The Lone Ranger (TV Series)
Encyclopedia
The Lone Ranger is an American
western
television series starring Clayton Moore
(John Hart
from 1952 to 1954) and Jay Silverheels
as Tonto. The live-action series initially featured Gerald Mohr
as the episode narrator. Fred Foy
served as both narrator and announcer of the radio series from 1948 to its finish and became announcer of the television version when story narration was dropped there. This was by far the highest-rated television program on the ABC
network in the early 1950s and its first true "hit".
retained the title of producer, he recognized that his experience in radio would not be adequate for producing the television series. For this, he hired veteran MGM film producer Jack Chertok
. Chertok served as the producer for the first 182 episodes as well as for a rarely seen 1955 color special retelling the origin.
Numerous western stars guested on The Lone Ranger. John M. Pickard
appeared in different roles in seven episodes.
The first 78 episodes were produced and broadcast for 78 consecutive weeks without any breaks or reruns. Then the entire 78 episodes were shown again before any new episodes were produced. All were shot in Utah
and California
. Much of the series was shot at the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California.
When it came time to produce another batch of 52 episodes, there was a wage dispute with Clayton Moore (until his death, the actor insisted the problem was creative differences), and John Hart
was hired to play the role of the Lone Ranger. Once again, the 52 new episodes were aired in sequence followed by 52 weeks rerunning them. Despite expectations that the mask would make the switch workable, Hart was not accepted in the role, and his episodes were not seen again until the 1980s.
At the end of the fifth year of the television series, Trendle sold the Lone Ranger rights to Jack Wrather
, who bought them on August 3, 1954. Wrather immediately rehired Clayton Moore to play the Lone Ranger and another 52 episodes were produced. Once again, they were broadcast as a full year of new episodes followed by a full year of reruns.
The final season saw a number of changes, the most obvious at the time being an episode count of the by-then industry standard 39. Wrather invested money out of his own pocket to film in color—then-perennial third place finisher ABC telecasting only in black and white—and to go back outdoors for more than just second-unit style action footage, the series having been otherwise restricted to studio sound stages after the first filming block. Another big change, not readily detectable by the viewers, was replacing Jack Chertok with producer Sherman A. Harris. By this time, Chertok had established his own television production company and was busy producing other shows.
Wrather decided not to negotiate further with the network and took the property to the big screen, canceling TV production. The last new episode of the color series was broadcast June 6, 1957, and the series ended September 12, 1957, although ABC reaped the benefits of daytime reruns for several more years. Wrather's company produced two modestly budgeted theatrical features, The Lone Ranger (1956) (the cast included former child actress Bonita Granville
, who had by then married Wrather after his divorce
from a daughter of former Texas Governor
W. Lee O'Daniel
) and The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
(1958).
Tyler MacDuff
, who guest-starred in three Lone Ranger episodes from 1953 to 1957, was the only person to say on television both "Who was that masked man?" and "That was the Lone Ranger!" Kim Spalding
guest-starred in three The Lone Ranger episodes from 1950 to 1953 at the beginning of his short acting career. The character actor I. Stanford Jolley
made his first appearances in television westerns in 1950 and over the following three years appeared in six episodes of The Lone Ranger.
The child actor Michael Winkelman
appeared as Chip Truett in one of the last episodes of the series, on April 4, 1957, "The Prince of Buffalo Gap."
released the box set "Gun Justice Featuring The Lone Ranger" with other westerns including Annie Oakley
, The Adventures of Kit Carson
, The Cisco Kid
, Cowboy G-Men
, Judge Roy Bean
, The Gabby Hayes Show
, and The Roy Rogers Show
.
On November 11, 2009, a 75th Anniversary edition was released to commemorate the show.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
television series starring Clayton Moore
Clayton Moore
Clayton Moore was an American actor best known for playing the fictional western character The Lone Ranger from 1949–1951 and 1954-1957 on the television series of the same name.-Early years:...
(John Hart
John Hart (actor)
John Hart was an American motion picture and television actor, born in Los Angeles, California. In his early career, he appeared mostly in Westerns...
from 1952 to 1954) and Jay Silverheels
Jay Silverheels
Jay Silverheels was a Canadian Mohawk First Nations actor. He was well known for his role as Tonto, the faithful American Indian companion of the Lone Ranger in a long-running American television series. -Early life:...
as Tonto. The live-action series initially featured Gerald Mohr
Gerald Mohr
Gerald Mohr was an American radio, film and television character actor who appeared in over 4,000 radio plays, 73 films and over 100 television shows....
as the episode narrator. Fred Foy
Fred Foy
Frederick William Foy was an American radio and television announcer, who used Fred Foy as his professional name. He is best known for his narration of The Lone Ranger...
served as both narrator and announcer of the radio series from 1948 to its finish and became announcer of the television version when story narration was dropped there. This was by far the highest-rated television program on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
network in the early 1950s and its first true "hit".
