Riding with the Lone Ranger and Tonto

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Riding with the Lone Ranger and Tonto.


I grew up, in the fifties, when children were comfortable with three channels on TV.


The Lone Ranger and his sidekick Tonto came into our living room on Saturday mornings at nine o’clock. I would have my twin six-shooters, strapped to my waist, my white cowboy hat, atop my head. The big pillows, on the overstuffed couch, tossed to the floor, giving me access to my fine horse: Blaze; in reality, the right side, arm rest of the overstuffed couch. My mother would forgive me this transgression. She understood, I couldn’t ride along, without a horse.


As the three of us rode our horses, around the Wild West, saving damsels in distress, apprehending the lawless and making sure that all children had enough to eat, I took heart in the knowledge that I was on the side of good. There was never any doubt. The good guys wore white hats, the bad ones wore black. I wore a white hat, which made me a good guy. It was all so easy, back then.


Every one wore a hat in the fifties, even the ladies wore them. You could tell a great deal about someone’s character, by the hat that was on their head.
Hardly anyone wears a hat these days, which makes it really hard to tell if they are good guys or bad. It’s even hard to tell by what they do or say; if they are people you can respect. It seems everyone has a way of justifying their actions, no matter what they are.


I learned three things from the Lone Ranger; don’t consort with people you don’t respect, always fulfill your obligations, no matter the personnel cost and be just and courageous as you live your life.

As I go about my daily routine, now, with the cell phone ringing, my beeper, beeping, letting me know I am needed, the Blackberry telling me which way is North; On the long ride home; I think back and wish I could, once again, climb on the arm of that overstuffed couch and ride with the Lone Ranger and Tonto.


It was all so very simple, Fred



Musings of a die hard romantic:D
 
Always wear a mask? :D

I'm a child of the 50s as well, but even then I wondered about poor Tonto. "Go into town, Tonto, get savagely beaten and thrown into jail, then come back and let me know how things are!"

I was a big "Rifleman" fan, but I remember a Mad Magazine parody where Lucas is piling up bodies like cordwood while preaching morality to Mark....
Twisted even as a kid....
 
Always wear a mask? :D

I'm a child of the 50s as well, but even then I wondered about poor Tonto. "Go into town, Tonto, get savagely beaten and thrown into jail, then come back and let me know how things are!"

I was a big "Rifleman" fan, but I remember a Mad Magazine parody where Lucas is piling up bodies like cordwood while preaching morality to Mark....
Twisted even as a kid....
These musings were written as memories of an eight year old.
In reality, they were truly brutal. I remember the show you speak of. Sending Tonto to town to do some clandestine snooping, knowing all along, that he would get the crap beat out of him.
Jay Silverheels was one tough indian.
The cartoons of the time were blood letting orgies.
Frede
 
I had an unsettling experience when I went to the dentist. He asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said without a moment's hesitation, "I want to be a cowboy like Roy Rogers!"

Then he told me when he was little he wanted to be a cowboy, too, but somehow it didn't work out that way.

Ackkkkkkk! He wanted to be a cowboy just like me and ... he turned into a dentist??? But ... but ... could that happen to me too??? Moooommeeeeeeeee!
 
Another Child of the 50's now in his 50's.
I loved Saturday morning Westerns. I thought the Lone Ranger was great, I even overlooked the fact that he seemed to be wearing leotards...well maybe not leotards, but he did wear some form fitting pants. Poor Tonto, I don't think there was ever an episode where he didn't get knocked out. Usually it was some bad guy smacking Tonto's bun with a Colt 45. Why exactly did Tonto have a bun?
 
Another Child of the 50's now in his 50's.
I loved Saturday morning Westerns. I thought the Lone Ranger was great, I even overlooked the fact that he seemed to be wearing leotards...well maybe not leotards, but he did wear some form fitting pants. Poor Tonto, I don't think there was ever an episode where he didn't get knocked out. Usually it was some bad guy smacking Tonto's bun with a Colt 45. Why exactly did Tonto have a bun?

Well you get hit in the head every week and see if you don't try and add some padding to the noggin'. :D
 
Riding with the Lone Ranger and Tonto.

I learned three things from the Lone Ranger; don’t consort with people you don’t respect, always fulfill your obligations, no matter the personnel cost and be just and courageous as you live your life.

As I go about my daily routine, now, with the cell phone ringing, my beeper, beeping, letting me know I am needed, the Blackberry telling me which way is North; On the long ride home; I think back and wish I could, once again, climb on the arm of that overstuffed couch and ride with the Lone Ranger and Tonto.

It was all so very simple, Fred

:thumbup: Refreshing to see similar thoughts!

I'm waaaay younger than you sir (32 y/o), but the way we were brought in our household would have kids today dropping their jaws at how "old school" it was! And yes, I too find myself wishing life were as simple as it was back then. . .
 
The good guys wore white hats, the bad ones wore black. I wore a white hat, which made me a good guy. It was all so easy, back then.

Life was a lot more complicated in my neighborhood. The Lone Ranger was OK, but I really liked Hopalong Cassidy. In black.

The super of our building had a job doing appearances for Wonder Bread, dressed as Hopalong Cassidy. His revolvers weren't real, but he could really twirl them around. He used to do his act for us now and again, and hand out miniature loaves of bread that made the fattest PBJs in the world! :D
 
I always likes The Lone Ranger's Creed

http://www.endeavorcomics.com/largent/ranger/creed.html




"I believe that to have a friend,
a man must be one.

