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That's rescue.org slash rebuild to learn more and donate today. Pro drivers live for race day, but for small business owners, every day is race day. That's why Going Pro with Lenovo Pro matters. One-on-one advice, IT solutions, and customized hardware powered by Intel Core ultraprocessors keep your business on the right track. Business Goes Pro?
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I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.
Alright. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting.
Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.
Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first Uh There. The last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that...
refreshes. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. Silver Bullets, the William Tell Overture, and the phrase kimusabe. All were thrust into the cultural mainstream at the height of the Great Depression in 1931 with the Lone Ranger. Here to tell the story of the Lone Ranger is Stephen Iowanu, author of the book Yesteryear.
which is about the creators of The Lone Ranger. Take it away, Stephen. With his faithful Indian companion Tunnel, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early western United States.
Nowhere in the pages of history can one find a greater champion of justice. In response to hundreds of requests from interested listeners, This Lone Ranger program will retell the story of the origin of the Lone Ranger. George W. Trundle was born in Ohio in 1884. He graduated from law school in 1908, and his specialty was contract law and negotiation.
And he was very good at his job. He had a shrewd mind, a keen sense of business acumen, and really a good business instinct, knowing when to get in and when to get out of various endeavors. One of his first investments even before he had graduated law school was in Nickelodeons. These were the forerunners of the movie theaters and palaces that would come later. They were storefronts.
They were dark. They were kind of. Smoky and cramped, uncomfortable wooden chairs, and they had a reputation for attracting unsavory characters, either owners or people just hanging out. local government officials didn't really like them too much. They thought it was trouble.
But Trenda was drawn to them because He thought he could make money from them. He saw this as Something that people were drawn to. But the film industry was changing and they began to produce longer and longer films. Trendle, he thought that The days of the Nickelodeons were numbered. because people would want to go and watch these longer feature films and something more comfortable.
And so he put together a group of investors. And they built the Columbia Theater, which was the first large movie house. in Detroit. And it was literally an instant success. People would line up to go.
Watch the movies in a comfortable setting. Totally different than what the Nickelodeons were. By the end of 1928, Trendel owned 20 movie theaters throughout the Detroit. area. And again, he had that keen sense of timing when to get in, when to get out.
He sold all 20 of those theaters right before the stock market crash of 1929. and he insisted on cash. He didn't want stocks, he didn't want promissory notes, it had to be cash. But The depression didn't skip over Trendel. He saw his net worth drop from $3 million to about a quarter of a million dollars.
Still very well off, but his finances were going in the wrong direction. And he was looking for something to invest in, to make cash, to make money quickly. and radio was growing. program barring Jack Men with John Green and the Boston. Radio was quite different than it is today.
Radio was the fastest growing medium in the United States in the late 20s and early 30s. Having a radio in the home was a big deal. because now you were connected from outside your community and you could hear programs from New York, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, even in your little hometown. The radio stations had full in-house orchestras.
that would play between shows, to introduce shows, to set the mood during radio dramas. Radio stations had their own theatrical troupe, you know, their own. Performing artists. They had their own radio actors that would perform locally produced talent. And he knew that.
He thought that was the next big opportunity in entertainment. Even during the Depression, he thought people, and he was right, would finance radios to have in their home. No longer could they go out. They didn't have the cash to go out.
So now the entertainment had to come into their house. And so he bought radio station WGHP and changed the call letters to WXYZ. And their tagline was WXYZ, the last word in radio. and he had a vision of growing it into a network of stations. Um But he was a tough customer.
He was losing money, and he would keep two sets of books, and he would show. The fake set to his employees and say, you're gonna have to take a pay cut. I mean, look how bad the radio station's doing. You don't take a pay cut, I'm going to have to fire you. I'm going to have to let you go.
And of course, there were no jobs during the Depression, so his employees had no alternative but to take the pay cut. Same thing when he was hiring people. He would say, you know, look at my books. I can't afford to pay you much. I can't afford to pay you for the first month that you're going to work for me.
Which, of course, he could. And so a lot of times he had people working gratis for him. on the promise that better days were coming.
So he was very frugal and it was during this time that he earned the nickname the Miser of Motown. One of the Biggest moves that he made as a radio station owner was to sever ties with Columbia Broadcasting.
So, this meant that WXYZ would no longer have access to the syndicated shows that CBS was producing. And Trendel's thought process was: we'll produce it locally, we'll use local and freelance talent. and it will be cheaper than paying CBS. And so it was a business decision. that made him pivot away from that.
