Jul 11 2006 20 mins 1
clickhere Visit the Radio America Store web site.Buy your 50 mp3 for &5.00 The Lone Ranger galloped through performance after performance of radio heroism on Detroit’s WXYZ: His dramatic “Hi-Yo Silver” echoed through living rooms across the nation and fans young and old thrilled with excitement when “the thundering hooves of the great horse Silver” were heard via the airwaves, bearing the masked rider, with Tonto at his side, to his mission of rescue. Seventy-two years ago, when the Lone Ranger was first broadcast, the identity of the sonorous-voiced hero was a closely-guarded secret. Actually, an actor named Jack Deeds played the title role for the first six broadcasts. He was replaced by a young actor, George Stenius (later famous as George Seaton, movie producer) who continued in the role for three months. When Stenius quit, then-station manager Brace Beemer was selected to play the lead, but Beemer quit after a few months to open his own advertising agency. Earl W. Graser, another actor, played the masked hero with an easygoing naturalness that had a strong identification for listeners until his untimely death in an automobile accident in April of 1941. Baffled on Graser’s replacement, the producers decided to buy some time by having the Lone Ranger critically wounded and unconscious, unable to speak except for some heavy breathing to show he was still alive.