That all men are created equal
and that everyone has within himself
the power to make this a better world.

That God put the firewood there
but that every man
must gather and light it himself.

In being prepared
physically, mentally, and morally
to fight when necessary
for that which is right.

That a man should make the most
of what equipment he has.

That 'This government,
of the people, by the people
and for the people'
shall live always.

That men should live by
the rule of what is best
for the greatest number.

That sooner or later...
somewhere...somehow...
we must settle with the world
and make payment for what we have taken.

That all things change but truth,
and that truth alone, lives on forever.

In my Creator, my country, my fellow man."

The Lone Ranger
 
Riding with the Lone Ranger and Tonto.

I grew up, in the fifties, when children were comfortable with three channels on TV.

Hey we've still only got 3 channels on TV:D. The again our prime minister is stuck in the '50's.

My favourite was Daniel Boone and his Indian friend Amingo (it's how I got my nickname).

I do wonder if the kids of today have the same imaginative dreamscape that we had. How a stick and a lump of old carpet could be your gun and faithfull steed.
 
Those were the days,the Lone Ranger and Tonto,the Rifleman,Davy Crockett,I really wish todays youth could see the message in the way those guys were portrayed.Nowadays,it seems that it is a lot more work to try to live simply,everybody wants to be stressed to the limit.I try to keep live simple but it seems like somebody is always trying to muck it up with some crisis or another that they just aren't equipped to handle.
 
Life was a lot more complicated in my neighborhood. The Lone Ranger was OK, but I really liked Hopalong Cassidy. In black.

The super of our building had a job doing appearances for Wonder Bread, dressed as Hopalong Cassidy. His revolvers weren't real, but he could really twirl them around. He used to do his act for us now and again, and hand out miniature loaves of bread that made the fattest PBJs in the world! :D

Hopalong was my favorite as a little kid, then the Ponderosa gang and Paladin later on.

Its kind of funny when you note that Tonto means fool in Spanish and Ed Abbey claimed in The Monkey Wrench Gang that Kemo Sabe was Paiute for S*!thead.
 
I must admit that my favorite "Western" came along a few years later....Have Gun Will Travel. Boone was an excellent actor, the series was cleverly written (often very funny), and the writers had some knowledge of ancient weaponry and combat. I recall seeing episodes that featured Savate, the Atlatl, the sling, and the wonderful "baseball" episode.
 
I always liked Have Gun Will Travel and another favorite was Bat Masterson but Mom usually wouldn't let me stay up to watch it though because it was a school night,it's a wonder that I didn't turn out to be an axe murderer or something because of her.
 
I think that those old TV shows were much more than entertainment. They were a morality play for the youth of the day in lessons of right or wrong. It was Shakespere all the way;the evil deed and doer must be corected. Just as MacBeth faced his doom brought about by his and his wifes lust for power, the Lone ranger and Tonto, Hopy, Lucas McCain, and the rest were there to show us that evil will not be tollerated. And look at how all the kids wanted to be with the guy in the white hat.

Maybe a bit before your time, but there was a TV show, The Count Of Monte Cristo, that was much of the same. The Count and a couple of helpers were out to right injustices. It was about 1949 or 50 maybe. What was interesting was the little bearded guy who played Jacobo was Burt Lanchaster's old circus acrobat partner from his big top days before Burt became a movie star. I always blamed the charater of Jacobo on my love of knives, he was good with them.
 
I think that those old TV shows were much more than entertainment. They were a morality play for the youth of the day in lessons of right or wrong. It was Shakespere all the way;the evil deed and doer must be corected. Just as MacBeth faced his doom brought about by his and his wifes lust for power, the Lone ranger and Tonto, Hopy, Lucas McCain, and the rest were there to show us that evil will not be tollerated. And look at how all the kids wanted to be with the guy in the white hat...

Amen! That's why my son and I spend evenings watching Gunsmoke DVDs. Good stuff. :thumbup:

- Mark
 
Amen! That's why my son and I spend evenings watching Gunsmoke DVDs. Good stuff. :thumbup:

- Mark


Exactly!

Is it an accident of fate that the longest running show on TV was a western? There was no wrong doing with Matt Dillion around. Or as Festus would call him; Matheeww!:D
 
Roy Rogers was great, but I always liked Gene Autry best. The best rendition of "Back In The Saddle Again" (other than the original, of course) was done by Bonnie Koloc (who probably NOBODY has heard of).

Read most of the Hoppy books by Clarence Mulford and Tex Burns (just learned he really was Louis L'Amour)
 
Fred,

When I was about twelve years old we moved to Tarzana, California. I was told that Clayton Moore lived on the next block over from me. I had a paper route early in the morning, as I would be riding my bike I would usually see a man on a ten speed going buy me at a good clip. After a week or so he would say hello as he road buy. His voice was the big give away it was Clayton. As it turned out he was out rideing the bike every morning for exercise befor the limo would pick him up and take him to the studio. We became very good friends and I wound up doing all his yard work and washing his cars on the weekend. We stayed friends until he died in 1999, I still have the silver bullet he gave me back in 1956.

When I was sixteen we moved to Canoga Park about six miles from Tarzana. And who lives around the corner but Jay Silverheels. I went to high school with Jay's daughter Linda.
 
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