Post by mikef6 on Jul 30, 2017 4:35:40 GMT
The Lone Ranger. September 1949-September 1957. ABC premiered “The Lone Ranger” on September 15, 1949 (raise your hands if you were born by then). The first season consisted of 52 episodes. That’s right, folks: 52. A full year. Even though The Lone Ranger had been on radio since 1933, the TV series begins with a three-part origin story. In addition to these, I watched the next 6 stories. The Lone Ranger was played by Clayton Moore, a veteran of B-movies and cliffhanger serials throughout the 1940s. Native American actor Jay Silverheels got the part of the Faithful Indian Companion, Tonto.
As one commentator said on the occasion of Clayton Moore’s death in 1999, “The Lone Ranger didn’t just restore justice; he restored innocence.” In two examples, DeForrest Kelly appears in one of this first episodes as a Tenderfoot who is taken prisoner in his own ranch by an unscrupulous outlaw and Harry Lauter is a man falsely accused of rustling who is being driven out of his home by his neighbors. Both men have their faith in humanity restored. An encounter with the Ranger and Tonto changed people’s outlook on life, a triumph that is underscored by the closing formula of each weekly episode where a character would name him (“That’s The Lone Ranger!”), we would see the Ranger and Tonto riding away with “Hi-Yo Silver” ringing out and then the rousing final section of Rossini’s overture to his opera “William Tell.” Moore spoke his lines is a low baritone, lower than his off-camera speaking voice, with very precise diction and no contractions. Each facet of the show was completely serious, without a trace of irony. A little less than two decades later, the Batman series (1966-1968) took the same approach but with enough ironic detachment and “camp” to practically wear those concepts out. But The Lone Ranger was dead serious. Every week he would save someone’s life, clear a person’s name, and even reconcile long-time enemies. At the end, they would marvel that such a thing could have happened. One would say, “All the credit should be given to…where did he go?”
FUN FACT: In season four (of five), a new continuing character was added, The Lone Ranger’s nephew, Dan Reid (played by Chuck Courtney). Dan was the son of the Ranger’s older brother who died in the massacre that created The Lone Ranger. The writer and radio producer Fran Striker was co-creator of both The Lone Ranger and the radio serial The Green Hornet. In one Green Hornet episode, Striker hinted strongly that Britt Reid (the man under The Green Hornet mask) was the son of Dan Reid from The Lone Ranger program. Later, when ownership of the two programs went to separate hands, that idea was dropped, but for fans of masked heroes since then, The Lone Ranger has been thought of as great-uncle to The Green Hornet. How’s that for comic book, TV, radio geekiness?
As one commentator said on the occasion of Clayton Moore’s death in 1999, “The Lone Ranger didn’t just restore justice; he restored innocence.” In two examples, DeForrest Kelly appears in one of this first episodes as a Tenderfoot who is taken prisoner in his own ranch by an unscrupulous outlaw and Harry Lauter is a man falsely accused of rustling who is being driven out of his home by his neighbors. Both men have their faith in humanity restored. An encounter with the Ranger and Tonto changed people’s outlook on life, a triumph that is underscored by the closing formula of each weekly episode where a character would name him (“That’s The Lone Ranger!”), we would see the Ranger and Tonto riding away with “Hi-Yo Silver” ringing out and then the rousing final section of Rossini’s overture to his opera “William Tell.” Moore spoke his lines is a low baritone, lower than his off-camera speaking voice, with very precise diction and no contractions. Each facet of the show was completely serious, without a trace of irony. A little less than two decades later, the Batman series (1966-1968) took the same approach but with enough ironic detachment and “camp” to practically wear those concepts out. But The Lone Ranger was dead serious. Every week he would save someone’s life, clear a person’s name, and even reconcile long-time enemies. At the end, they would marvel that such a thing could have happened. One would say, “All the credit should be given to…where did he go?”
FUN FACT: In season four (of five), a new continuing character was added, The Lone Ranger’s nephew, Dan Reid (played by Chuck Courtney). Dan was the son of the Ranger’s older brother who died in the massacre that created The Lone Ranger. The writer and radio producer Fran Striker was co-creator of both The Lone Ranger and the radio serial The Green Hornet. In one Green Hornet episode, Striker hinted strongly that Britt Reid (the man under The Green Hornet mask) was the son of Dan Reid from The Lone Ranger program. Later, when ownership of the two programs went to separate hands, that idea was dropped, but for fans of masked heroes since then, The Lone Ranger has been thought of as great-uncle to The Green Hornet. How’s that for comic book, TV, radio geekiness?