zORRO

HEROES

ZORRO

IN THE PULPS, COMICS, MOVIES AND TV

Zorro (originally called Señor Zorro) is a fictional character created in 1919 by pulp writer Johnston McCulley. He has been featured in several books, films, television series and other media.

Zorro (Spanish for Fox) is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega (originally Don Diego Vega), a nobleman and master swordsman living in the Spanish colonial era of California. The character has undergone changes through the years, but the typical image of him is a black-clad masked outlaw who defends the people of the land against tyrannical officials and other villains. Not only is he much too cunning and foxlike for the bumbling authorities to catch, but he delights in publicly humiliating those same foes.

In The Curse of Capistrano Don Diego Vega becomes Señor Zorro in the pueblo of Los Angeles in California "to avenge the helpless, to punish cruel politicians", and "to aid the oppressed". He is the title character, as he is dubbed the "curse of Capistrano".

The story involves him romancing Lolita Pulido, an impoverished noblewoman. While Lolita is unimpressed with Diego, who pretends to be a passionless fop, she is attracted to the dashing Zorro. His rival and antagonist is Captain Ramon. Other characters include Sgt. Pedro Gonzales, Zorro's enemy and Diego's friend; Zorro's deaf and mute servant Bernardo; his ally Fray (Friar) Felipe; his father Don Alejandro Vega, and a group of noblemen (caballeros) whom at first hunt him but are won over to his cause.

In later stories McCulley introduces characters such as pirates and Native Americans, some of both who know Zorro's identity.

In McCulley's later stories, Diego's surname became de la Vega. In fact, the writer was wildly inconsistent. The first magazine serial ended with the villain dead and Diego publicly exposed as Zorro, but in the sequel the antagonist was alive, and the next entry had the double identity still secret.

Several Zorro productions have expanded on the character's family and future:

The character's visual motif is typically a black costume with a flowing Spanish cape, a flat-brimmed Andalusian-style hat, and a black cowl mask that covers the top of the head from eye level upwards. In his first appearance, he wears a cloak instead of a cape, a black mask covering his whole face with slits for eyes, and a sombrero.

His favored weapon is a rapier which he often uses to leave his distinctive mark, a Z made with three quick cuts. He also uses a bullwhip, rather like the later Indiana Jones. In his debut, he uses a pistol.

The fox is never depicted as Zorro's emblem, but as a metaphor for the character's wiliness ("Zorro, 'the Fox', so cunning and free..." from the Disney television show theme).

His "heroic pose" consists of rearing on his horse, sword raised high (the logo of Zorro Productions, Inc.).

Zorro (often called Señor or El Zorro in early stories) debuted in McCulley's 1919 story The Curse of Capistrano, serialized in five parts in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly. At the denouement, Zorro's true identity is revealed to all.

Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, on their honeymoon, selected the story as the inaugural picture for their new studio, United Artists, beginning the character's cinematic tradition. The story was adapted as The Mark of Zorro in 1920, which was a success. McCulley's story was re-released by the publisher Grosset and Dunlap under the same title to tie in with the film.

Due to public demand fueled by the film, McCulley wrote over 60 additional Zorro stories starting in 1922. The last, The Mask of Zorro (not to be confused with the 1998 film), was published posthumously in 1959. These stories ignore Zorro's revealing his identity to everyone. The black costume that modern audiences associate with the character stem from Fairbanks' smash hit movie rather than McCulley's original story, and McCulley's subsequent Zorro adventures copied Fairbanks's Zorro rather than the other way around. McCulley died in 1958, just as the Disney-produced Zorro television show was becoming phenomenally successful.

Douglas Fairbanks also starred in a 1925 sequel to his film titled Don Q, Son of Zorro, playing Don Diego's grown-up son, Don Cesar, as well as reprising his role as Don Diego.

Zorro Rides Again (1937), starring John Carroll, features a modernized Zorro named James Vega, the great-grandson of Diego.

Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939) starred Reed Hadley as Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro in a storyline set shortly after Mexican independence.

THE MASK OF ZORRO -- TYRONE POWER (1940)

George Turner stars in Son of Zorro (1947) as Diego's descendant Jeff Stewart, who operates as Zorro after the American Civil War.

Another incarnation of Zorro appears in Ghost of Zorro (1949). Ken Mason (Clayton Moore, best known for depicting the Lone Ranger) is Diego Vega's grandson.

THE MARK OF ZORRO (1974)

Frank Langella/Richardo Montalban

In the comedy Zorro, the Gay Blade (1981), Don Diego passes the mantle of Zorro to his son, also named Diego (George Hamilton). But when Diego the younger breaks his leg, his flamboyantly gay brother Ramon a.k.a. Bunny Wigglesworth (also played by Hamilton) takes over. Bunny's Zorro eschews the traditional black garb for more colorful outfits.

In The Mask of Zorro (1998), a younger protagonist, Alejandro Murrieta (fictional brother of Joaquin Murrieta), becomes Diego's successor. Alejandro returns in the 2005 sequel The Legend of Zorro. In his second appearance, he is called Don Alejandro de la Vega. He is played by Antonio Banderas.

The critically acclaimed The Mask of Zorro gives one possibility of Don Diego de la Vega's (Anthony Hopkins) end. In 1821, Governor Rafael Montero finally discovers Zorro's secret identity. The two enemies fight in Diego’s mansion, accidentally killing his wife, Esperanza. Diego is captured and imprisoned and his infant daughter Elena brought up by Montero as his own daughter. Twenty years later, Diego escapes from prison with the intention of taking revenge on Montero and telling Elena her true origin. He also trains Alejandro Murrieta as a new Zorro. By the film's end, both Montero and Diego die. The new Zorro and Elena get married; their son Joaquín is born by the end of the film and returns in The Legend of Zorro.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorro