Biographic - Sunday June 9, 2013 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Biographic Steve McGarry The Lone Ranger The first of 2,956 radio episodes of "the Lone Ranger" was broadcast in January 1933 on a radio station serving the Detroit, Michigan, area. The adventures of a masked Texas ranger battling crime and injustice in the Old West, aided by his trusty Indian companion Tonto, captured the public's imagination and the show quickly became a national sensation. By the end of the decade, the show had spawned two movie serials, a newspaper comic strip and a series of novels. The classic TV series, starring Clayton Moore and The Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels as Tonto, debuted in 1949 and ran for eight years, over a total of 221 episodes. A contract dispute saw Moore briefly replaced by John Hart for season three, but he returned to the role in season four. The TV series was augmented by two feature films, and spin-offs included comic books and a wide range of toys. An animated TV series ran for two years in the mid-1960s, and the characters were featured in a series of animated shorts, along with Zorro and Tarzan, in the 1980s. A 1981 film, "the Legend of the Lone Ranger," starred Klinton Spilsbury in the title role with Michael horse as Tonto and Christopher Lloyd as the villainous Butch Cavendish. A 2003 RV movie starred Chad Michael Murray behind the mask, both attempts to re-boot the franchise were poorly received. This summer's latest move incarnation teams Armie Hammer as The Lone Ranger and superstar Johnny Depp as Tonto.

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