The Lone Ranger
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- For the album by British singer Suggs see The Lone Ranger (album).
The titular character is a masked cowboy in the American Old West, who gallops about righting injustices, usually with the aid of a clever and laconic American Indian called Tonto.
Later radio episodes began with the catch phrase "Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear.... The Lone Ranger Rides Again!" Episodes usually ended with one of the characters lamenting the fact that they never found out the hero's name ("Who was that masked man?"), only to be told, "Why, that was the Lone Ranger!" as he and Tonto ride away. The theme music was the "cavalry charge" finale of Gioacchino Rossini's William Tell overture, now inseparably associated with the series, which also featured many other classical selections as incidental music including Wagner, Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Tchaikovsky.
Inspiration for the name may have come from The Lone Star Ranger, a novel by Zane Grey. Karl May's tales of Old Shatterhand and Chief Winnetou may have influenced the creation of the concept; the legends of Robin Hood and the popular character Zorro was also a likely inspiration.
Birth of the Radio Series
The first of 2,956 episodes of The Lone Ranger aired on radio on January 30, 1933 on WXYZ-AM radio in Detroit, Michigan and later on the Mutual Broadcasting System radio network. The Lone Ranger became one of the most successful properties on radio.The hero is a Texas Ranger named Reid, who, as the series begins, was pursuing the criminal Butch Cavendish and his gang with a group of other rangers. (Some later radio reference books erroneously claimed Reid's first name was John; however, in fact, the question of the Ranger's first name never came up during the scripting of either radio or TV adventures. Thus, no such name was ever adopted or used on either the radio or television program. The leader of the group of rangers was stated to be Captain Dan Reid, his brother. The name of "John" Reid's nephew, a later character, who became a sort of juvenile sidekick of the Ranger's, was also Dan Reid.) The party finds itself in a murderous ambush arranged by Cavendish and a traitor, Collins, that seemingly leaves every ranger dead. Then Cavendish shoots Collins in the back, reasoning that someone who could betray the rangers could also betray his gang.
Reid's childhood friend, a Native American known as Tonto (his tribe was seldom specified, but some books say he was probably supposed to be an Apache, while the radio programs identified him as a Potawatami), finds the party and finds Reid alive. Tonto takes him to safety and nurses him back to health. Tonto reminds Reid of when they were young, and Reid had rescued Tonto after renegade Indians had murdered his mother and sister and left him for dead. Reid gave him a horse, and Tonto insisted that Reid accept a ring. It is by this ring that Tonto recognizes Reid.
(This is actually a retroactive change to Tonto's origin. As originally presented, in the Dec. 7, 1938 radio broadcast, Reid had already been well-established as the Lone Ranger when he met Tonto. In that episode, "Cactus Pete", a friend of the Lone Ranger tells the story of how the masked man and Tonto first met. According to that tale, Tonto had been caught in the explosion when two men dynamited a gold mine they were working. One of the men wanted to kill the wounded Tonto, but the Lone Ranger arrived on the scene, and made him administer first aid. The man subsequently decided to keep Tonto around, intending to make him the fall guy when he would later murder his partner. The Lone Ranger foiled both the attempted murder and the attempted framing of Tonto. No reason was given in the episode as to why Tonto chose to travel with the Lone Ranger, rather than continue about his business. A reasonable assumption would be that he felt a sense of gratitude to the man).
While Reid recovers, Tonto buries the dead rangers. Reid vows to bring the killers and others like them to justice. So he asks Tonto to make a sixth grave to make people think that he had died as well. But Collins is also still alive, and tries to kill the pair so he can take Tonto's horse, Scout. But he falls to his death while trying to drop a rock on Reid. Thus perished the only other man who knew that Reid survived.
By happenstance, the pair discovers a magnificent white stallion, wounded by a buffalo. Reid and Tonto nurse the stallion back to health, which is then adopted by Reid as his mount, Silver. Whenever the Ranger mounts Silver he shouts, "Hi ho, Silver, away!" which besides sounding dramatic, originally served to tell the radio audience that a riding sequence was about to start.
They also find an old mentor of Reid's, who discovered a lost silver mine some time back. Reid's mentor is the only one besides Tonto who knows the identity of the Lone Ranger. And he is willing to work it and supply Reid and Tonto as much silver as they want! Using material from his brother's old Texas Ranger vest, Reid fashions the mask that will mark him as the Lone Ranger. In addition, the Lone Ranger decides to use only silver bullets, as a reminder of his vows to fight for justice, and never to shoot to kill. Together, the Lone Ranger and Tonto wander the Old American West helping people and fighting injustice where they find it. The Lone Ranger was also a master of disguise, and in particular would often infiltrate an area as the "Old Prospector", an old-time miner with a full beard, so that he can go places where the Lone Ranger would never fit in, usually to gather intelligence about criminal activities.