Production
Although George W. TrendleGeorge W. Trendle
George Washington Trendle was a Detroit lawyer and businessman, best known as the producer of the Lone Ranger radio and television programs along with The Green Hornet. He is entombed in Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery.-Movie theaters:...
retained the title of producer, he recognized that his experience in radio would not be adequate for producing the television series. For this, he hired veteran MGM film producer Jack Chertok
Jack Chertok
Jack Chertok was an American film and television producer perhaps best known to modern viewers as producer for the 182 black and white episodes of The Lone Ranger.-Career:...
. Chertok served as the producer for the first 182 episodes as well as for a rarely seen 1955 color special retelling the origin.
Numerous western stars guested on The Lone Ranger. John M. Pickard
John Pickard (American actor)
John M. Pickard was an American actor who appeared primarily in television Westerns.-Early life and career:...
appeared in different roles in seven episodes.
The first 78 episodes were produced and broadcast for 78 consecutive weeks without any breaks or reruns. Then the entire 78 episodes were shown again before any new episodes were produced. All were shot in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Much of the series was shot at the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California.
When it came time to produce another batch of 52 episodes, there was a wage dispute with Clayton Moore (until his death, the actor insisted the problem was creative differences), and John Hart
John Hart (actor)
John Hart was an American motion picture and television actor, born in Los Angeles, California. In his early career, he appeared mostly in Westerns...
was hired to play the role of the Lone Ranger. Once again, the 52 new episodes were aired in sequence followed by 52 weeks rerunning them. Despite expectations that the mask would make the switch workable, Hart was not accepted in the role, and his episodes were not seen again until the 1980s.
At the end of the fifth year of the television series, Trendle sold the Lone Ranger rights to Jack Wrather
Jack Wrather
John Devereaux "Jack" Wrather, Jr. , was a petroleum millionaire who became a television producer and later diversified by investing in broadcast stations and resort properties...
, who bought them on August 3, 1954. Wrather immediately rehired Clayton Moore to play the Lone Ranger and another 52 episodes were produced. Once again, they were broadcast as a full year of new episodes followed by a full year of reruns.
The final season saw a number of changes, the most obvious at the time being an episode count of the by-then industry standard 39. Wrather invested money out of his own pocket to film in color—then-perennial third place finisher ABC telecasting only in black and white—and to go back outdoors for more than just second-unit style action footage, the series having been otherwise restricted to studio sound stages after the first filming block. Another big change, not readily detectable by the viewers, was replacing Jack Chertok with producer Sherman A. Harris. By this time, Chertok had established his own television production company and was busy producing other shows.
Wrather decided not to negotiate further with the network and took the property to the big screen, canceling TV production. The last new episode of the color series was broadcast June 6, 1957, and the series ended September 12, 1957, although ABC reaped the benefits of daytime reruns for several more years. Wrather's company produced two modestly budgeted theatrical features, The Lone Ranger (1956) (the cast included former child actress Bonita Granville
Bonita Granville
Bonita Granville was an American film actress and television producer.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Granville was the daughter of stage actors, and made her film debut at the age of nine in Westward Passage...
, who had by then married Wrather after his divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
from a daughter of former Texas Governor
Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...
W. Lee O'Daniel
W. Lee O'Daniel
Wilbert Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel, , was a conservative Democratic Party politician from Texas, who came to prominence by hosting a popular radio program. Known for his populist appeal, Pappy O'Daniel was the governor of Texas and later its junior U.S. Senator. He is also the only person ever to have...
) and The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold is a Western film based on the TV show The Lone Ranger, starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels....
(1958).
Cast
- Fred FoyFred FoyFrederick William Foy was an American radio and television announcer, who used Fred Foy as his professional name. He is best known for his narration of The Lone Ranger...
as AnnouncerAnnouncerAn announcer is a presenter who makes "announcements" in an audio medium or a physical location.-Television and other media:Some announcers work in television production , radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in...
(221 episodes, 1949–1957) - Jay SilverheelsJay SilverheelsJay Silverheels was a Canadian Mohawk First Nations actor. He was well known for his role as Tonto, the faithful American Indian companion of the Lone Ranger in a long-running American television series. -Early life:...
as TontoTontoTonto may mean:* Tonto, a band of Apache native Americans.* Tonto, the fictional sidekick to the Lone Ranger.* "Tonto", a song by the American math rock band Battles, from their album Mirrored.** "Tonto+", the EP centered around said song....
(217 episodes, 1949–1957) - Clayton MooreClayton MooreClayton Moore was an American actor best known for playing the fictional western character The Lone Ranger from 1949–1951 and 1954-1957 on the television series of the same name.-Early years:...
as The Lone RangerThe Lone RangerThe Lone Ranger is a fictional masked Texas Ranger who, with his Native American companion Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. The character has become an enduring icon of American culture....
