January 31, 1933: "The Lone Ranger" Debuts

Clayton Moore, in the 1949-57 TV series

January 31, 1933: Detroit radio station WXYZ, 1270 on the AM dial, debuts a new program, The Lone Ranger, created by station owner George W. Trendle and writer Fran Striker. A legend is born.

While details differ across the various versions, the basic story of the Lone Ranger's origin is consistent in most versions of the franchise. He is the sole survivor of a group of 6 ambushed Texas Rangers, sometime after the American Civil War. The Rangers, led by Captain Dan Reid, pursue a band of outlaws led by Bartholomew "Butch" Cavendish, but are betrayed by a civilian guide who was secretly working with Cavendish, and who led the unsuspecting Rangers into an ambush at a canyon known as Bryant's Gap.

Later, a Native American named Tonto discovers one of the Rangers, Captain Reid's younger brother, John Reid, barely alive, and he nurses the man to health. In some versions, Tonto recognizes the lone survivor as the man who had saved his life when they both were children. According to the television series, Tonto gave Reid a ring and the name "Kemo Sabe," which he said means "trusty scout." (In some versions, it means "trusted friend.")

John tells Tonto that he intends to hunt down Cavendish and his men, and to bring them to justice. To conceal his identity, and honor his fallen brother, Reid fashions a black domino mask using cloth from his late brother's vest. To aid in the deception, Tonto digs a sixth grave and places at its head a cross bearing John Reid's name, so that Cavendish and his gang will believe that all the Rangers had been killed. In many versions, Reid continues fighting for justice as the Lone Ranger even after the Cavendish gang is captured.

Trendle and Striker drew up guidelines for the Lone Ranger, including a strict moral code:

• He was never seen without his mask or some sort of disguise.
• He was never captured or held for any length of time by lawmen, avoiding his being unmasked.
• He always used perfect grammar and precise speech, devoid of slang and colloquialisms -- not only making him different from many other Western characters, before and after, but also making him understandable in all regions of the country, once the show got nationally syndicated.
• Whenever he was forced to use guns, he never shot to kill, but instead tried to disarm his opponent as painlessly as possible.
• He was never put in a hopeless situation; for example, he was never seen escaping from a barrage of gunfire merely by fleeing toward the horizon.
• He rarely referred to himself as "the Lone Ranger." If someone's suspicions were aroused, either he would present one of his silver bullets to confirm his identity, or someone else would attest on his behalf; the latter happened at the end of most episodes when someone would ask, "Who was that masked man?" as the Lone Ranger departed. His decision to adopt the moniker of Lone Ranger was inspired by Tonto: Following the ambush at Bryant's Gap, Tonto observed him to be the only Ranger left. In other words, he was the "lone" Ranger.
• Though the Lone Ranger offered his aid to individuals or small groups facing powerful adversaries, the ultimate objective of his story always implied that their benefit was only a byproduct of the development of the West or the country.
• Adversaries were rarely other than American, to avoid criticism from minority groups, with some exceptions. He sometimes battled foreign agents, though their nation of origin was generally not named. An exception was his having helped the Mexican statesman Benito Juárez against French troops of Emperor Maximilian, as occurred in the radio episodes "Supplies for Juarez" (September 18, 1939), "Hunted by Legionnaires" (September 20, 1939), and "Lafitte's Reinforcements" (September 22, 1939).
• The names of unsympathetic characters were carefully chosen, so that they never consisted of two names if it could be avoided. More often than not, a single nickname or surname was selected.
• The Lone Ranger never drank or smoked, and saloon scenes were usually shown as cafes, with waiters and food instead of bartenders and liquor.
• Criminals were never shown in enviable positions of wealth or power, and they were never successful or glamorous.

The original radio series was directed by John Jewell, who came up with the names "Tonto" and "Kemosabe." Although clearly highly intelligent, Tonto spoke in broken English, to emphasize that he had learned it as a second language. Unfortunately, this perpetuated the stereotype of "Indians" speaking in such form: If he had the infamous Star Wars line, it would have been "Me have bad feeling about this, Kemosabe." In the local Native American language, "Tonto" meant "wild one." But because it means "stupid" in Spanish, the character was renamed "Toro," for "Bull," in the media of Spanish-speaking countries.

The Lone Ranger's horse was white, and named Silver, and when he rode away at the end of each episode, he would yell, "Hi-yo, Silver, away!" Tonto rode a paint horse named Scout, and would yell, "Get 'em up, Scout!"

George Seaton was the first voice of the Lone Ranger, until Earle Graser took over on May 16, 1933. On April 8, 1941, he was killed in a car accident. Brace Beemer took over until the end of the radio show in 1954. Tonto was played by John Todd.

From the beginning of the radio series, the Lone Ranger's theme has been "March of the Swiss Soldiers," the 4th and final part of the Overture to Giacomo Rossini's 1829 opera William Tell.

