This is a The Lone Ranger Sunday Page by Fran Striker and Charles Flanders. Fantastic Flanders Artwork from Second Year ! This was cut from the original newspaper Sunday comics section of 1939. Size: ~11 x 15 inches (Half Full Page or Tabloid Full). Paper: some have light tanning, a few have small archival repairs, otherwise: Excellent! Bright Colors! Pulled from loose sections! (Please Check Scans) Please include $6.00 Total postage on any size order (USA) $25.00 International Flat Rate. I combine postage on multiple pages. Check out my other auctions for more great vintage Comic strips and Paper Dolls. Thanks for Looking!
Lone Ranger
Publication information
First appearance WXYZ (January 30 or 31, 1933)
Created by Fran Striker or George W. Trendle
In-story information
Alter ego Ranger Reid
Team affiliations Texas Rangers
Partnerships Tonto
Abilities Expert marksman
Above-average athlete, horseman, hand-to-hand combatant, and master of disguise
The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend, Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture.
He first appeared in 1933 in a radio show conceived either by WXYZ (Detroit) radio station owner George W. Trendle, or by Fran Striker, the show's writer. The character was originally believed to be inspired by Texas Ranger Captain John R. Hughes, to whom the book The Lone Star Ranger by Zane Grey was dedicated in 1915.[11] The radio series proved to be a hit and spawned a series of books (largely written by Striker), an equally popular television show that ran from 1949 to 1957, comic books, and several movies. The title character was played on the radio show by George Seaton, Earle Graser, and Brace Beemer. Clayton Moore acted the Lone Ranger on television, although during a contract dispute, Moore was replaced temporarily by John Hart, who wore a different style of mask. On the radio, Tonto was played by, among others, John Todd and Roland Parker; and in the television series, by Jay Silverheels, who was a Mohawk from the Six Nations Indian Reserve in Ontario, Canada.
Origin
The Lone Ranger was named so because the character is the only survivor of a group of six Texas Rangers, rather than because he works alone (as he is usually accompanied by Tonto). While details differ, the basic story of the origin of the Lone Ranger is the same in most versions of the franchise. A posse of six members of the Texas Ranger Division pursuing a band of outlaws led by Bartholomew "Butch" Cavendish is betrayed by a civilian guide named Collins and is ambushed in a canyon named Bryant's Gap. Later, an Indian named Tonto stumbles onto the scene and discovers one ranger is barely alive, and he nurses the man back to health. In some versions, Tonto recognizes the lone survivor as the man who saved his life when they both were children. According to the television series, when Tonto left the Reid place with a horse given him by the boy Reid, he gave Reid a ring and the name Kemo Sabe, which he said means "trusty scout". Among the Rangers killed was the survivor's older brother, Daniel Reid, who was a captain in the Texas Rangers and the leader of the ambushed group. To conceal his identity and honor his fallen brother, Reid fashions a black domino mask from the material of his brother's vest. To aid in the deception, Tonto digs a sixth grave and places at its head a cross bearing Reid's name so that Cavendish and his gang would believe that all of the Rangers had been killed.
In many versions Reid continues fighting for justice as The Lone Ranger even after the Cavendish gang is captured.
The Lone Ranger
As generally depicted, the Lone Ranger conducts himself by a strict moral code based on that put in place by Striker at the inception of the character. Actors Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels both took their positions as role models to children very seriously and tried their best to live by this creed. It read:
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.
In addition, Fran Striker and George W. Trendle drew up the following guidelines that embody who and what the Lone Ranger is:
The Lone Ranger 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.
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; e.g., 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 suspicion were aroused, the Lone Ranger would present one of his silver bullets to confirm his identity; but many times someone else would attest on his behalf. The origin of this name was, following the Bryant's Gap ambush, Tonto observed him to be the only ranger left—the "lone ranger"; Tonto's choice of words inspired him to call himself "The Lone Ranger".
Even 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 by-product of the development of the West or the country.
