I was 5 1/2 when we moved from our apartment in Stamford to a house in Norwalk CT in the fall of 1956. One of the things I remember from my time in that apartment was watching two Westerns on TV (along with the Disney Davy Crockett series); Hopalong Cassidy and The Lone Ranger, the latter with its stirring opening and closing theme from the William Tell Overture. Although I remembered The Lone Ranger, there was only one show I specifically recalled in detail - the origin story of the character. I recently came across that show and it turns out it was the first episode of the first season. I must have seen it as a rerun because the show began in 1949 and ran through 1957.
Watching that first episode for the first time in more than 65 years I realized why it made such a big impression on me. We learn in that first episode that John Reid, about to become The Lone Ranger, vows never shoot to kill, only to wound, believing that justice belongs to the legal system. Yet that first show is very violent though, in keeping with the times, not graphically so.
Reid, along with five other Texas Rangers, including his brother, are in pursuit of a gang of outlaws. They ride into a box canyon and are ambushed. Reid is badly wounded and the other Rangers killed. This is the scene I remembered all these years and I think it was the unusual level of violence that made it stay in my mind. Reid's life is saved when the Indian Tonto rides into the canyon while hunting, finds the wounded Ranger and helps nurse him to recovery. We also find out that years earlier, Reid had saved Tonto after his family was killed by raiders from another tribe. The outlaws believe Reid dead, and Reid decides it is better for them to continue to believe it, and adopts his new identity as The Lone Ranger.
Clayton Moore plays The Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels is Tonto. Silverheels was a Mohawk and an outstanding athlete before making his film debut in 1938. Silverheels appeared in all 217 episodes of The Lone Ranger, while Moore missed one season because of a contract dispute.
I do remember hearing the radio version when I was a wee lad before we had a tv. I was six when the radio series stopped in 1954. Remember going the Saturday afternoon matinees for the movies.
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