“Keep Wearing the Pants in Family”

In The Lone Ranger episode “Man of the House,” Casper Dingle inherits his uncle’s ranch.  When he travels there, he falls in love with Maude, the woman running it in his uncle’s stead.  As he was raised in the city, he marries Maude and works inside the house, doing the cooking and cleaning, while she handles the running of the ranch.

"That was my favorite plate, Casper!"

Yet neither seems entirely happy with this arrangement, and when rustlers steal their cattle, Maude despairs that she married a mouse instead of a man.  Casper cowers beneath her glare, and apologizes for breaking the plate he dropped when she yelled at him.  Then she rides off with the ranch hands.

The Lone Ranger and Tonto, who have been on the trail of the rustlers, stop by the house.  Poor Casper, seeing the ranger’s mask, straps on a gun belt, but can’t even pull the gun out of the holster.  After the Lone Ranger assures him he intends him no harm, he tells Casper that he’s not really a coward: he’s just let everyone make him think he is.  

"Uh, Mr. Dingle, you'll do better if you open your eyes."

While Tonto tracks down the rustlers, the Lone Ranger teaches Casper to shoot.  But when Tonto’s horse returns rider-less, the lesson is over.

Tonto’s horse leads them to the hideout, and thanks to the Lone Ranger’s training, as well as his belief in him, Casper proves instrumental to capturing the rustlers.  The group return to the ranch, but Maude can’t believe her husband helped capture rustlers.  So he shoots her favorite teapot off the shelf on the wall to prove his marksmanship, as well as his willingness to defy her.  As Tonto leaves, he tells Casper, “You keep wearing the pants in family,” and Casper stares down Maude until she agrees to do all the cooking and cleaning from now on, while he minds the ranch.  As the Lone Ranger and Tonto ride away, Maude asks him the identity of masked stranger.  Casper replies, “Typical woman, you don’t know nothin.’  That was the Lone Ranger.”

Much has changed since this episode first aired, including gender roles and race relations.  It’ll be interesting to see how Hollywood transforms the sixty-year-old TV show into a blockbuster movie, with a high profile actor as Johnny Depp playing the role of Tonto, the sidekick.  In the meantime, I’m enjoying The Lone Ranger on COZI TV.  “Man of the House” struck me as unique, so I thought I’d share it with you.  I like how the Lone Ranger unlocked the power inside Casper that was ready to be released.  Sometimes that’s all any of us need: someone to believe in us, give us a little instruction, and accompany us a short distance along our new path through life. 

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must finish the laundry before my wife gets home.  Hi-yo Silver!  Away!

Dragon Dave

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Dr. McCoy and the Lone Ranger

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Dr. McCoy and the Lone Ranger

Before Deforest Kelley played Dr. McCoy in "Star Trek," he pursued a busy career in both film and TV.  He was particularly known for his villains, and his roles in Westerns.

In the middle decades of the twentieth century, Westerns were popular on radio, TV, movies, and in literature.  It’s easy to see their allure.  Not only do they capture the pioneering spirit, but they also pit man against a forbidding environment, facing unknown dangers.  Westerns were about survival against the odds, and building something out of nothing.  In many ways, such stories served as the prototype of Science Fiction, the genre that eventually overtook them.  We still dream of battling unknown foes, and taming wild animals and forbidding landscapes, only now on alien worlds.

"What do you say we just mosey on inside for a Mint Julep."

Given Johnny Depp’s involvement, I’ve been looking forward to seeing the upcoming big screen adaptation of “The Lone Ranger.”  I noticed the 1950s TV show on my channel lineup, and decided to watch a few episodes.  In one episode, a group of bad guys capture a stage coach and shoot everyone aboard.  Discovering that the travelers were bank executives, the bad guys change clothes, and drive the stage coach into town.  Everyone at the bank, and even the local sheriff, allow the men to use their documents to steal money from the bank.  When the Lone Ranger, intent on bringing the men to justice, rides into town, the sheriff equates his mask with that of a robber’s, and puts him in jail.  Tonto, using his broken English, gains the help of a local to rescue his friend, and the two ride off to capture the murderers. 

When the Lone Ranger and Tonto capture the baddies, the sheriff needs some convincing before he’ll see past the appropriated documents and believe this masked stranger and his Indian pal. 

The show had nearly ended before I realized the actor playing the sheriff was Deforest Kelley.  The episode was filmed in 1950, fifteen years before he would assume the mantle of Dr. Leonard McCoy, a role that gave him lasting recognition, but also typecast him and effectively ended his acting career.  Kelley’s sheriff was less nuanced than in Dr. McCoy in "Star Trek:" he seemed to alternate between suspicion and approval, with nothing in between.  But his portrayal fit the role so completely that took me that long to identify him.  His performance reveals how completely he poured himself into McCoy, once the more complex character was offered to him. 

"Dammit, Lone Ranger, I'm a doctor, not a...wait,
I am a lawman, ain't I?"

I wish Deforest Kelley could have starred in TV shows and movies after “Star Trek.”  I know he drew solace in how many kids that grew up watching “Star Trek” entered the medical profession.  Given how many times he starred in Westerns, I wonder how many young boys might have been inspired to become cowboys, and work on farms and ranches.

"Hi-yo, U. S. S. Enterprise!  Away!"

Dragon Dave

P.S.  If you have cable or satellite TV, check to see if you have COZI TV.  In addition to "The Lone Ranger," they offer a lot of other great shows from the 1950s, '60s, and '70s.