Nationally syndicated broadcasting to locally produced broadcasting, and that's when. his life and Franz Stryker's life intersected. When we come back, more of the remarkable story of how the Lone Ranger came to be here. on our American stories. Folks, if you love the stories we tell about this great country and especially the stories of America's rich past, know that all of our stories about American history from war to innovation, culture, and faith, are brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College, a place where students study all the things that are beautiful in life and all the things that are good in life.
And if you can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free and terrific online courses. Go to hillsdale.edu to learn more. There's no championship league for small business owners, but if there was, you'd be at the top of the standings. Because going pro with Lenovo Pro means you've got the winning formation. One-on-one advice, IT solutions, and customized hardware powered by Intel Core ultraprocessors help you stay ahead of the competition.
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Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.
It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts.
Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.
Hear that? That's what it sounds like when you plant more trees than you harvest. Work done by thousands of working forest professionals like Adam, a district forest manager who works to protect our forests from fires. Keeping the forest fire resistant synonymous with keeping a forest healthy, and we do that through planting more than we harvest and mitigate those risks through active management. It's a long-term commitment.
Visit WorkingForestsInitiative.com to learn more. Yeah. It's 1972. A young British family is attempting to sail around the world when disaster strikes. Their boat is hit by killer whales and it sinks in seconds.
All they have left is a life raft and each other. This is the true story of the Robertson family and their fight to survive, hosted by me, Becky Milligan. Listen to Adrift, an Apple original podcast produced by Blanchard House. Follow and listen on Apple podcasts. And we continue with our American stories and our story on the Lone Ranger with Stephen Ioanu.
When we last left off, Stephen was telling us about the miser of Motown, George W. Trendle. Who led a cost-saving crusade at his flagship radio station in Detroit, WXYZ? during the Great Depression. It was because of this that he'd become acquainted with a little-known station manager and script writer out of New York.
Named Fran Stryker. Let's return to the story. It's funny, I have no idea how I heard about Fran Stryker. I think someone had mentioned in passing that Oh, the guy that wrote The Lone Ranger lived in Buffalo, which is my hometown. And I thought, well, that can't be right.
I'm a buffalo writer. I would know if the man who invented, created the Lone Ranger was from here. And I looked it up, I googled it, and sure enough, he was a Buffalo guy. I was surprised and mad at myself. And I found out not only was he a Buffalo guy, he was a neighborhood guy.
He went to high school about two blocks where I was living. In a part of Buffalo called the Elmwood Village, and he lived over on Granger Place, which is just a few blocks north of me. And then I dug some more and I thought not only did he create the Lone Ranger, he also created the Green Hornet. He hunts the biggest of all game, public enemies that even the T-men cannot reach. And Sergeant Preston of the Yukon.
The challenge of the Yukon. And I had never heard of them.
So now I was really curious how someone could have such an impact. And 20th century American pop culture. and the common person doesn't know his name. The Ranger was the first real hero that was extensively marketed. Think of fan clubs and spin-off toys.
giveaway items. 18 Lone Ranger novels. in hardback. The Lone Ranger has been an enduring character for the last 90 years. And then I did some more research.
And Depending how you look at it, he was part of the best deal in entertainment history or the worst business deal in entertainment history. A lot of times you hear about these authors, and they have. you know, terrible, traumatic childhoods. Stryker was just the opposite. Stryker was born in Buffalo on August 19th, 1903, to Frank and Addie Stryker.
And by all accounts, he had a very healthy and wholesome family life and upbringing. fishing, hunting. Gardening. He had developed a love for the outdoors. He was a very smart, very precocious child.
He was always very curious. He was always inquisitive, drawn to new things. And he was a joiner. He loved to join clubs. Science clubs and church clubs and youth groups.
He ran track. He was in the band. He played the saxophone. He was on the student newspaper. And he sold his first short story and his first nonfiction article to a local Buffalo paper when he was only 12 years old.
He was on the drama club, he was in the chemistry club. And when he went to the University of Buffalo after he graduated high school, he couldn't decide on a fraternity. He knew he wanted to be in one, but he couldn't decide.
So he pledged multiple fraternities and he got in trouble for it. He was called in front of the I think the dean of academic affairs or student affairs said, hey, you can only pledge one fraternity. And Fran said, how can I pick one? They're all such interesting, great guys. While he was in college, he was a chemistry major.