Republic Pictures released 2 film serials: The Lone Ranger in 1938, starring Lee Powell; and The Lone Ranger Rides Again, starring Robert Livingston. Both times, Tonto was played by Victor Daniels, under the name Chief Thunder-Cloud.

The best-known version of the character was on a TV series that ran from 1949 to 1957, and was the 1st hit show for the new ABC television network. The opening sequence featured the William Tell Overture, and announcer Fred Foy saying:

The Lone Ranger! A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust, a hearty "Hi-yo, Silver!" The Lone Ranger! With his faithful Indian companion, Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the Plains led the fight for law and order in the early West. Return with us, now, to those thrilling days of yesteryear! The Lone Ranger rides again!

Clayton Moore starred in the 1949-50 and 1950-51 seasons, before being fired in a salary dispute with George Trendle, who still had the rights to the character. John Hart replaced Moore in the 1952-53 season. Trendle sold the rights in 1954, and Moore was immediately rehired for the 1954-55 season. The series did not run in 1955-56, but was brought back for one more season in 1956-57. Throughout the series, Tonto was played by Jay Silverheels, a Mohawk actor from Canada.

For the rest of their lives, both Moore and Hart made public appearances as the Lone Ranger. On a 1982 episode of Happy Days, Hart played himself, in costume, because the Lone Ranger was the hero of the character of Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli. The Ranger gave the Fonz a silver bullet.

The TV show had such an effect that reviving the character has proven problematic. In 1961, CBS produced a pilot, Return of the Lone Ranger, starring Tex Hill, but it wasn't picked up. In 1981, The Legend of the Lone Ranger starred Klinton Spilsbury. Tonto was played by Native actor Michael Horse, and Butch Cavendish by Christopher Lloyd. "Wild West" figures Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody and George Armstrong Custer were depicted, and Jason Robards played President Ulysses S. Grant. The film was a massive flop, Spilsbury was particularly roasted by the critics, and he never appeared in another film.

In 2013, The Walt Disney Company tried again, with Armie Hammer as the Lone Ranger (wearing a white hat as always, but otherwise wearing black instead of his traditional powder blue), Johnny Depp as a supposedly more accurate-looking (but ultimately ridiculous-looking) Tonto, and William Fichtner as Cavendish. It was another flop. In a sick irony, Fichtner's version of Cavendish is said to be a cannibal; while, in 2021, Hammer was accused of abusing women, including the claim that he wanted to eat them.

George Seaton, as said, died in 1941, Victor Daniels in 1955, John Todd in 1957, Fran Striker in 1962, Brace Beemer in 1965, George Trendle in 1972, George Seaton in 1979, Jay Silverheels in 1980, Clayton Moore in 1999, John Hart in 2009, Fred Foy in 2010, and Tex Hill in 2014. As of January 31, 2022, Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse, Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp are still alive.

As a fan of hockey's New Jersey Devils, I have noted that their arch-rivals, the New York Rangers, whom Devils (and New York Islanders) fans like to say "suck," wear blue shirts, although a deeper blue than that worn by the Lone Ranger. Noting also that baseball's Texas Rangers and Scottish soccer's Rangers Football Club also wear blue shirts -- and that they also have an unfortunate string of bigotry in their fan bases -- I like to say, "The only Ranger in a blue shirt who doesn't suck is the Lone Ranger."

In 1936, WXYZ introduced another hero, set in the present day: The Green Hornet. The identity was adopted by newspaper publisher Britt Reid, son of Dan Reid Jr., grandson of Dan Reid, and thus the grandnephew of the Lone Ranger. This fact was not revealed until a 1947 episode of the radio series, when Britt reveals his dual identity to his father, who explains that he's not the first costumed crimefighter in the family. Every subsequent version of the Hornet has added a generation, but he's still descended from the Lone Ranger's martyred brother.

In 1935, WXYZ moved from Mutual Broadcasting to the NBC Blue Network. In 1946, NBC Blue separated from NBC, and became the American Broadcasting Company, or ABC. In the 1950s, "Wixy" became Detroit's Top 40 radio station. In 1967, losing its audience to WKNR, and to CKLW across the river in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, it switched to an adult contemporary format. WXYZ switched to talk radio in 1978. Since 1984, the station has used the call letters WXYT. In 2000, it switched to sports talk.

Writing in the Denver Post in 1962, Jack Guin wrote, "An intellectual is a man who can listen to the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger." Less intellectual even than that is a joke:

Q: Where does the Lone Ranger take his garbage?
A: To the dump, to the dump, to the dump, dump, dump!

*

January 31, 1933 was a Tuesday. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Camille Henry of the New York Rangers was born on this day.

Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. But there were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The New York Americans lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 7-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators, 3-1 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Boston Bruins, 5-1 at the Boston Garden.

* The Montreal Maroons were the only team not scheduled.