Clayton Moore
September 14, 1914 – December 28, 1999
Clayton Moore spent so much time saying hello to kids and signing autographs, and I never got to meet him. What a drag.
To me, The Lone Ranger TV show and the features (The Lone Ranger, 1956, and 1958′s The Lone Ranger And The Lost City Of Gold) are pure joy. There are so many ways you could criticize them, yet they’re all perfect.
Clayton Moore (from his autobiography, I Was That Masked Man): “The greatest thing about working on the feature was that the pace was much more leisurely. On the series, we would shoot at least 12 pages of script a day, sometimes as much as 15 to 18, but for the film, we would shoot maybe four or five. That’s still working pretty fast compared to some productions, but it seemed like a vacation to us.”
Of course, he did so much more over the course of his career, like those great Republic serials, but how can you top being The Lone Ranger?
I was lucky enough to interview him for a magazine article — and he was a great guy. Very friendly and — this is the important part — he believed in the Lone Ranger. It was a way of life to him. I came away very impressed.
He told this story (I don’t remember if it’s in the autobiography or not): he was making a public appearance somewhere as the Lone Ranger. He was still in full regalia as he and his wife (who was a nurse) were coming home. On the way, they saw a motorcycle accident and the pulled over to help.
His wife went to call the police, and Moore was cradling the cyclist on his lap. The guy comes to and Moore say, “relax, you’re OK. Just tell me what you see.”
The guy blinks and says, “ummm, I think I see the Lone Ranger.”
Great story. I loved his book. He came off as such a great guy. Totally sincere.
Do you have a copy of your interview? I’d love to see it, as the features will be included in my book, and that’s a chapter I really wanna get right.
There’s always this:
I have great affection for the Gene Autry movie The Cowboys and the Indians, which featured Jay Silverheels as an engineer and Iwo Jima vet, and Moore as the villain. The picture premiered the same day (Sept 15, 49) the Ranger series was broadcast for the first time.
isn’t that the one where Gene sings “Here Comes Santa Clause?”
yup. not the first time, though, and it was a little early for the holiday.
“That’s, that’s what they call a sanity clause.”
“You can’t fool me. There ain’t no Sanity Clause.”
One of the stand out memories of my childhood moviegoing was being taken to see a lone ranger movie (Lost City of Gold). At the intermission Clayton Moore dressed as the Lone ranger came on stage for a personal appearance of the actual Lone Ranger silver pistols and all. Sitting in the front row I was dumbstruck with joy.
That is a great story. What city was that in?
It was at the London Pavilion Cinema next to Piccadilly Circus in London England. The Cinema is often seen in establishing shots for movies set in London, you can usually date the time they were photographed from the title of the film being advertised there. The facade still exists but the interior has been redeveloped into what you might call a mall, which contains many shops and a multiplex cinema.
Another one of this blog’s readers in the UK, David Rayner, saw it in London in 1959. (I’m envious of you both!)
If you haven’t made your way through his Flickr photostream, you’ve really missed out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35455749@N06/7342737214/