But what happened was his interest in theater outgrew his interest in chemistry, even though he was fascinated by it. He had up in his writing studio an old chemistry set. but it was all covered in dust because he was always pounding away on his Remington 16 typewriter. It was about 1927 when he decided to leave Buffalo and go to New York City and he got a job with the Harry Miller Production Company, which produced live stage shows in New York City. This was a key moment in Stryker's life because even though he was only with the company and in New York City for a year, this is where he was exposed to professional theater, professional directing.
professional acting, and more importantly, professional script writing.
So when Strecker came back from New York City in 1928, his plan was to break into the theater. He found that kind of difficult, not difficult to be involved, but difficult to be paid.
So he was drawn to the next big thing, what he thought was the next big thing in entertainment, and that was radio. He took a job with WEBR. He would do announcing. He would do news reporting. He occasionally would step in and act on the radio, even though he was never really comfortable or talented in that regard.
He even played his saxophone with the WEBR Orchestra on occasion. Stryker was promoted to WEBR Station Manager.
So now he was much more focused. Instead of wearing all those different hats, he was really in charge of radio dramas. directing them and writing them. And this is of course where he flourished. He always had that affinity for writing going back to when he was 12 years old and now he was able to do it professionally.
and hear his scripts performed live on the air.
So 1929 was, it was probably one of the most exciting times of Stryker's life. We are told by the opposition that we must have a change, that we must have a new deal. The stock market crash of 1929 sent the nation and the world reeling into an economic depression. Unemployment rate in the United States was 24%. 12 million Americans were out of work.
and over a quarter of a million families had lost their homes. And the Strykers family was not immune. Stryker became their financial supporter. They became his dependents.
So by 1932, you know, He was supporting a dozen family members, his parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. They were all dependent. On Stryker. To survive the depression.
So Stryker was extremely prolific. writing radio dramas because he had to be. It transformed. into kind of a side business. He loved the idea of taking scripts that he had already written, had already aired, he owned all the rights.
and selling them into other markets. Think of the early days of streaming services now where everyone was scrambling to get content. Same thing in 1932. All these radio stations needed content to be performed live, and Stryker was mailing out these scripts. Kind of cold call.
Mail them out cold to stations.
Now, this is 1932, so there's no copy machines, there's no printers. It was a typewriter and carbon paper. and he would try to hit the keys, strike the keys as hard as he could. to get two or three copies out of one typing session. because everything had to be retyped.
And so he literally wore out the Remington 16 typewriters, which was his favorite typewriter. and sometimes they would be live on the air. And Stryker was in the other room still typing up the script. to how the show would end. And so he'd have one eye on the keyboard and one eye on the clock.
Knowing he had to finish the next page of the script or next two pages of the script before there was dead air. You know, these early days of radio, there was a lot of excitement about creating these radio scripts for live radio. And then of course there was that financial necessity of branching outward and reselling them to support his family.
Now, one of the radio stations that bought his scripts was WXYZ. Out of Detroit. And the first script that George W. Trendel, the owner of WXYZ in Detroit, bought was An old series called Warner Lester. Trendle was impressed with that script, and he requested more and more scripts from Stryker.
So by the end of 1932, Stryker was supplying. WXYZ with six half hour scripts per week. When we come back, more of this remarkable creative story, also a remarkable business story. How these things happen, how these ideas happen. How these characters happen, these characters that live in the American fabric.
Long after the authors and creators died, the story of how the Lone Ranger came to be. continues here. on our American stories. There's no championship league for small business owners, but if there was, you'd be at the top of the standings. Because going pro with Lenovo Pro means you've got the winning formation.
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are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.
It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts.
Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.
Hear that? That's what it sounds like when you plant more trees than you harvest. Work done by thousands of working forest professionals like Adam, a district forest manager who works to protect our forests from fires. Keeping the forest fire-resistant is synonymous with keeping a forest healthy. And we do that through planting more than we harvest and mitigate those risks through active management.
It's a long-term commitment. Visit WorkingForestsInitiative.com to learn more. Yeah. It's 1972. A young British family is attempting to sail around the world when disaster strikes.
Their boat is hit by killer whales and it sinks in seconds. All they have left is a life raft and each other. This is the true story of the Robertson family and their fight to survive, hosted by me, Becky Milligan. Listen to Adrift, an Apple original podcast produced by Blanchard House. Follow and listen on Apple podcasts.
And we return to our American stories and our story on the Lone Ranger and how it came to be. with author Stephen Ioanu, author of the book Yesteryear. When we last left off, Stephen was telling us about how Fran Stryker had become the primary breadwinner for his entire family. During the Great Depression, making a lot of money on the side by selling repurposed radio drama scripts. to George W.