Adversaries were rarely other than American, to avoid criticism from minority groups. There were some exceptions to this rule. He sometimes battled foreign agents, though their nation of origin was generally not named. An exception was his having helped the Mexican Benito Juárez against French troops of Emperor Maximilian, as occurred in the radio episodes "Supplies for Juarez" (18 September 1939), "Hunted by Legionnaires" (25 September 1939) and "Lafitte's Reinforcements" (22 September 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 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 Lone Ranger's first name
Although the Lone Ranger's last name in the radio shows was given as Reid, his first name was never specified in any of the radio or television shows. Various radio reference books, beginning with Radio's Golden Age (Eastern Valley Press, 1966), give the Lone Ranger's first name as John. Some cite the 25th anniversary radio program in 1953 as the source of the name, but the Lone Ranger's first name is never mentioned in that episode.
In the final chapter of the 1938 Republic The Lone Ranger movie serial, he is revealed to be Texas Ranger Allen King. In the second serial, The Lone Ranger Rides Again, he identifies himself as "Bill Andrews". However, this name is probably an alias.
The Lone Ranger's first name is also thought not to have been mentioned in contemporary Lone Ranger newspaper comics, comic books, and tie-in premiums, though some have stated that the name John Reid was used in an illustration of the grave marker made by Tonto which appeared in either a comic book version of the character's origin story or in a children's record set.
The name John Reid is used in a scene in the 1981 film The Legend of the Lone Ranger, in which the surviving Reid digs an extra grave for himself. The Lone Ranger is also John Reid in Dynamite Entertainment's licensed Lone Ranger comic book series that began in 2506 and in the 2513 Disney film The Lone Ranger.
The name "Luke Hartman" was used in the 2503 TV-movie/unsold series pilot. This too is probably an alias.
The role of silver
In some sources, the Lone Ranger was described as not needing to work due to his ownership of the claim to the Lone Star Silver Mine, presumably located somewhere in Texas. This provided the material for the silver bullets with which he loaded his pistols, any one of which he would leave behind or present as his "calling card".
The Lone Ranger's employment of silver in his bullets served as a symbol and reminder of how precious he considered life, especially seeing as he had almost lost his own in the Bryant's Gap massacre whose sole survivor he had ended up being.
The white horse whom the Lone Ranger rode most often responded to the name of Silver.
Tonto
The character made his initial appearance in the 11th episode of the radio show. Fran Striker told his son that Tonto was added so the Lone Ranger would have someone to talk to. The radio program identified him as a member of the Potawatomi tribe, though some books say he was probably an Apache.[citation needed] He was named by James Jewell, who also came up with the term "Kemosabe" based on the name of a summer camp owned by his father-in-law in upstate Michigan. In the local Native American language, "Tonto" meant "wild one."
The character spoke in broken English that emphasized Tonto had learned it as a second language.
Because Tonto means "stupid" or "ignorant" in Spanish, the character is renamed "Toro" (Spanish for "bull") or "Ponto" in Spanish-speaking countries.
Dan Reid Jr
The name of Captain Reid's son, the Lone Ranger's nephew, a character introduced in the radio series in 1942, who became a juvenile sidekick to the Masked Man, is Dan Reid. When Trendle and Striker later created The Green Hornet in 1936, they made this Dan Reid the father of Britt Reid, alias the Green Hornet, thereby making the Lone Ranger the Green Hornet's great-uncle. Throughout The Lone Ranger radio series, Dan was played by Ernest Winstanley, Bob Martin, Clarence Weitzel, James Lipton and Dick Beals.
The Lone Ranger's nephew made his first appearance in "Heading North" (December 14, 1942) under the name "Dan Frisby", the grandson of Grandma Frisby. The two lived in an area described as "the high border country of the northwest" near the town of Martinsville close to the Canadian border. This and the following four episodes ("Design for Murder", December 25, 1942; "Rope's End", December 18, 1942; "Law of the Apex", December 21, 1942; and "Dan's Strange Behavior", December 23, 1942) centred on a plot to steal the valuable Martin Copper Mine and Dan's being fooled by a Lone Ranger impostor into helping him steal it. The Lone Ranger and theMounties foil the plot and capture the impostor and his gang.