(169 episodes, 1949–1951, 1954–1957) - John HartJohn Hart (actor)John Hart was an American motion picture and television actor, born in Los Angeles, California. In his early career, he appeared mostly in Westerns...
as The Lone Ranger (52 episodes, 1952–1953) - Gerald MohrGerald MohrGerald Mohr was an American radio, film and television character actor who appeared in over 4,000 radio plays, 73 films and over 100 television shows....
as NarratorNarratorA narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
(16 episodes, 1949) - Lane Bradford as Duke Wade (15 episodes, 1949–1957)
- Chuck Courtney as Dan Reid (Lone Ranger's nephew) (14 episodes, 1950–1955)
Tyler MacDuff
Tyler MacDuff
Tyler MacDuff, born Tyler Glenn Duff, Jr. , was an American actor, primarily on television westerns and dramas who was cast as Billy the Kid in The Boy from Oklahoma.-Biography:...
, who guest-starred in three Lone Ranger episodes from 1953 to 1957, was the only person to say on television both "Who was that masked man?" and "That was the Lone Ranger!" Kim Spalding
Kim Spalding
Kim Spalding was an American actor who appeared on television and in film between 1950 and 1961.Spalding's first role was as an uncredited clerk in the 1950 film The Gunfighter, starring Gregory Peck as Jimmy Ringo. From 1950-1953, Spalding appeared in different roles in the western television...
guest-starred in three The Lone Ranger episodes from 1950 to 1953 at the beginning of his short acting career. The character actor I. Stanford Jolley
I. Stanford Jolley
Isaac Stanford Jolley, Sr., known as I. Stanford Jolley was a prolific American character actor of film and television, primarily in western roles as cowboys, law-enforcement officers, or villains...
made his first appearances in television westerns in 1950 and over the following three years appeared in six episodes of The Lone Ranger.
The child actor Michael Winkelman
Michael Winkelman
Michael L. Winkelman was an American child actor best known for his role as Little Luke McCoy from 1957 to 1963 in 157 episodes of the situation comedy television series, The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan in the title role of Grandpa Amos McCoy, with Richard Crenna as Luke McCoy, older...
appeared as Chip Truett in one of the last episodes of the series, on April 4, 1957, "The Prince of Buffalo Gap."
DVD release
On March 31, 2009, Mill Creek EntertainmentMill Creek Entertainment
Mill Creek Entertainment is a home entertainment company that manufactures movie and television DVD compilation box sets at "value" prices. Nashville's Amity Entertainment is an affiliate to Mill Creek...
released the box set "Gun Justice Featuring The Lone Ranger" with other westerns including Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley (TV series)
Annie Oakley is an American Western television series which fictionalized the life of famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley. It ran from January 1954 to February 1957 in syndication. ABC showed reruns on Saturday and Sunday daytime from 1959–1960 and from 1964-1965...
, The Adventures of Kit Carson
The Adventures of Kit Carson
The Adventures of Kit Carson is an American Western series that aired in syndication from August 1951 to November 1955, originally sponsored by Coca-Cola. It stars Bill Williams in the title role as frontier scout Christopher "Kit" Carson...
, The Cisco Kid
The Cisco Kid (TV series)
The Cisco Kid is a half-hour American Western television series starring Duncan Renaldo in the title role, The Cisco Kid, and Leo Carrillo as the jovial sidekick, Pancho...
, Cowboy G-Men
Cowboy G-Men
Cowboy G-Men is an American Western series that aired in syndication from September 1952 to June 1953, for a total of thirty-nine episodes.-Synopsis:...
, Judge Roy Bean
Judge Roy Bean (TV series)
Judge Roy Bean is a syndicated American Western series starring Edgar Buchanan as the legendary Kentucky-born Judge Roy Bean, a justice of the peace known as "The law west of the Pecos".-Synopsis:...
, The Gabby Hayes Show
The Gabby Hayes Show
The Gabby Hayes Show is a general purpose western television series in which the film star and Roy Rogers confidant, George "Gabby" Hayes , narrated each episode, showed clips from old westerns, or told tall tales for a primarily children's audience. The first Hayes program ran on NBC at 5:15 p.m...
, and The Roy Rogers Show
The Roy Rogers Show
The Roy Rogers Show is an American Western television series that broadcast 100 episodes on NBC for six seasons between December 30, 1951 and June 9, 1957. The show starred Roy Rogers as a ranch owner, Dale Evans as the proprietor of the Eureka Cafe in fictional Mineral City, and Pat Brady as...
.
On November 11, 2009, a 75th Anniversary edition was released to commemorate the show.
External links
- The Lone Ranger at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....