The Lone Ranger (TV series)


The Lone Ranger is an American Western drama television series that aired on the ABC Television network from 1949 to 1957, with Clayton Moore in the starring role. Jay Silverheels, a member of the Mohawk Aboriginal people in Canada, played The Lone Ranger's Indian companion Tonto.
John Hart replaced Moore in the title role from 1952 to 1953 owing to a contract dispute. Fred Foy, who had been both narrator and announcer of the radio series from 1948 until its ending, was the announcer. Gerald Mohr was originally employed as the narrator for the television series, but story narration was dropped after 16 episodes. The Lone Ranger was the highest-rated television program on ABC in the early 1950s and its first true "hit". The series finished number 7 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1950–1951 season, number 18 for 1951–1952 and number 29 for 1952–1953.

Series premise

The fictional story line maintains that a patrol of six Texas Rangers is massacred, with only one member surviving. The "lone" survivor thereafter disguises himself with a black mask and travels with Tonto throughout Texas and the American West to assist those challenged by the lawless elements. A silver mine supplies The Lone Ranger with the name of his horse as well as the funds required to finance his wandering lifestyle and the raw material for his signature bullets. At the end of most episodes, after the Lone Ranger and Tonto leave, someone asks the sheriff or other person of authority who the masked man was. The person then responds that it was the Lone Ranger, who is then heard yelling "Hi-Yo Silver, away!" as he and Tonto ride away on their horses.

Production

retained the title of producer, although he recognized that his experience in radio was not 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.
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 Kanab, Utah and California. Much of the series was filmed on the former Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California, including the iconic opening sequence to each episode, in which the cry of "Hi-yo Silver" is heard before the Lone Ranger and Silver gallop to a distinctive rock and Silver rears up on his hind legs. The rock seen next to Silver is known as Lone Ranger Rock and remains in place today on the site of the former movie ranch.
When it came time to produce another batch of 52 episodes, there is speculation of a wage dispute with Clayton Moore, 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, including an episode count of 39, which had become the industry standard. Wrather invested money from his own pocket to film in color, although ABC telecast only in black and white. Wrather also went outdoors for action footage. Otherwise, the series was mostly filmed on a studio sound stage. 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 programs.
Wrather decided not to negotiate further with the network and took the property to the big screen and canceled television production. The last new episode of the color series was broadcast on 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 and The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold. The cast included former child actress Bonita Granville, who had married Wrather after his divorce from a daughter of former Texas Governor W. Lee O'Daniel.

Episodes

Cast

On March 31, 2009, Mill Creek Entertainment 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, Classic Media released The Lone Ranger: 75th Anniversary Edition to commemorate the show. On June 4, 2013, Classic Media released The Lone Ranger: Collector's Edition, a 30-disc set featuring all 221 episodes of the series on DVD, though many of the episodes are the syndicated edits missing two to three minutes.