The Lone Ranger

Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked Texas Ranger who, along with his Native American companion Tonto, fights injustice throughout all of Texas.  The character has undoubtedly become a permanent image of America’s old west.

His first appearance in 1933 in a radio show was conceived by the radio station, WXYZ, located in Detroit, Michigan;  being such a huge hit, it gave rise to a likewise popular television show that ran from 1949 to 1957.

To most TV viewers there’s only one Lone Ranger, Clayton Moore. His side-kick, Tonto was played in the television series by Harold J. Smith, who was known as “Jay Silverheels” in Hollywood; he was a true ‘Canadian Mohawk First Nations’ Indian actor, nor just someone pretinding to be an Indian.

Although details occasionally differ, the basic story line of the origin of the Lone Ranger (aka Dan or John Reid) is the same in most versions of the franchise. He and five other Texas Rangers are ambushed by a band of bad men led by outlaw Butch Cavendish, who departed the ambush scene thinking all six Rangers were dead. Shortly there after, a Native American named Tonto stumbles upon the slaughter and recognizes the lone survivor, Dan Reid, as the same man who had saved his life at some time in the past. Tonto swiftly ‘nurses’ Reid back to health.   He must have healed quick because the two men soon dig 6 graves (so that Cavendish will think there were no survivors) for Reid's comrades, one of which was Reid's brother; he soon fashions himself a black mask using material from his brother's vest to conceal his identity. Soon the Cavendish gang is brought to justice, but Reid continues to fight evil under the guise of the Lone Ranger.

Tonto typically referred to the Lone Ranger as "Kemo Sabe", which means "trusty scout" or "trusted friend" in his native language.  Such colorful catchphrases became the stories trademark as did silver bullets, and the theme music from the ‘William Tell overture’ both of which are indelibly stamped in the memories of millions who grew up during the decades of the show's initial popularity on the radio as well as the television series.  Reruns of The Lone Ranger starring Clayton Moore were still being televised as of August 2010, all of sixty-one years after their first broadcast.

The radio series claimed Tonto was as a chief's son of the Potawatomi nation, the only problem is the majority of that tribe lived in the north east (Michigan area) U S and not in Texas but on the other hand, some books claim he is Apache.  The name Tonto translates as wild one in his own language but in Portuguese, Italian and Spanish, the word tonto means "fool" or "dumb". Because of this, his name was changed in some Spanish speaking countries to ‘Toro’ or ‘Ponto’ in the dubbed versions anyway.

Of Significant note:

In a recent (8-13-11) story by the Huffington Post, “The Lone Ranger,” featuring Johnny Depp in the new Disney Studio retelling of the classic western TV show has been shut down.  The estimated cost of the movie production, has been placed at $250 million, and is a good bit more than Disney wanted to spend according to reports. In light of Depp’s recent success in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, which has reportedly earned $2.5 Billion, I wonder about their reasoning.

In this now canceled version it was also reported that the role of Tonto (to have been played by Depp) was planned to be enhanced dramatically, eliminating all question regarding his level of intelligence.  In short, Depp’s Cherokee heritage may be part of the reasoning he apparently holds: Tonto  was never a dummy in the first place.

Sources …                                                                 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lone_Ranger                                http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/13/the-lone-ranger-production-shut-down_n_926218.html