|
Silver - The precious metal (symbol:
Ag) used by
the Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore/John Hart), a frontier vigilante on
the western adventure THE LONE RANGER/ABC/1949-57.
Silver Ore
The Lone Ranger's trademark silver bullets were made from the
silver ore taken from a mine once owned by his brother Captain
Daniel Reid, who was killed by the Cavendish Gang.
An old retired Ranger named Jim Blane worked the silver mine
(located under an old cabin) and fashioned the silver ore into the
Ranger's bullets, which he used sparingly.
The Lone Ranger chose silver as his medium to emphasize that
silver, like life, was precious and should not be wasted. The silver
bullets became a "symbol of justice to all honest men and a cause of
fear to the lawbreakers."
The Ranger’s silver mine would be the basis of the fortune that
built the Reid publishing empire run by Britt Reid, the crusading
editor and publisher of The Daily Sentinel in the GREEN
HORNET radio and TV series.
According to the book "Who Was That Masked Man?" by David Rothel
the idea for using silver for bullets came from a script written by
Fran Stryker about Robin Hood "where Robin's arrowheads were tipped
with silver so that all would know the archer with the distinctive
trademark."
The theme of silver ran through the program with the Ranger's
silver bullets; Silver the Horse; and the classic signoff "Hi-Yo,
Silver Away!"
As of 1958 (per statistics gathered for the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the Lone Ranger program) the Masked Rider of the
Plains had brought to justice some 21,734 villains while having shot
a total of 12,684 silver bullets (and never killed anyone). That's
about two bad guys per bullet.
In the motion picture remake The Legend of the Lone Ranger
(1981) Tonto (played by Michael Horse) advised the Lone Ranger
(played by Klinton Spilsbury) to use silver bullets because Tribal
chiefs used silver tips on their arrows to make them fly straighter
and longer and because "Silver is pure...it has been a symbol of
justice since the year of the sun."
TRIVIA NOTE: Silver is also the
traditional material used to vanquish or ward off
werewolves and other demonic creatures of the night.
See also
GREETINGS & SALUTATIONS: "The Lone Ranger's Silver Bullet"
External Links
Back to Top
|