According to "The Legend of Silver", a radio episode broadcast September 30, 1938, before acquiring Silver the Lone Ranger rode a chestnut mare called Dusty. After Dusty was killed by a criminal that Reid and Tonto were tracking, Reid saved Silver's life from an enraged buffalo, and in gratitude Silver chose to give up his wild life to carry him. Silver's father was called Sylvan, and his mother was Musa. In another episode, the lingering question of Tonto's mode of transport was resolved when the pair found a secluded valley and the Lone Ranger, in an urge of conscience, released Silver back to the wild. The episode ends with Silver returning to the Ranger bringing along a companion who becomes Tonto's horse, Scout.
On radio, the Lone Ranger was played by several actors, including George Seaton (under the name George Stenius) from January 31 to May 9 of 1933; series director James Jewell and an actor known only by the pseudonym "Jack Deeds" (for one episode each), and then by Earle Graser from May 16, 1933 until April 7, 1941. On April 8, Graser died in a car accident, and for five episodes, the Lone Ranger was unable to speak beyond a whisper, with Tonto carrying the action. Finally, on the broadcast of April 18, 1941, deep-voiced performer Brace Beemer, who had been the show's announcer for several years, took over the role and played the part until the end. Tonto was played throughout the run by actor John Todd, and other supporting players were selected from Detroit area actors and studio staff. These included Jay Michael (as various villains, including Butch Cavendish), Paul Sutton (as the Ranger's friend Thunder Martin and as various army colonels and badmen), future movie star John Hodiak, Janka Fasciszewska (under the name Jane Fae), and others. The part of nephew Dan Reid was played by various child actors, including Ernie Winstanley, James Lipton, and Dick Beals.
The last new radio episode of the Lone Ranger was aired on September 3, 1954.
Other media
The series also inspired numerous comic books, two movie serials, books, a live action television series (1949-1957) best known for starring Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger (though with John Hart as the Lone Ranger from 1952-1954) and Jay Silverheels as Tonto, and several animated cartoon series for television, including one featuring the voice of William Conrad (radio's Matt Dillon) as the Lone Ranger. The live-action TV series featured Gerald Mohr as the announcer. Fred Foy served as narrator of the radio series from 1948 to 1954. Later adaptations are notable for their efforts to remove the stereotypical elements of the Tonto character (e.g. his broken English) and change him into a proud and articulate warrior who is treated by the Ranger as an equal partner. So far, no modern remake of The Lone Ranger has proven popular, with 1981's Legend of the Lone Ranger causing much upset among fans when a movie studio filed a suit to prevent Clayton Moore from appearing as the Lone Ranger anywhere else; the film was a spectacular failure. It did not help that the lead actor's lines had to be overdubbed by another actor. A 2003 made-for-TV version was also unsuccessful.The radio series also created a spin-off called the Green Hornet which depicts John Reid's grand nephew, Britt Reid, originally played by Al Hodge, who in contemporary times fights crime with a similar secret identity and sidekick, Kato. However, the properties have been acquired by different interests and the familial link has been downplayed. Not surprisingly, the Lone Ranger-Green Hornet connection is one of the most important parts of the Wold Newton family, which connects disparate fictional characters.
Throughout the run of the situation comedy "Happy Days", the Fonz (Henry Winkler) references the Lone Ranger as his hero. In one episode, the Cunninghams arrange a meeting between the Fonz and the Lone Ranger (portrayed on this occasion by John Hart) as a birthday surprise. The Fonz is left speechless until he utters the oft-cited and -parodied line, "I didn't even get a chance to thank him", after the Lone Ranger leaves him with a silver bullet and presumably "rides off into the sunset".
In the 1960s, legendary New York radio disc jockey, Dan Ingram of Top 40 powerhouse WABC (770) AM, parodied Tonto with his own character, "Pronto," in various on-air bits and promos. These included a "Kemosabe Card," offering listeners various benefits and sponsor discounts. Throughout his career, Ingram uses "Kemosabe" as a universal, one-to-one signature in greeting, and in closing his show for, his listeners ("Bye now Kemosabe!"). On his 1981 20th anniversary show, Ingram suggests a more socially conscious and contemporary "Pronto" has become an advocate for the American Indian Movement (AIM).
And on a note of irony, one of Ingram's co-workers during a portion of his tenure is none other than legendary station staff announcer, Fred Foy, perhaps the radio - and later television - drama's best-remembered announcer.