Trendle. the owner of the powerhouse signal in Detroit. W X Y Z. Little did both of them know one of those scripts was about to become a gold mine. Let's return to the story.
So by 1932, WXYZ and George W. Trendle. had been counting on Stryker for a lot of their radio content. In December of that year, Stryker received a letter from the creative director from WXYZ. Saying, you know.
We thought about it and we think we want to do a Western series. Put all the hokeum in it. That was the word they used, hokeum. you know, the masked rider, the rustler, the girl tied to the railroad tracks, two-gun bank robber. Can you write something like that?
And so Stryker thought. Of course I can.
So he dug out a series. that had aired two years earlier on WEBR. called Cover Wagon Days. And for whatever reason, he chose episode 10. of that series.
To rewrite this new Western, and he came up with a new hero. The Lone Ranger. It's a debate where the Ranger came from. I mean, certainly in that letter from WXYZ, they mentioned a mask rider, but that's as far as it went. And a lot of people think, it's still being debated, that maybe he was influenced by a real life figure, a man named Bass Reeves.
Bass was a runaway slave. and he stole a Confederate horse according to legend and rode it out to the Oklahoma Territory. Oklahoma Territory during the Civil War years was kind of a refuge for deserters, outlaws, runaway slaves, a real interesting mix. And according to legend, when Bass Reeves got out there, you know, he lived with the Creek and the Seminole tribes, and that's when he learned. how to shoot.
And again, this is tall tails, but they said that he was good with either hand with rifle or pistol and could shoot the hind leg off a fly from 100 yards away. But once the Emancipation Proclamation was announced, Bass Reeves was made a U.S. Marshal. And he He took his job seriously. Let's just say that.
He arrested over 3,000 outlaws. He brought in twenty of them dead, saying that he killed them in self-defense. And he had the reputation of being someone who was for the common people, the everyday. folks and he thought it was a sacred duty to protect him from these These outlaws. And he would occasionally wear a mask, disguising himself as an outlaw, to infiltrate their gangs.
And remember that he had lived with the Indian tribes, and so he had a friend who was a Native American who would sometimes travel with him. And he also had this interesting calling card. He would throw silver dollars.
So, if you brush down his white stallion, he liked to ride a pale horse, a dark figure on a pale horse. If you brushed down his horse and fed him oats, he'd toss you a silver dollar. If you pointed out or gave him information about an outlaw he was looking for, he would throw a silver dollar. And sometimes when he would ride out of town, he would just throw the silver dollar to whoever would find it. He was buying goodwill, certainly, but that became his calling card.
Pop culture historians look at Bass Reeves' figure and say, here's a masked rider on a big white horse. throwing silver. He had to be the inspiration for the Lone Ranger.
Now Fran, as I said, at an early age was a keen reader and writer, and he had a vast library, especially of Western books, because he took his job of writing The Lone Ranger seriously.
So would Stryker have known of Bass Reeves? I think certainly. But there were many others whose criminal plans were to be challenged by the Lone Ranger, his faithful Indian companion Tottle, and his great horse Silver. The Ranger actually premiered in Buffalo on WEBR, not on WXYZ. They wanted to do a test run.
And that was unusual.
So I think from the very beginning, everybody thought that this Lone Ranger character that Stryker came up with. was a little different. had a lot of potential. And then they took it to Detroit. Stryker was continuing to write the Lone Ranger scripts in Buffalo, and he was getting paid $4 a script.
So it was the start. And it wasn't until November of 23 so almost you know 11 months of broadcasting before they were able to attract a sponsor which was Gordon Bakery. Once the bakery came on board, there was an infuse of cash. They were able to market the Lone Ranger more, advertise it more, and offer it. to other radio stations to tie in as part of a limited syndication.
And when that happened, that's when the Lone Ranger really took off. Part of the appeal of the Lone Ranger was because he was born, if you will, during the Depression. A lot of people felt that this, and rightfully so, this depression was no fault of their own. Their homes were taken, their jobs were taken, and there was no real justification for that. And here comes a fictional character on the radio.
who was always helping the little guy. Going after the people that were trying to take something from them. That they didn't deserve. And here was a figure that was protecting them, getting back what was stolen. They wanted someone that to ride into their lives, you know, restore their jobs, restore their homes, bring back the repossessed furniture.
And on radio, the Lone Ranger was doing that. the very first episode that covered Wagon Day's repurposed script. dealt with a grown Trying to steal the rights of a mine. This prospector had been searching for gold and silver all his life and you know, had nothing to show afford. and the assayer knew that there was a lot of money to be had in that mine.