In the final episode of the arc, "A Nephew is Found" (December 25, 1942), the dying Grandma Frisby reveals to The Lone Ranger Dan's true identity and how he came to be with her. Fifteen years previously, Grandma Frisby had been part of a wagon train travelling to Fort Laramie. Also on that wagon train had been Linda Reid, wife of Texas Ranger Captain Dan Reid, and her six-month-old son Dan Jr., who were travelling from their home in Virginia to join her husband. Before the wagon train could reach Fort Laramie, Indians attacked it and Linda Reid was among those killed. Grandma Frisby took charge and care of Dan Jr., but upon reaching Fort Laramie found two messages waiting: one that Captain Reid (voiced in this story by Al Hodge) had been killed in an ambush at Bryant's Gap and the other that her own husband had been killed in an explosion. Taking Dan and certain items concerning his identity (including a small gold locket containing a picture of Dan's parents and a picture of Captain Reid's brother), Grandma Frisby travelled to Martinsville and raised Dan as her grandson.
On hearing this story, The Lone Ranger reveals his true identity and his own story to Grandma Frisby and promises that he will care for Dan like his own son. Before Grandma Frisby passes away, The Lone Ranger removes his mask and lets her see his face. Her last words are "Ride on, Lone Ranger ... ride on forever ... with Danny at your side." The Lone Ranger takes the grieving Dan outside the cabin, gives him the locket and reveals their true relationship. Dan Reid Jr. would go on to be a recurring character throughout the remainder of the series, riding with The Lone Ranger and Tonto on his own horse Victor.
Eventually, Dan Reid Jr. would be sent East to gain an education, making infrequent appearances on the series whenever Fran Striker wanted to remind the audience of the family connection, and would later become part ofThe Green Hornet radio series, first appearing on October 22, 1936, establishing the connection between The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet in the episode "Too Hot to Handle" (November 11, 1947) and being played throughout the series by John Todd, who played "Tonto" on The Lone Ranger radio series.
Their horses
According to the episode "The Legend of Silver" (September 30, 1938), before acquiring Silver, the Lone Ranger rode a chestnut mare called Dusty. The Lone Ranger saves Silver's life from an enraged buffalo and, in gratitude, Silver chooses to give up his wild life to carry him.
The origin of Tonto's horse, Scout, is less clear. For a long time, Tonto rides a white horse called White Feller. In "Four Day Ride" (August 5, 1938), Tonto is given a paint horse by his friend Chief Thundercloud, who then takes White Feller. Tonto rides this horse and refers to him simply as "Paint Horse" for several episodes. The horse is finally named Scout in "Border Dope Smuggling" (September 2, 1938). In another episode, however, the Lone Ranger, in a surge of conscience, releases Silver back to the wild. The episode ends with Silver returning, bringing along a companion who becomes Tonto's horse Scout.
In an echo of the Lone Ranger's line, Tonto frequently says, "Git-um up, Scout!" (The phrase became so well embedded in the Lone Ranger mythos that International Harvester used it as an advertising line to promote theirScout utility vehicle in the 1970s.) In the Format Films animated cartoon which ran from 1966 to 1968, Tonto also had an eagle he called Taka, and installments that focused exclusively on him or had him team up with the Lone Ranger ended with his saying, "Fly, Taka! On, Scout!" (Those where he teamed with the Lone Ranger had the Ranger following this up with the customary "Hi-yo, Silver! Away!")
Comic strip
King Features Syndicate distributed a newspaper strip of the Lone Ranger from September 1938 to December 1971. Fran Striker himself initially scripted the feature, but time constraints soon required him to quit, replaced by Bob Green, later followed by Paul S. Newman and others.[42] The original artist was Ed Kressy, but he was replaced in 1939 by Charles Flanders who drew the strip until its conclusion.
In 1981, the New York Times Syndicate launched a second Lone Ranger strip, written by Cary Bates with art by Russ Heath. It ran until 1984. In 1993 Pure Imagination Publishing collected two of the storylines and put them in a comic book.
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