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Comics With or Without Pulp Talkback: Episode 7 - The Lone Ranger

In a time when outlaws were overrunning the West & law was handled with posses. Where Native Americans were driven from their land. A masked Ranger rode for justice & peace with his partner Tonto. (2:10:15)

Listen here.

Comments

  • JaxUrJaxUr Posts: 547
    I'm really looking forward to listening to this episode today as I've been enjoying the recent comics from Dynamite. Also, I saw the new movie and had a good time with it. It had the feel of Depp's first Pirates flick for me: overstuffed but fun action. Armie Hammer was a good young Ranger and that final sequence on the train was a hoot (you have to love William Tell). Overall, I enjoyed it more than Iron Man 3 (which is also overstuffed with some nice action).
  • nweathingtonnweathington Posts: 6,736
    Re: the romanticism of the western and the Lone Ranger’s success, it should be noted that the series debuted in the middle of the Great Depression, and the Lone Ranger—riding the open plains, living under the starts, righting wrongs, helping the downtrodden—was an ideal hero for the huddled masses struggling to get by. And nearly everyone had access to a radio.

    Westerns were already popular when LR came along. The tradition started with the dime novels, which gave mostly fictional accounts of “real life” cowboys (good and bad). The 1903 silent film The Great Train Robbery kicked it to another level, and westerns were one of the most popular genres of the silents. When the talkies came along, the westerns’ popularity faded a bit. The Lone Ranger helped revitalize the genre.
  • rebisrebis Posts: 1,820
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    Let's not forget the Aurora Model kits.
  • nweathingtonnweathington Posts: 6,736
    I actually posted some Lone Ranger covers (including that second one painted by Mo Gollub) over in the Comic Cover a Day thread yesterday because the movie came up in the Pacific Rim thread. I think my favorite of the Lone Ranger cover artists was Sam Savitt. He only did a couple, but there’s a lot of energy and action in his covers.

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    And speaking of the comics, I liked the Lansdale/Truman mini-series from Topps, particularly their portrayal of Tonto. It’s a little closer to their Jonah Hex weird/horror take than perhaps I’d prefer—that’s just what Lansdale does—but it worked fine as a four-issue series.

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  • rebisrebis Posts: 1,820
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mY-P-HILMI

    Willian Conrad is awesome!

    Quick aside. Conrad was the voice of Matt Dillon on the radio broadcast of Gunsmoke. As a professional courtesy, he was invited to tryout for the roll of Dillon on television. I think the screen test was Dillon sitting behind his desk, a man runs in pleading for the Marshall's help. Dillon stands up and they all run out of the Marshall's office.
    William Conrad is built like a fireplug. When the scene comes to the point where Conrad stands up. The chair he was sitting on rises with him.
  • rebisrebis Posts: 1,820
    edited July 2013
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unk8JyuyfLI

    Found the intro to the 66 cartoon while bumping around Youtube. I've never seen this.

    This thing is really out of sync. Sorry about that.
  • nweathingtonnweathington Posts: 6,736
    rebis said:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unk8JyuyfLI

    Found the intro to the 66 cartoon while bumping around Youtube. I've never seen this.

    This thing is really out of sync. Sorry about that.

    Yeah, I came across this a few years back. The animation is pretty limited, but the designs are interesting.

    And I agree with you on the Filmation shows. They were decent cartoons, once you got past the stock footage and cheesy sound effects. Filmation actually tried to get the rights to Lone Ranger in 1965, but got scooped by Format Films. When Filmation finally got the rights in ’79, they asked Moore and Silverheels to voice LR and Tonto, but were turned down. They did get a Native American, Ivan Naranjo, to voice Tonto though, and they made Tonto smarter than in previous incarnations. Conrad did indeed voice the Ranger, though in the credits he's listed as J. Darnoc.

    The first season it was part of The Tarzan/Lone Ranger Hour. The next season it was The Tarzan/Lone Ranger/Zorro Hour. The third season (reruns only—no new episodes) it was The Lone Ranger/Zorro Adventure Show, but only ran on Sundays in select markets.
  • MattMatt Posts: 4,457
    Thanks for all the feedback and posts. I want to give a big thanks to George Khoury for guest cohosting. He puts out amazing stuff with TwoMorrows Publishing. Check him out.