And it was the Lone Ranger who ended, and Silver actually kicked over an old chimney and found the hidden documents that proved that the prospector was the one who was the rightful owner to the mine that was trying to be stolen by bigwigs. And that really resonated with the people in 1933 and 1934. There was just a groundswell of people interested, especially the children, especially the kids. And Stryker always went out of his way to make sure that the Lone Ranger always represented goodness, always conducted himself in a moral way. He made the decision early on that unlike Bass Reeves, he would never kill anybody.
He would only shoot to wound and shoot in self-defense. And he actually wrote out the criteria for the Lone Rangers' behavior once it got so big that he had staff writers working for him. The Lone Ranger is never shown without his mask or some sort of disguise. At all times, the Lone Ranger uses perfect grammar and precise speech completely devoid of slang. The Lone Ranger never wins against hopeless odds, i.e.
he's never seen escaping from a barrage of bullets merely by riding into the horizon. Names of unsympathetic characters are carefully chosen, avoiding the use of two names as much as possible to even avoid further vicarious association. More often than not, a single nickname is selected. Criminals are never shown in unenviable positions of power and wealth. and they never appear as either successful or glamorous.
The Lone Ranger does not drink or smoke. And saloon scenes are usually interpreted as cafes with waiters and food instead of bartenders and liquor. The story of how the Lone Ranger came to be continues here on Our American Stories. Pro drivers live for race day, but for small business owners, every day is race day. That's why Going Pro with Lenovo Pro matters.
One-on-one advice, IT solutions, and customized hardware powered by Intel Core ultraprocessors keep your business on the right track. Business Goes Pro? With Lenovo Pro. Sign up for free at lenovo.com/slash pro. Lenovo, Lenovo.
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certain restrictions may apply. I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.
Alright. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting.
Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.
Hear that? That's what it sounds like when you plant more trees than you harvest. Work done by thousands of working forest professionals, like Adam, a district forest manager who works to protect our forests from fires. Keeping the forest fire-resistant synonymous with keeping a forest healthy, and we do that through planting more than we harvest and mitigate those risks through active management. It's a long-term commitment.
Visit WorkingForestsInitiative.com to learn more. It's 1972. A young British family is attempting to sail around the world when disaster strikes. Their boat is hit by killer whales and it sinks in seconds. All they have left is a life raft and each other.
This is the true story of the Robertson family and their fight to survive. Hosted by me, Becky Milligan. Listen to Adrift, an Apple original podcast produced by Blanchard House. Follow and listen on Apple podcasts. And we return to our American stories and the final portion of our story on the Lone Ranger and how it came to be.
With author Stephen Iowanu, author of the book Yesteryear. Again, go to Amazon for the usual suspects and buy this book, as you can tell by now. Stephen knows how to tell a gripping story. When we last left off, George W. Trendel and Fran Stryker had struck gold with Fran's repurposed script.
of a lesser-known radio drama called Covered Wagon Days. and within a year of initial broadcast, the Lone Ranger had swept across the nation. But things were about to get a bit muddy for Fran Stryker in particular with a peculiar and enticing offer. from George Trendell. Let's return to the story.
And this has been described by Stryker's Son as either the best deal in entertainment history or the worst deal in entertainment history, depending on how you look at it. Trendle knew of Stryker's personal situation. He knew how much he was getting paid, you know, $4 a script. He knew that he had over a dozen family members that he was supporting, not counting his wife and now two children. And so he offered Stryker a contract.
to write exclusively. for WXYZ. And it was more money than... Striker had ever made. It was enough to take care of his extended family that he was supporting still.
And live comfortably, to be honest with you. And it also did something else, it guaranteed job security through the Depression. There is a stipulation, however. The stipulation to get this contract, this exclusive writing deal with WXYZ. A nice salary.
Stryker had to sell Trendle all rights to the Lone Ranger for $10.
So Stryker was torn. He knew at this point that The Ranger was going in a direction that he had never experienced. I don't think anyone knew it was going to become as big. And as enduring as it did. But they knew, and certainly Trendel knew, that this is a.
potential Moneymaker. On the other hand, Striker Head. all these mouths he had to feed. He couldn't turn down the author. It was just too much for him to pass on.
