Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

David Feldman is the author of ten previous volumes of Imponderables^(R). He has a master's degree in popular culture from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and consults and lectures on the media. He lives in New York City.

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Ponder, if you will ...
Where do you find fascinating explanations
for a multitude of mysteries?
Why do pianos have 88 keys?
How does the hole get in the needle of a syringe?
Why is peanut butter sticky?

Pop culture guru David Feldman demystifies these questions and much more in Do Elephants Jump? One of the Imponderables® series -- the unchallenged source of answers to civilization's everyday mysteries -- and charmingly illustrated by Kassie Schwan, this book provides you with small mysteries that puzzle and amaze us.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Do Elephants Jump?

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

WhyWas He Called the Lone Ranger When Tonto Was Always Hanging Around?

The classic western features a lone hero entering a new town and facinga villain who threatens the peacefulness of a dusty burg. The LoneRanger, on the other hand, came with a rather important backup,Tonto. Leaving aside questions of political correctness or racism, callingthe masked man the Lone Ranger is a little like calling Simon andGarfunkel a Paul Simon solo act.

Before we get to the "Lone" part of the equation, our hero actuallywas a ranger, in fact, a Texas Ranger. The Lone Ranger started asa radio show, first broadcast out of Detroit in 1933, created by GeorgeTrendle, and written by Fran Striker. The first episode establishedthat circa 1850, the Lone Ranger was one of six Texas Rangers whowere trying to tame the vicious Cavendish Gang. Unfortunately, thebad guys ambushed the Rangers, and all of the Lone Ranger's comradeswere killed. The Lone Ranger himself was left for dead. Amongthe vanquished was the Lone Ranger's older brother, Dan.

So for a few moments, long enough to give him his name, the Lone Ranger really was by himself. He was the lone survivingRanger, even if he happened to be unconscious at the time. Tontostumbled upon the fallen hero and, while nursing him back tohealth, noticed that the Ranger was wearing a necklace that Tontohad given him as a child. Many moons before, the Lone Ranger(who in subsequent retellings of the story we learn was named JohnReid) saved Tonto's life! Tonto had bestowed the necklace on hisblood brother as a gift.

When Reid regained his bearings, the two vowed to wreak revengeupon the Cavendish Gang and to continue ?making the West adecent place to live.? Reid and Tonto dug six graves at the ambushsite to make everyone believe that Reid had perished with the others,and to hide his identity, the Lone Ranger donned a black mask, madefrom the vest his brother was wearing at the massacre. Like JimmyOlsen with Superman, Tonto was the only human privy to the LoneRanger's secret.

Not that the Lone Ranger didn't solicit help from others. It isn'teasy being a Ranger, let alone a lone one, without a horse. As was hiswont, Reid stumbled onto good luck. He and Tonto saved a bravestallion from being gored by a buffalo, and nursed him back to health(the first episode of The Lone Ranger featured almost as much medicalaid as fighting). Although they released the horse when it regainedits health, the stallion followed them and, of course, that horsewas Silver, soon to be another faithful companion to L.R.

And would a lonely lone Ranger really have his own, personal munitionssupplier? John Reid did. The Lone Ranger and Tonto met aman who the Cavendish Gang tried to frame for the Texas Rangermurders. Sure of his innocence, the Lone Ranger put him in the silvermine that he and his slain brother owned, and turned it into a "silverbullet" factory.

Eventually, during the run of the radio show, which lasted from1933 to 1954, the duo vanquished the Cavendish Gang, but the LoneRanger and Tonto knew when they found a good gig. They decided tokeep the Lone Ranger's true identity secret, to keep those silver bul-lets flowing, and best of all, to bounce into television in 1949 for anine-year run on ABC and decades more in syndication.

The Lone Ranger was also featured in movie serials, featuremovies, and comic books, and the hero's origins mutated slightly orweren't mentioned at all. But the radio show actually reran the premiereepisode periodically, so listeners in the 1930s probably weren'tas baffled about why a law enforcer with a faithful companion, a fulltimemunitions supplier, and a horse was called "Lone."

Submitted by James Telfer IV of New York, New York.

Excerpted from Do Elephants Jump?by David Feldman Copyright © 2005 by David Feldman. Excerpted by permission.
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