SIEGEL: He didn't even have a hint of a Texas accent about him, as he spoke. That's what George Trendle read the scripts for. JR.: The Lone Ranger always used dead-on perfect English. A man drinks that kind of medicine to forget something he does want to remember. UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: May I offer you gentlemen to drink? A man must die, it's up to the Lord to decide that not the person behind the six shooter. MOORE: (as The Lone Ranger) I'll shoot to wound, not to kill. Fran Striker started writing and, over the course of a dozen episodes, a character took shape - a paragon of virtue. SIEGEL: And the owner of WXYZ, George Trendle, wanted a Western. JR.: And they were buying five programs a week from him.
SIEGEL: In 1933, Fran Striker - a self-described hack writer - was in Buffalo, New York, writing radio scripts for, among other stations, WXYZ in Detroit. And my father's name was Fran Striker and he was the creator and author of "The Lone Ranger." MOORE: (as The Lone Ranger) Hi-yo, Silver, away.įRAN STRIKER, JR.: Well, my name is Fran Striker, Jr. But he always wore a mask, he always pursued justice and he never accepted praise or payment. On radio, in movies, in novels, on television, in comic books, his story has been embroidered, embellished and rewritten. SIEGEL: He has been The Lone Ranger ever since. MOORE: (as The Lone Ranger) Yes, Tonto, I am a lone ranger. SILVERHEELS: (as Tonto) You all alone now, last man. SIEGEL: Including Captain Dan Reid, the Ranger's own brother. MOORE: (as The Lone Ranger) The other rangers, Tonto, all dead? SIEGEL: The Indian recognized his voice companion, carried into a nearby cave and nursed him back to health. SILVERHEELS: (as Tonto) Why you - you Kemosabe.ĬLAYTON MOORE: (as The Lone Ranger) Kemosabe? That sounds familiar. SIEGEL: The ranger who was wounded but still clinging to life had saved that Indian from outlaw raiders for a few years earlier, when the two were just boys. After the shooting was over, an Indian man happened upon the scene of the ambush. SIEGEL: Five died, the sixth was left for dead and would have died that day but for an amazing coincidence. SIEGEL: Writhing on the canyon floor, they came under rifle fire from a gang of outlaws on the cliffs above. (SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS AND A NEIGHING HORSE) In 1874, six Texas Rangers were betrayed by a guide and ambushed at Bryant's Gap.įOY: It's an ambush, men. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SERIES, "THE LONE RANGER") So, for our 2008 series, In Character, Robert marked "The Lone Ranger's" 75th anniversary. The old TV show, which aired in the 1950s, was a favorite of Robert's when he was a boy. And our excuse is the new "Lone Ranger" movie, which has opened to mixed reviews. But, we're going to return with him now to a thrilling day of yesteryear. My colleague, Robert Siegel, is off today for the holiday. It's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.
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