(From Old Corral collection)

The publicity still on the left is from THE LONE RANGER serial, released in 1938 by Republic Pictures.  Daniels is on the left portraying Tonto, and the masked Lone Ranger is Lee Powell. Powell was one of many Hollywood performers that served in World War II. He enlisted in the Marines, obtained the rank of Sergeant, and died on Tinian (Marianas Islands) in 1944.

(From Old Corral collection) Heroine Lynn Roberts (aka Mary Hart in earlier screen activity in Roy Rogers films, and later as Lynne Roberts) points the way for Victor Daniels (Tonto) and Lee Powell (the Lone Ranger) in THE LONE RANGER (1938) chapterplay. In this first LR serial, Tonto's paint horse was called "White Feller" (White Fellah) not "Scout" (see tidbit at the bottom of this webpage).

(From Old Corral collection)

Daniels reprised his role as Tonto in Republic's 1939 cliffhanger sequel, THE LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN. In the picture on the left, Bob Livingston is the fabled Masked Rider of the Plains and Daniels (center) is Tonto. Helping out is Duncan Renaldo (right), who gained fame in the early 1950s as TV's "Robin Hood of the Old West", the Cisco Kid.

(From Old Corral collection) As part of the promotion and advertising for films, a variety of posters and pictures were provided to the local theaters.  This is a lobby card from Chapter 1 of THE LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN (1939), and shows the LR and Tonto atop their trusty steeds, Silver and Scout.  Bob Livingston, one of the original Three Mesquiteers, and a contract player for Republic, played the LR in this sequel. The original title for the sequel was THE LONE RANGER RETURNS, but it was later changed to RIDES AGAIN.  RETURNS became the title of Episode 1 as shown in this lobby card. (Courtesy of Les Adams) Left to right are stuntman Ted Mapes, Bob Livingston, Chief Thunder Cloud, Walter Wills (doctor), Betty Roadman and Robert McClung in a Chapter 9 scene from THE LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN (Republic, 1939). A few years after this serial, Mapes was at Columbia Pictures doing stunts and doubling Charles Starrett.

The plot of THE LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN (1939) is a standard "cattlemen vs. homesteaders" theme.  The problem with this sequel is evident in this great still (below) of Daniels and Bob Livingston.  The Lone Ranger character spends too much time unmasked in the role of cowboy drifter "Bill Andrews".  And the storyline doesn't resemble the radio version, nor was it a true continuation of the first chapterplay.

(From Old Corral collection)

Bob Livingston's real name was Robert Edgar Randall, and he had a brother named Jack Randall (real name: Addison Owen Randall) who also was a cowboy star in some oaters for Monogram Pictures in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Livingston used the mask quite often in his films - he did this when starring in the Three Mesquiteers series at Republic as well as at Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) in the 1940s when he replaced George Houston as the Lone Rider.

Tidbits on the Tonto character and his steeds, "White Feller" (White Fellah) and "Scout": Tonto was a member of the Potawatomi tribe, as stated in a number of radio shows and comic books. The earliest show that I can recall where "White Feller" (White Fellah) is mentioned as the name of Tonto's horse is the March 2, 1938 program titled The Apache Kid (episode #795). Tonto received the horse (to be known as Scout) in an August 5, 1938 radio program titled Four-Day Ride (episode #862), and the hoss was a gift to replace his earlier horse "White Feller" (White Fellah). Scout (not yet given that name) was presented to Tonto by Chief Thundercloud (not the movie Victor Daniels/Chief Thunder Cloud, but simply a character of that name in the radio show). "White Feller" remained with the Chief to recover. In several subsequent shows, Tonto simply referred to his new horse as "paint horse". However, in the September 2, 1938 episode #874 titled Border Dope Smuggling (sometimes titled Sheriff Sanders and the Smugglers), the paint horse helped uncover the leader of a smuggling ring, and there is some conversation about the paint horse being a "sure enough good scout". And Tonto expresses pleasure about that name - "Good Scout ... that good ... Tonto like Scout". In the standard LR program closing, the masked man yells "Hi-Yo Silver" and Tonto follows with "Get 'em up Scout". And the naming of Tonto's paint horse was complete.

These 1938 shows featured John Todd as Tonto (who played the part for all, or almost all, of the radio run), and Earle W. Graser as the LR. Graser was killed in an automobile accident on April 8, 1941 and was replaced by Brace Beemer, the announcer on the LR broadcasts.