The power of the press in a democracy - and an attempt to subvert it - even played a part in the multi-part story. In 1941, with Nazis on the move in Europe, the Lone Ranger and Tonto took on a 19th century “Legion of the Black Arrow” planning to create “a despotic empire” in the Old West. So, when a war-time storyline of Lone Ranger episodes took on a home-grown Fascist movement, part of the battle was over control of a newspaper. The association of Horace Greeley with the frontier in popular schoolbook history by the 1940s was enough to secure him a guest-appearance in a Lone Ranger episode, in which his precious notes are stolen by desperados and rescued by the series’ masked hero.ĭuring World War II, America’s press was one of the nation’s most celebrated symbols of democracy and freedom, compared to the government-controlled media of the Axis. He also inspired many with the idea of Manifest Destiny, including Tribune reporter Nathan Meeker, who founded both city of Greeley, Colo., and its newspaper, The Greeley Tribune. Greeley did, himself, go west - publishing his account of An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco in the Summer of 1859 in letters to the Tribune, then in book form in 1860. (The Yale Book of Quotations includes a 300-word account of errors in attribution of the phrase.) Greeley was famously associated with the phrase “Go West, young man,” even though he was not the first to use it. And “the West” itself was a 19th century theme in American journalism - particularly in the writings of Horace Greeley, founder of The New York Tribune. The “frontier editor” already was an established feature of many portrayals of the American West and pops up in many Western radio adventures.
#THE LONE RANGER CARTOON SERIES#
Unlike Detroit radio station WXYZ’s other great contribution to old time radio, The Green Hornet, newspaper journalism was not a major theme of The Lone Ranger, but there were crossovers, including an appearance in the series by 19th century America’s most famous newspaper editor.
#THE LONE RANGER CARTOON TV#
The sets are now out of print, following BCI Eclipse's bankruptcy and as of August 2012, there are currently no plans for any re-release and the BCI Eclipse sets could now fetch collector's prices if they are found online.“Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear” makes a fine introduction to any discussion of newspaper journalism as presented to a 20th century radio audience, but it was best known to radio and TV audiences as the opening line of the adventure series “The Lone Ranger.” The iconic masked hero of the Old West rode the radio range for 22 years 1933-54, with television series, cartoons and feature films keeping his legend alive into the 21st century. However, the rights to the Tarzan property rest with the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and as such, their authorization is needed for the series to be released.