This text is from the radio show I wrote. It was broadcast on simone station.
Audio – the mask of zorro
You recognized the theme of Zorro’s mask, didn’t you? Magnificent music composed by James Horner. Don’t you find this character fascinating? Unlike many comic book heroes, Zorro doesn’t have any superpowers, but he does have something special. It is a vigilante on horseback who signs a Z at the point of the sword. But what are its origins? What is the real story of Zorro?
This character appears for the first time in 1919 in the illustrated gazette All Star Weekly under the title “the curse of capistrano” (the scourge of zorro). Its author Johnston McCulley was born in Illinois (United States) in 1883, he was first a journalist before embarking on writing plays, then screenplays for the cinema, but especially detective and adventure books, especially westerns. In 1924, Johnston Mc Culley, decides to publish Zorro in the form of a novel. The book is known under the title of “the sign of capistrano” then “the sign of zorro”.
The story takes place in California at the beginning of the 19th century. Don Diego de la Vega, son of a notable and student in Spain, returned to his father’s who lived in Los Angeles. Faced with the tyrannical power wielded in the city, Zorro reestablishes justice under a mask and fiercely defends the oppressed.
Success is then there and many adaptations will be made for cinema and television. Zorro’s first screen adaptation was a 1920 silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks. While many films saw the light of day in the 70s and 90s, one of the best-known versions was Tyrone Power in 1940.
As astonishing as it may sound, it was almost certainly the TV series played by Guy Williams that popularized this character the most. Adapted by Walt Disney in the 1950s, the series was shot in black and white on a very limited budget. Walt Disney, who was then seeking funding for his park in California, had very few credits at the time.
It was Guy Williams who was both actor and fencer who won the casting. And very quickly, the series met with great success. But the pace of the shoots became more and more difficult to keep up. The star actor shot no less than 80 unlined episodes before leaving the series for theaters.
I will therefore leave you with these few notes in the credits. The original having composed by Georges Bruns and Norman Foster. Performed in French by Claude Germain, José Germain and Vincent Munro. Hope you had a good time and thank you for listening. See you soon, on simone station.
Audio – credits of the Zorro series
