lone Ranger and Lassie properties.) By the time the first of those next fifty-two TV episodes were aired in September 1954, the Lone Ranger radio series — the one that helped to make its equally successful TV counterpart possible — came to an end; the last radio broadcast was on September 3, 1954.

The final season of the Lone Ranger TV series (in 1956-57) — which eventually ended up being broadcast on the then-fledging ABC television network — was notable for several things, including the fact that it was shot in color, even though ABC would end up broadcasting those last episodes in black and white; ABC wouldn’t air any TV shows presented in color until the fall of 1962. Less noticeable, at least by TV viewers, was the fact that Jack Chertok was replaced as the TV version’s producer by Sherman Harris; by that time, Chertok had already formed his own production company, as he continued to produce a string of TV shows (including the 1960’s TV sitcom My Favorite Martian). The last color episode of the Lone Ranger TV series aired on June 6, 1957 — over three months later, the series’ run ended on September 12, 1957.

Jack Wrather’s decision to end the Lone Ranger TV series came as a result of him parting company with ABC (which would greatly benefit — in terms of Nielsen ratings — from reruns of the TV show when it aired in the network’s daytime schedule for several years afterwards). Wrather then produced two Lone Ranger theatrical feature films with Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels reprising their popular TV roles that were released in both 1956 and 1958; it should be noted that the first Lone Ranger feature film produced by Wrather in 1956 had in its cast his wife, former child star Bonita Granville.

In 1961, CBS aired Return Of The Lone Ranger, a pilot for a proposed TV series that never happened, starring Tex Hill in the title role (and who was definitely no Clayton Moore). By that time, the TV western had changed greatly, thanks in part to such groundbreaking TV series like Gunsmoke and Maverick, which had already catered to a more mature audience — and kid-friendly TV heroes like The Lone Ranger were now somewhat out of place in not only the changing TV landscape, but also the evolution of the western genre that had been a part of the entertainment industry since motion pictures’ silent age.

Yet, in the succeeding decades to come, reruns of the 1949-57 Lone Ranger TV series that were now airing in syndication (and later, on cable) would attract new generations of audiences and continue to enthrall their parents and grandparents who grew up enjoying their hero’s adventures. It was also as a result of the radio and TV versions’ enduring popularity that would not only result in parodies and take-offs in various media outlets (including animated cartoons), but also a number of TV commercials, some featuring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels reprising their famous TV roles. (Of course, not all TV commercials featuring The Lone Ranger were successful — including one for Rolo chocolate candy in the 1980’s, in which the masked hero gives his last candy to Silver instead of Tonto, which could be considered an affront to George W. Trendle and Fran Striker’s original concept of the characters.)

The Lone Ranger’s only major TV appearances in the 1960’s, aside from the unsold 1961 pilot and various TV commercials, was in an Saturday-morning animated TV series that aired on CBS during the 1966-67 and 1967-68 seasons. What was notable about this version was the fact that The Lone Ranger and Tonto faced an array of off-beat villains who wielded steampunk technology in various adventures that had a sci-fi feel to them — not surprisingly, the 1960’s animated version took its cues from The Wild Wild West, one of CBS’ most popular (and in terms of concept and execution, unusual and unique) TV westerns during that decade. (This was not the first time that The Lone Ranger was adapted into animation form — when Goodtimes Home Video released the 2001 home video release The Lone Ranger: The Lost Episodes, it included an earlier cartoon that was believed to have been produced in the 1930’s; however, since that cartoon had on-screen dialogue balloons instead of recorded voices, it looked more like it came from the silent age — which was already history when the Lone Ranger radio series first hit the airwaves in 1933.)

By the 1970’s, the nostalgia craze began to take flight, as a new generation started to take a growing interest in pop culture’s past — the same generation that was already growing weary of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal. Like other fictional icons of the past, 1970’s audiences — and even a new generation of entertainers, as evident when the masked hero was referenced in singer Jim Croce’s hit song “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim”, embraced The Lone Ranger. (Croce, however, wasn’t the only entertainer to use The Lone Ranger’s name when creating original material — for one thing, comedian Lenny Bruce once did a monologue about the character during the 1960’s.)

In the fall of 1980, The Lone Ranger returned to TV, when Filmation produced new animated adventures that were part of The Tarzan/Lone Ranger Adventure Hour, which aired Saturday mornings on CBS — voicing the character was popular film and TV star William Conrad (credited as “J. Darnoc”), who was no stranger to both the western genre and animated cartoons; Conrad played Marshal Matt Dillon in the original radio version of Gunsmoke, and later narrated Jay Ward and Bill Scott’s Rocky & Bullwinkle animated TV series in the late-1950’s and early-1960’s. The Tarzan/Lone Ranger Adventure Hour, its title later revised to include Zorro, lasted until 1982. (BCI Eclipse released several of the Lone Ranger and Zorro cartoons produced by Filmation in a DVD collection in mid-December, 2007, with a second volume due later on this year.)

In 1981, British film and TV producer Lew Grade’s ITC studios and the Wrather Corporation, in collaboration with Universal, brought The Lone Ranger back to motion picture screens with The Legend Of The Lone Ranger — one that would end up proving to be a major low point in the character’s history. The film’s overall critical and box office failure was due to a series of missteps that would ultimately brand it a flop — including the miscasting of Klinton Spilsbury as The Lone Ranger; Spilsbury’s abysmal performance only served to further sink his acting career (and probably explains why he eventually left show business for good), and the altering of the masked hero and Tonto‘s origin, which outraged not only die-hard fans of the characters, but also pop culture in general. The film’s chances of being a success were further trashed when ITC and Universal filed a lawsuit against Clayton Moore, who played The Lone Ranger on TV in the 1950’s, from appearing as his famous TV persona anywhere else; in the end, Moore (and the millions of Lone Ranger fans who backed him to the hilt) would have the last laugh, especially after The Legend Of The Lone Ranger bombed at the box office.

The most recent media incarnation of The Lone Ranger appeared in the form of a two-hour TV movie that aired on the now-defunct WB network in 2003. Yet, the TV movie wasn’t a critical and ratings success — and as a result, a proposed weekly series that it was supposed to engender never materialized.

Despite failed efforts in recent decades to revive the franchise, both The Lone Ranger’s popularity and place in show business history is already ensured, befitting an icon who is not only a true pop culture icon, but also a part of American folklore. Seventy-five years after the fact, The Lone Ranger and whom he stands for continues to help define what makes both a true hero and positive role model — and in the process, inspire generations to achieve their own positive life goals, something that’s worth remembering, even in the post-9/11 era.