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Is there anyone who doesn’t recognize these lines:
A fiery
horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and 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 western United States! Nowhere in the pages of history can one find a
greater champion of justice! Return with us now to those thrilling days of
yesteryear! From out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the great
horse Silver! The Lone Ranger rides again!*
Many of us are familiar with the TV series, and a few of
us may even remember the radio show. More of us have probably seen the movies,
especially the most recent Johnny Depp debacle. I admit to all three but after alternately enjoying the
serious parts and viewing the slapstick ones disapprovingly, I decided to learn
exactly about the real Lone Ranger,
the model on which all other episodes, movies, etc., were based.
So I went to the source. How many of us have read The Lone Ranger Rides? I can truthfully say I have. I downloaded it online from Project
Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org) where
a good many classics have been restored and are available. Here’s what I found…
The first novel was written in 1936 by Gaylord Dubois, wth
Fran Striker developing, writing. and editing the rest. The novel I downloaded bears Fran Striker’s
name. The radio series anticipated the novel by three years.
Mythbuster #1: the title character is never named. He’s simply
called the Ranger. In the
series, he’s given the name “John Reid.”
His brother Dan Reid is supposedly also a Ranger (this justifies the
introduction of nephew Dan Reid in the radio series who later transfers to
another series to become the father of The Green Hornet.) Dan Reid is one
of the six men killed by the Cavendish gang. This also isn’t in the novel. At the end of the story, the Ranger returns to the six graves
(one of them his own) to tell his dead comrades he’s fulfilled his oath of
revenge. He names them:
The Lone
Ranger stood before the first of these and removed his hat and then his mask.
The soft, warm light of the sunset brought a glow into the Texan's upraised
face and wiped away the lines of pain and fatigue.
His lips
moved slowly, though the Texan's voice was silent. Then he dropped his eyes and
whispered, "Bert." He moved to the next grave and paused there,
whispering, "For you too, Jim." At the third small cross the Texan
whispered, "Dave," and at the next he called to, "Grant,"
then "Don."
At the last grave, his own, he buries his badge, as
depicted in the latest movie.
Mythbuster #2: “Hi-yo, Silver” didn’t start out that way.
Originally, it was “Hi there you, Silver horse. Away.” This is then shortened to “Hi you. Silver, away!” and later, to approximate a Texas
accent no doubt, it’s further shortened:
The
shout was one that later rang throughout the West--the clarion call—the tocsin
of a mystery rider who wore a mask. "Hi-Yo Silver, Away-y-y-y."
Mythbuster #3: The leader of the Cavendish gang isn’t Butch.
There isn’t a “Butch” in sight. The man believed to be the leader until near
the end of the story is Bryant Cavendish.
Mythbuster #4: the silver bullets. The Lone Ranger’s family owned a silver
mine which he never put into operation because he didn’t want to profit from
other men’s labor. Tonto takes
silver from the mine and makes silver bullets for his friend.
"Those
bullet," Tonto said, "are silver." It was true. The bullets in
the cartridges were hard, solid silver. The Texan looked puzzled. "That makes
pretty high-priced shooting," he said.
The silver bullets will also serve to determine to whom
the Ranger will show mercy as when he offers one to Penny:
"Take
this," he said offering the bullet, "and if there is any man in the
world whose life means a great deal to you, tell him to carry it at all
times."
Now, on to the story.
Bryant Cavendish owns a ranch in west Texas in a Basin
called Bryant’s Gap. He’s the patriarch of the ranch, bitter, inhospitable, but
giving a home to his orphaned niece and four nephews. Later when his nephew Mort kills his wife, he seeks someone
to help Penny raise the half-orphaned children. Bryant is getting old and
losing his eyesight and he’s unable to see that his nephews are slowly
replacing his faithful ranch hands with men wanted by the Law, men needing a
place to hide while they plot their crimes.
The descriptions of the nephews depict each man’s
character:
Vince
Cavendish was the runt of the family. About one hundred pounds of concentrated
ill will; a small package of frustrated manhood…a nature that'd poison a
rattler fool enough to bite him.
Jeb was
looked upon by everyone as not worth the powder to blow him to hell.
Mort was
the sort of man who would have liked to bear the weight of the world on
shoulders unsuited to support the burden of a household.
Wallie was
a wastrel, spending his money on fancy clothes, his days gambling and his nights tom-catting.**
Before the story opens, six Rangers, called to the ranch
by the cook, Gimlet, are ambushed in Bryant’s Gap. They are buried by a lone
Indian who discovers one still barely alive. The Indian is Tonto and this survivor is the unnamed man
becoming the Lone Ranger. They’ve been friends since childhood, the Ranger
meeting Tonto shortly after everyone in his village was killed in an Indian
war. When the white boy becomes a
Ranger, he and Tonto drift apart. They met again as adults when Tonto comes
upon this single survivor of the ambush. Tonto’s tribe is never mentioned.
(At this point, Tonto’s paint horse isn’t named but the
Ranger is already riding Silver.
Silver’s history is also given, of Wild Horse Valley and his parents Sylvan
and Moussa and how the white horse came to be tamed by the man who rode him.
Silver is hyper-intelligent and the Ranger speaks to him as if he were a
person.)