    M
  • nweathingtonnweathington Posts: 6,736
    Matt said:

    Thanks for all the feedback and posts. I want to give a big thanks to George Khoury for guest cohosting. He puts out amazing stuff with TwoMorrows Publishing. Check him out.

    M

    George is one of my best friends, and he didn’t even tell me he was going to co-host! Can you believe it? :P

    But, yes, check out his excellent books (including the ones we did together).
  • rebisrebis Posts: 1,820
    edited July 2013
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    @nweathington, I own a copy of the comic above. A couple years ago the local historic society, of which I'm a member, held a picnic for the community and asked people to bring memorabilia. I brought the LR comic along with a Captain Marvel Adventures and a few others to display. You would not believe how many old women wanted to fight me for that LR comic. THEY LOVED HIM! The common thread was the radio show. All of them had stories of sitting around the radio waiting for the Lone Ranger.
  • Chuck_MelvilleChuck_Melville Posts: 3,003
    I have to say that those early covers throw me off a bit. I'm used to the fifties' TV version and had never known that the Ranger's shirt had originally been red. Just looks wrong, though since these predate the show I guess they had to have been the correct version.
  • GregGreg Posts: 1,946
    Looking forward to listening to this.

    The Lone Ranger is my favorite western character and he holds a special place in my life. Both my grandpa (my mom's dad) and my grandma (my dad's mom) loved westerns. My grandpa was an over-the-road truck driver, he was home maybe once or twice a month so when he was home I wouldn't leave his side, which meant weekends filled with watching westerns. Anytime we were at my grandma's it was the same thing. I loved sitting next to them and watching the television reruns. It was my grandma that introduced me to the radio show.
  • nweathingtonnweathington Posts: 6,736
    rebis said:

    @nweathington, I own a copy of the comic above. A couple years ago the local historic society, of which I'm a member, held a picnic for the community and asked people to bring memorabilia. I brought the LR comic along with a Captain Marvel Adventures and a few others to display. You would not believe how many old women wanted to fight me for that LR comic. THEY LOVED HIM! The common thread was the radio show. All of them had stories of sitting around the radio waiting for the Lone Ranger.

    That's a cool story, @rebis.

    I have to say that those early covers throw me off a bit. I'm used to the fifties' TV version and had never known that the Ranger's shirt had originally been red. Just looks wrong, though since these predate the show I guess they had to have been the correct version.

    Yeah, me too. I don't think I found out about the red shirt until the late ’80s, well into my teens.
    Greg said:

    Looking forward to listening to this.

    The Lone Ranger is my favorite western character and he holds a special place in my life. Both my grandpa (my mom's dad) and my grandma (my dad's mom) loved westerns. My grandpa was an over-the-road truck driver, he was home maybe once or twice a month so when he was home I wouldn't leave his side, which meant weekends filled with watching westerns. Anytime we were at my grandma's it was the same thing. I loved sitting next to them and watching the television reruns. It was my grandma that introduced me to the radio show.

    My grandparents (my dad’s folks) were the same way. If Granddad wasn’t watching the Braves play, they were watching westerns. They lived just down the street from us, so I'd spend one afternoon there pretty much every week.
  • Thanks, Matt! The pleasure was mine. Always wanted to do something about LR because he meant so much to me as a kid.
    Matt said:

    Thanks for all the feedback and posts. I want to give a big thanks to George Khoury for guest cohosting. He puts out amazing stuff with TwoMorrows Publishing. Check him out.

    M

  • NickNick Posts: 284
    Not sure if you knew this or not, but my TV Calendar for today says "The Lone Ranger's mask was made of plaster covered in purple felt." I don't remember you mentioning it in the podcast, but it was a fun fact!
  • MattMatt Posts: 4,457
    Nick said:

    Not sure if you knew this or not, but my TV Calendar for today says "The Lone Ranger's mask was made of plaster covered in purple felt." I don't remember you mentioning it in the podcast, but it was a fun fact!

    Cool. I'll have to add that to my notes for any future projects I do.

    M
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