And I think perhaps the best explanation of why Stryker did this. is in the Lone Ranger Creed that he wrote. And by all accounts from family and friends, this creed was an extension of Stryker's own beliefs, almost like the Ten Commandments of Behavior for the Lone Ranger. 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. God gives you firewood, but you need to gather it. That this government, of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall live always. Believing in taking care of nature, which goes right back to Stryker's childhood. In my Creator, my country.
My fellow man. One of those tenets states that man should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number. And I think that explains why Stryker took that worst possible deal long term for his family. And He signed the rights away for $10. Um One of the tenets of the creed is that truth alone lives on forever.
And I think as it became unclear and muddy who was the actual creator. of the Lone Ranger, I think that tenant gave him some comfort.
So Stryker signs the contract. The Lone Ranger becomes this national phenomenon. And Strikers on the payroll of WXYZ. And to Trendel's credit, He honored the contract throughout the entire Depression. Once the depression was over, Stryker asked for a raise.
He hadn't gotten one since 34. and the miser of Motown promptly fired Stryker. Because by that point the Lone Ranger had been on the air. For you know six, seven years. They had the blueprint, they had the kind of story arc to follow.
They had strikers' notes on how the Ranger should conduct themselves at all times. They had the creed. But what happened was that the quality of writing dropped off so much after strikers. brief absence. That the sponsors for the various shows that he was writing pressured Trendel to hire him back with the raise.
And Trendle didn't want to lose his sponsors, so he reluctantly hired Stryker Back. at the higher salary. About this time in the 1940s, Trendle started claiming In interviews and in articles That he was the creator, not just the owner of the rights, but he was the creator. It was his idea. of the Lone Ranger.
not strikers. And like anything else, if you repeat a lie long enough, People believe it. And so it gained strength. More people thought that George W. Trendell was the creator of a Lone Ranger story.
And in fact, even in his authorized biography, on the front cover, it says George W. Trendle, the creator, producer of The Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, Sergeant Press, and the Yukon. Etc. And even the last movie with Johnny Depp, if you stay until the credits roll at the end, you'll see based on the characters created by George W. Trendle.
There was even a story circulating that Stryker wasn't brought in. to work on the Lone Ranger script until after it had aired. Striker. handled all this with grace. And you should think about it.
He could see how much money, how much revenue the Ranger was producing for Trendle, now that Trendle had the rights. all the toys, all the spin-off products, all the giveaways, the movies, the books, the comic books. And it could have been him. But he handled it with grace when he was asked in private by his friends or family. He would say that, well, the people in the radio industry know the truth and leave it at that.
If he was interviewed, he would say only God creates. Stryker never brought up the controversy. He never confronted Trendel with the lie. and he continued to work for Trendel. Up until The Lone Ranger lights were sold.
For three million dollars which was a record sale. at that time. And of course, you know, the money all went to Trendel. I think it did bother Stryker. It had to.
Stryker really did give his all and cared about the Ranger and felt a responsibility to the Rangers' fans, especially the kids, to make sure that he was an example, a true hero. to those kids growing up. It had to hurt. Unfortunately, Stryker was killed in a car crash in 1962. Still a young man, I think he was only 58 years old, and he didn't live long enough to write his.
memoirs and tell his side of the story. And I think that premature death and his not writing his autobiography. gave life to the lie because it could it continued Well really to this day.
Okay. I think the Lone Ranger is an iconic American. hero in figure. I think he is recognized by everybody. worldwide.
He is an enduring Bankable media star. Stryker. You know, he used to say that the people in the radio business know, and that's true. He's in the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame, but he doesn't have the. Notoriety, he's not acknowledged.
People don't know who he is. The average person doesn't know. Who he is, but he is in fact. Just on the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet, if that was the only two scripts he ever wrote, just on those two creations, he has a. and deserves a a place as one of the most influential and successful Radio.
Drama. uh script writers. his accomplishments. They were huge. You'll be hard-pressed to find someone who had such an impact and whose character.
We're able to move from radio to television to film to books to comic books. Um You'd be hard pressed to find a character that generated that much revenue. for such a long period of time. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by Aaron Monty Montgomery. And a special thanks to author Stephen Iowanu, and his book, Yesteryear, is available at Amazon or The Usual Suspects.
And what a story he told. And by the way, was it the best or worst deal of all time? It was the worst deal of all time. I mean clearly Stryker had to take care of his family and may not have been a risk taker. But boy, if you want to do the wrong thing.
Do what Trendel did and become the greatest schmuck. In history, he could have just tied the guy in for a nice piece of the profits and still made a heck of a lot of money himself. The story of how the Lone Ranger came to be. here on Our American Stories. This message comes from the International Rescue Committee.
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