The first of 2,956 radio episodes of The Lone Ranger premiered on the Detroit radio station WXYZ on Jan. 30, 1933, the creation of station owner George W. Trendle and writer Fran Striker.
The immensely popular character eventually branched out to movie serials, feature films, television, novels, a pulp magazine, a comic strip and, of course, comic books.
Dell Comics published 145 issues of a Lone Ranger comic book beginning in 1948. At first, the comic book was just newspaper strip reprints, but original material began in issue 38 (Aug. 1951).
It’s testimony to the character’s popularity that his partner Tonto got his own comic book title in 1951, and even his horse Silver landed his own title in 1952. More than 30 issues of each spinoff title were published.
The action in the comic books was muted, too restrained to generate much excitement. But the painted covers were beautiful. Sometimes photo covers featured Clayton Moore from the 1949-57 TV show, which was the highest-rated television program on ABC in the early 1950s.
Thirty years later, my father could recall details of radio episodes he’d heard, remembering how his champion would shoot the guns out of outlaws’ hands, then snap, “You’re not hurt!” when they moaned in protest.
We all have our childhood dream selves. My father’s was the Lone Ranger and mine was Superman. And my mother’s was, of course, Wonder Woman.
That very point got a clever nod in the underrated 2013 Lone Ranger film, which opens in 1933 with a scene of a small boy wearing a cowboy suit and a black domino mask at a carnival sideshow, approaching the now-ancient form of Tonto (Johnny Depp).
“Kemosabe?” Tonto asks hesitantly.
Who was that masked man? That’s who he was, that boy. That’s who he’s always been.
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| Ad for the Lone Ranger pulp magazine in 1937 |
Chris Prouty wrote: My dad was a huge Lone Ranger fan and I gladly read his 1950s comic books in the late 1960s while visiting my grandparents all of the time. Cool stuff.
ReplyDeleteBob Doncaster said: Clayton Moore will always be the Lone Ranger to me. Hated it when he was forced to quit wearing the mask and had to wear sunglasses.
ReplyDeleteF-michael Dunne said: H e doesn't get enough love in comic book form. I find the Tom Gill artwork to be really wonderful.
ReplyDeletePaul Zuckerman said: Good discussion, Dan, as always. That was a moving scene from the movie, but overall I wasn't impressed by it--in some ways, I liked the 1980s better. Alas, i think the pureness of heart and innocence of the Ranger and Tonto in the original series doesn't seem to be able to be replicated in today's more cynical and knowing world. Certainly, the depressing depiction of elderly Tonto in the movie was ...depressing!
ReplyDeleteOn the TV show, Jay Silverheels was a fine Tonto. The one good thing today is that Tonto would be more of an equal partner. The radio show's weak point, I think, was the stereotypical version of Tonto--and no native American playing him. At least in the serials and the TV show, real native Americans portrayed the character--the same thing with Kato on the Green Hornet. Ironic that for the recent movie, they went back to a non-native American? Ah well!
One would love to see a real generations TV series of the Ranger and Hornet, played straight (don't get me started on the recent Hornet movie).