Thank Goodness It's Monday #330

WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN?

A CREED TO LIVE BY

OK, Ke-mo sah-bee. Granted, it’s been a while since The Lone Ranger was in regular circulation. But it seems The Legend of The Lone Ranger has –

Staying power. In casting about the World Wide Web lately, I keep encountering references and images (perhaps because it was announced that a Disney/Johnny Depp movie is on track with a projected 2013 release date).

But it’s the early (1949 – 1957) television iteration I recall most vividly and fondly. And my memory of those days is that, in addition to the action depicted in those “westerns”—

Worthwhile life lessons were being conveyed. So I backtracked a bit and here’s some of what I came up with:

The Legend began in 1933 -- the heyday of radio serials, at station WXYZ in Detroit. The show aired three times a week, 52 weeks a year, for 21 years.

Clayton Moore as The Lone Ranger
Jay Silverheels as Tonto

There were also 221 television episodes produced.

These, coupled with several big screen movies, cartoons, serials, video games and a variety of ink-on-paper-products and tie-ins represented The Lone Ranger as a rugged individualist who triumphs over evil.

With the help of his trusted Indian companion Tonto, and trusty white stallion Silver, the masked man uses courage and cunning to right wrongs … never shoots to kill … and leaves a silver bullet behind as his mark.

The long-running appeal of the character and his adventures can be linked in part to radio station owner George W. Trendle and the writer hired to create the stories, Fran Striker. Together they drew up guidelines which embody who and what the Lone Ranger is.

For example:

• The Lone Ranger is never seen without his mask or a disguise.
• With emphasis on logic, to avoid his being unmasked, The Lone Ranger is never captured or held for any length of time by lawmen.
• The Lone Ranger never uses slang or colloquial phrases, but instead uses perfect grammar and precise speech.
• The Lone Ranger never drinks or smokes. And what in other westerns would be saloon scenes, are usually interpreted as cafes, with waiters and food instead of bartenders and liquor.
• Criminals are never shown in enviable positions of wealth or power, and they never appear as successful or glamorous.
• Adversaries are never other than American to avoid criticism from minority groups.
• His adversaries are usually groups whose power is such that large areas are at stake.
• Names of unsympathetic characters are carefully chosen, never consisting of two names if it can be avoided, to avoid even further disparaging association. (Often a single nickname is selected.)
• When he has to use guns, The Lone Ranger never shoots to kill, but only to disarm his opponent as painlessly as possible. (He uses only silver bullets to remind himself that, like his silver bullets, life, too, is precious and not to be wasted or thrown away.)
• The Lone Ranger never wins against hopeless odds; i.e., he is never seen escaping from a barrage of bullets merely by riding into the horizon.
• Even though The Lone Ranger offers his aid to individuals or small groups, the ultimate objective of his story never fails to imply that their benefit is only a by-product of a greater achievement—the development of the west or our country.

And, because The Legend originated on the radio, the creators also created someone for their good guy to talk to; someone who could ferret out wrongdoing, present it for action, and help develop the plots – the faithful Indian companion, Tonto. Despite being criticized for speaking broken English, this Native American was portrayed as an intelligent character, almost an equal partner to the Ranger in his work.

From the early going, “premiums” were developed as a connection to sponsors of the broadcasts (often bread companies).

Among the fan club enticements such as badges, masks, photographs of the Ranger and secret codes, was a document written by Fran Striker – slightly sexist in focus now, but don’t be distracted by that – that spelled out principles that would serve us all well, even today.

It was called –

THE LONE RANGER CREED

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 that which 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.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Actors Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels who starred in the TV episodes I remember so fondly both took their positions as role models to children very seriously and tried their best to live by this creed.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Maybe we can, too. Be inspired by “the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plain.” As the announcer used to intone, “Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear.”

"Hi-yo, Silver! Away!" (Imagine the William Tell Overture playing.) Let’s you, Ke-mo sah-bee, and I make sure The Lone Ranger rides again.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square
Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com   

BTW: Ke-mo sah-bee (or any of various other spellings) is a real Indian word. It originated in the show because Camp Ke-mo-Sah-Bee was the name of a boy’s summer camp owned by a relative of the director of the early radio program. That, in turn, is linked to the language of the Potawatomie Indians who lived in and around Michigan. It is said to mean “faithful friend” or “trusty scout.”