The Ranger is wounded in the left shoulder and the right
foot (a rather ignominious wound for a hero). For a little while, he’s
ambivalent about what he must do. He swears to avenge his fellow rangers but he
also remembers his mother teaching him the Ten Commandments, especially “Thou
shalt not kill.” For a good portion of the book he spends his time in a cave
convalescing while Tonto tries to find someone to bring them food. He finds her
in Penelope Cavendish, niece of Bryant. Penny, of course, is the heroine of the
piece…feisty, outspoken, virginal and brave enough to become friends with a lone
Indian she comes across on one of her rides. She’s loved from afar by Yuma, a young, bumbling blond
cowhand hired by her cousins. Yuma’s not necessarily one of the gang committing
the crimes but he’s so in love with Penny, he’s willing to confess to being
their leader to keep her from harm.
Tonto returns the Ranger’s guns to him, loaded with silver
bullets from his silver mine and Tonto also give him his mask, explaining if he
wears it, outlaws will more easily accept him and he can get closer to them. He
also returns the Ranger’s badge to him.
The
Texas Ranger's badge. The white man took it, looked at it, then closed his fist
about it tightly. "The Texas Rangers," he said softly, "are
dead. All six of them have gone. In
their
place there's just one man. The lone Ranger."**
Thus he becomes the lone
Ranger not because he works alone
but because he’s the last surviving
Ranger.
The outlaws force Bryant’s heirs to sign away the ranch so
they can take it over as their hideout. Several are killed in rather vicious
fashion and there are threats of torture. The identity of the true villain of
the story is kept well hidden until almost the end. True to the code set up for him, the Lone Ranger gives
everyone a chance to confess but that doesn’t happen. Though the Ranger does a
lot of talking, there’s nevertheless a shoot-out but he does keep the promise
to his mother while also keeping the oath sworn to his dead comrades.
The villains is foiled, the outlaws arrested, Yuma and
Penny go into a chaste clinch and Old Bryant asks the Ranger to stay and run
his ranch. That isn’t going to
happen, of course.
He swung
his leg across the saddle, and his voice rang out with a crystal clearness that
carried through Bryant's Gap, echoing and re-echoing from wall to wall.
"Hi-Yo Silver, Away-y-y!"
Silver
leaped ahead, his master in the saddle. Tonto rode behind and grinned in
happiness, following the tall masked man whom he called "friend."**
The Lone Ranger Rides contains 30 chapters. Some of the dialogue is stilted when
compared to today’s “realistic” way of writing though there are a surprising
number of “damns” present as well as a couple of “hells”. Since it’s set in Texas, there’s plenty
of phoenetic spellings to approximate Texas accents. Westernisms, such as galoot, chow, loco, savvy abound. I cringed at Tonto’s
broken English, but recovered because I made myself read it in the light of the
time it was written and not today’s equal
opportunity atmosphere.
All in all, The Lone Ranger Rides stands the
test of time. That’s why it’s a
classic, its appeal so overwhelming. Since that first radio episode on January
31, 1933 at Detroit’s station WXYZ in fact, it went on to become a series of
novels, with other writers taking over in later years. There were 2,956
episodes before the show went off the air, with a comic strip, comics (with a separate
comic series for Silver), serials, an animated series, a TV series, made for TV
movies, video games, and movies, the latest of which premiered last month.
If the latest movie had been portrayed with a little more
realism and a little less slapstick, it might’ve been a hit. A good Western revenge story is better
than a comedic homage any day. Johnny Depp might’ve been remembered for his
Tonto rather than becoming merely portraying Captain Jack Sparrow with
warpaint. Here’s hoping the next
attempt to portray The Lone Ranger remembers
that.
Ranger Facts:
The theme music was taken from the March of the Swiss Soldiers finale
of the William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini.
16 actors have portrayed the Ranger, with the most
well-known being Clayton Moore. 8 actors have played Tonto. With the exception
of Johnny Depp as the most recognizable, Jay Silverheels is considered he
quintessential Tonto.
The Lone Ranger’s Code:
I believe...
- That to have a friend, a man must be one.
- That all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world.
- That God put the firewood there, but that every man must gather and light it himself.
- In being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for what is right.
- That a man should make the most of what equipment he has.
- That 'this government of the people, by the people, and for the people' shall live always.
- That men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.
- That sooner or later...somewhere...somehow...we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken.
- That all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever.
- In my Creator, my country, my fellow man.*
Guidelines for development of the Ranger character:
- The Lone Ranger is never seen without his mask or a disguise.
- With emphasis on logic, The Lone Ranger is never captured or held for any length of time by lawmen
- The Lone Ranger always uses perfect grammar and precise
- The Lone Ranger never shoots to kill
- The Lone Ranger never wins against hopeless odds
- The Lone Ranger adversaries are usually groups whose power is such that large areas are at stake.
- Adversaries are never other than American to avoid criticism from minority groups
- Names of unsympathetic characters are carefully chosen to avoid even further vicarious association
- The Lone Ranger never drinks or smokes and saloon scenes are usually interpreted as cafes
- Criminals are never shown as successful or glamorous.
The
silver bullets used are to remind the Ranger that that life is precious and,
like his silver bullets, not to be wasted or thrown away.*
***********************************************
*quotes courtesy of Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lone_Ranger
**excerpts taken from Project Gutenberg download, www.gutenberg.org