The "Lone Ranger" series also inspired a NES video game, simply titled "The Lone Ranger," produced by Konami in 1990.
Lone Ranger appeared in an amusing mid 1990 Rolo chocolate advert, in which Reid was put into a difficult situation to whom he should share his last Rolo, his beloved horse Silver or best friend Tonto. Hence the chocolates slogan Do you love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo?. (Reid gave the last Rolo to Silver, for which Tonto ended up punishing Reid).
Lone Ranger lore
Tonto greets the Lone Ranger with the expression "kemosabe", which has also been written "Kemo Sabe" or "Kemo Sabhay". The origin of this expression is somewhat unclear, but James Jewell, an early director of the radio series, said the name comes from a boy's camp located on Mullett Lake, Michigan that his father-in-law had run from 1911 to 1941. The translation was said to mean "trusty scout." Fran Striker, the writer of the Lone Ranger scripts, said the actual expression was Ta-i ke-mo sah-bee, which he said meant "greetings trusty scout". In the pilot of the Clayton Moore TV series, "Enter the Lone Ranger", Tonto explicitly states that "Kemosabe" means "trusty scout".However, the phrase "faithful friend" has also been associated with the term Kemo Sabe. One such instance was in the 20th anniversary broadcast of the radio show, which recapped the Ranger's origin. In the scene where the wounded Ranger awakens and recognizes Tonto, he says, "years ago, you called me Kemo Sabe." Tonto replies, "That right, and you still Kemo Sabe. It mean, 'faithful friend.'"
Various investigators have found other sources for this saying, some of them humorous and usually centering around the idea that "Kemo Sabe" is actually an insult or vulgarity. For instance, a Far Side comic strip has long since retired Lone Ranger discovering (in an Indian dictionary) that "Kemo Sabe" is an Apache expression for a "horse's rear end."
In the early 1970s, Jay Silverheels appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, playing Tonto, with Johnny Carson playing a career counselor. Tonto was seeking a new job after having spent "thirty lousy years" as the Ranger's faithful Indian companion. ("Him let me peek under mask once. No big deal!") As to why he was no longer working with the Masked Man, Tonto said, "Him find out what Kemo Sabe means!"
In Spanish, Tonto means "Fool". In English it was spoken "TAHNT-oh", vs. the Spanish "TONE-to". Regardless, it is spelled the same way, and in Spanish speaking countries, the character was renamed "Toro", meaning "Bull". In the Potawatami language, the word is supposed to mean "Wild One". The Potawatomi were the tribe that he was mentioned as belonging to in the radio dramas. In certain Spanish-speaking parodies, the name "Tonto" was still widely used, perhaps because Tonto was seen as foolish for seemingly always being the one taking a beating from the townspeople, as with an early Bill Cosby routine in which Tonto is finally fed up.
- Lone Ranger: Tonto, you go to town.
- Tonto: You go to hell, Kemo Sabe!
- Lone Ranger: I want you to get the information.
- Tonto: Information say Tonto no go to town. That's what information say.
Rossini's finale to the William Tell Overture, which was supposed to represent a cavalry charge, was thus the perfect music for the Ranger as he and Silver sped along. The very-recognizable theme and its meter led to the following joke:
- Question: Where does the Lone Ranger take his garbage?
- Answer: To the dump, to the dump, to the dump-dump-dump!
The widespread popularity and admiration of the radio and TV series lent itself to inevitable parodies and takeoffs in cartoons and other popular media. Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels were not above joining in the fun, playing their own characters in TV ads from time to time, for modern products such as Aqua-Velva after shave lotion and Amoco "Silver" gasoline.
The character of the Lone Ranger fit closely with how America saw itself at the time, as a nation of believers in law and justice. On the premise of innocent until proven guilty, only the minimum force needed to subdue lawless citizens was to be used, to bring them to trial. This is explicitly stated in the very first TV episode. Right after the Ranger puts the mask on (which Tonto had fashioned from the vest belonging to his dead brother, Captain Reid), Tonto starts handing equipment to the Ranger:
- Tonto: Here, guns, to kill bad men.
- Reid: I'm not going to do any killing.
- Tonto: You not defend yourself?
- Reid: I'll shoot if I have to. But I'll shoot to wound, not to kill. If a man must die, it's up to the law to decide that, not the person behind a six-shooter!
- Tonto: That's right, Kemo Sabe!
- Tonto: You all alone now. Last man. You are lone Ranger.
- Reid: Yes, Tonto... I am... The Lone Ranger!
Resources
- Reginald Jones, The Mystery of the Masked Man's Music (ISBN 0810839741)
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