What I watched: The fifteenth episode of the first season of The Lone Ranger, a kid-oriented Western created by George W. Trendle. This episode starred Clayton Moore as the titular hero and Jay Silverheels as Tonto, with guest appearances by Louise Lorimer, Leonard Strong and Charles Meredith. This episode was directed by George B. Seitz and written by Tom Seller. “Cannonball McKay” aired on Thursday, December 29, 1949 at 7:30 PM on ABC, and is available on YouTube.
What happened: We are told that the Wells Fargo company is in trouble, because they’ve been scamming their customers. Wait, no, that’s a little bit in the future. They’re in trouble because their stages keep getting held up. But there is one town where they’re safe, because they have fearsome stage driver Cannonball McKay (Lorimer), a tough woman dressed in cowboy duds. However, McKay has come under suspicion for taking in Clem Jones (Strong), an ex-convict just two weeks out of jail.
The Ranger, despite his previous positive dealings with ex-cons, is suspicious of this and wants to meet with Cannonball. The stage arrives in town, and she’s informed that she’s being taken off the route due to hriing a crook. This almost leads to gunshots until the Ranger intervenes. Cannonball swears that Clem is reformed, but a bystander is concerned that he’ll try to take the monthly gold shipment.
While meeting with Tonto, the Ranger says he suspects the robbers are operating out of the town, but that he trusts Cannonball because she defended her friend. This is not a world with a lot of moral ambiguity. Back in town, Tonto spots the town doctor, Doc Tate (Meredith) giving Clem ten dollars to deliver. But it turns out the doc is actually the one who’s been orchestrating the robberies. He and his henchmen shoot the sheriff, take the gold from a safe, and have one of their men dress up as Clem.
The ruse works, convincing the local authorities that the ex-con is at fault. The marshal arrests him, and takes him back to the Wells Fargo office, apparently an important civic duty. The doc gave him a phony letter to make him more suspicious. Tonto, who was following him the whole time, knows that Clem’s being set up.
The Ranger meets with Cannonball, who is planning to free her friend at the point of the gun. But the Ranger convinces her to do things the right way: with an elaborate ruse. One of Doc Tate’s baddies is planning to dynamite the jail, for some reason. The Ranger and Cannonball trap Tate in the jail for an interrogation right before the jail is about to blow up.
The plan is for Tonto to stop the bomber before the plan is executed, all the while making the crooks believe they are in danger to force them to confess. However, he gets taken out with a shovel, and it looks like our heroes are actually in trouble. Fortunately, Tonto wakes up in time and starts rolling around in the dirt with Porky. Under pressure, the villains finally confess. Doc shoots Cannonball in the hand, giving her a matching injury to Clem. When the stage driver pulls off her glove, it turns out that she’s wearing a wedding ring, and Clem is her husband. The happy couple swears to take on the world together. They ride out, with Cannonball dressed in feminine petticoats.
What I thought: Fran Striker once told a radio show that he had a basic formula for Lone Ranger episodes, outlined in the following steps:
- 1. Establish a character;
- 2. Give him a problem he can’t solve
- 3. Explain why he can’t solve it.
- 4. The Lone Ranger learns about the problem and mixes in.
- 5. The bad guy finds out that the Lone Ranger has become involved, and sets a trap for him.
- Commercial break
- 6. The Lone Ranger outfights or outwits the bad guy.
- 7. The Lone Ranger solves the situation
- 8. Benediction: all’s well that ends well.
Like all supposedly universal structures, this one is too vague to be really useful. It also doesn’t include some of the unexpected fixations we’ve seen in this batch of public-domain episodes, like virtuous ex-cons or frame-jobs. These episodes also haven’t always done a good job establishing point 3 — in this episode, Cannonball seems perfectly capable of solving her problem herself, even if it might lead to violence.
Nevertheless, most of the episodes we’ve looked at follow this structure. Seeing this formula spelled out also highlights the procedural nature of The Lone Ranger: the main characters are essentially guest stars in other peoples’ stories. The stakes and emotional arc of any given episode apply to the characters who we will never see again. According to Striker, this was essential to the Ranger’s heroism: he only acted to help other people, not himself.
This episode imagines a more interesting than usual world for the Ranger to briefly visit. Surprisingly, we have a heroic female character for the second episode in a row. This time, she even has an androgynous look. Cannonball McKay ultimately reminds me of one of my favourite TV characters, Jane from Deadwood (and was perhaps inspired by the real Calamity Jane.) Sadly, she doesn’t get to stay the badass she initially appears. Cannonball is mostly unimportant during the climax, and by the end of the episode has successfully been recruited back into traditional femininity.
Perhaps the most bracing moment in this episode is when it mentions the name of a real company in its narration: Wells Fargo, now known mostly for fleecing their customers but originating in the 1850s as part of the famed “pony express.” Indeed, the mythos of Wells Fargo as a force of law and order in the Old West is something the company turned to in advertisements trying to rebuild their reputation. Even so, it’s weird to see a touch of the contemporary everyday in the mostly fantastical West of The Lone Ranger.
Coming up next: 1950 beckons, but first there’s a potpourri of undated programs from 1949 to get to. We start off with one of the original mystery shows, Armchair Detective.
The Eternal Couch Potato 