| “ |
A fiery horse with the speed of
light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty ...
'Hi-yo Silver Away!' The Lone Ranger! |
” |
The first of 2,956 episodes of The Lone Ranger
"premiered" on radio on
January 30,
1933 on WXYZ
radio in
Detroit, Michigan and later on the
Mutual Broadcasting System radio network and then on NBC's
Blue Network (which became
ABC).
Elements of the Lone Ranger story were first used in an
earlier series
Fran Striker wrote for a station in
Buffalo, New York.
Actors who played The Lone Ranger
On radio, the Lone Ranger was played by several actors,
including
John L. Barrett who played the role on the test broadcasts on WEBR
during early January,
1933;
George Seaton (under the name George Stenius) from
January 31 to
May 9 of
1933; series director
James Jewell and an actor known only by the pseudonym "Jack Deeds"
(for one episode each), and then by
Earle Graser from
May 16,
1933 until
April 7,
1941. On
April 8,
Graser died in a car accident, and for five episodes, the Lone Ranger was
unable to speak beyond a whisper, with Tonto carrying the action. Finally,
on the broadcast of
April 18,
1941, deep-voiced performer
Brace Beemer, who had been the show's announcer for several years,
took over the role and played the part until the end.
Fred Foy,
also an announcer on the show, took over the role on one broadcast on
March 29,
1954, when Brace Beemer had a brief case of laryngitis.
Tonto was played throughout the run by
actor
John Todd (although there were a few isolated occasions when he was
substituted with Roland Parker, better known as Kato for much of the run
of sister series
The Green Hornet), and other supporting players were selected from
Detroit area actors and studio staff. These included
Jay Michael (who also played the lead on
Challenge of the Yukon aka Sgt. Preston of the Yukon),
Bill Saunders (as various villains, including Butch Cavendish),
Paul Hughes (as the Ranger's friend Thunder Martin and as various army
colonels and badmen), future movie star
John Hodiak, Janka Fasciszewska (under the name Jane Fae), and others.
The last new radio episode of the Lone Ranger was aired
on
September 3,
1954.
Lone Ranger
