Zorro

Zorro, the sword-wielding, black-clad avenger, is one of the most influential fictional characters of twentieth century literature. By day he was Don Diego, a respected nobleman of nineteenth century California. By night, however, he cut a much more dashing figure as "The Fox," El Zorro. Dressed completely in black with a mask and wide-brimmed hat to conceal his identity, Zorro battled evildoers with the aid of his whip and sword, and made fast getaways on his black steed, Tornado. He was a superbly talented fencer—only Cyrano de Bergerac, D'Artagnan, and the Three Musketeers can challenge him for the title of fiction's most popular swordsman. No matter where he went, he always signed his work with a distinctive Z, often cut into the clothing or skin of his enemies.

Zorro's adventures have been chronicled in many different media. Created by writer Johnston McCulley in 1919 for "The Curse of Capistrano," which was serialized in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly, Zorro is the oldest of the modern superheroes. McCulley would write a total of 65 adventures of the black-clad avenger over the next 39 years. Since Zorro's introduction, countless characters have been created using the same basic theme: a normally law-abiding individual who is faced with great injustice and takes up a mask and secret identity to right wrongs and protect the innocent. Moreover, Zorro's devil-may-care attitude, mastery with the sword, daring escapes, and tendency to laugh in the face of authority have become common traits of swashbuckling heroes.

Though he began as a pulp magazine character, Zorro soared to popularity as a movie character. In all, Zorro has been featured in 37 movies, plus a number of Republic serialized adventures. Zorro's firstforay onto the big screen came when popular actor Douglas Fairbanks, on his honeymoon with Mary Pickford, read "The Curse of Capistrano." He and Pickford chose that story to kick off their new film studio, United Artists, and in 1920 released it as The Mark of Zorro. Zorro remained a popular film character in the decades that followed. Tyrone Power took up the sword and mask in 1940's The Mark of Zorro. Zorro starred in 10 screen adventures, most of them in serial form, from Republic starting in 1937.

A 1950s Disney television show, Zorro, starred Guy Williams in the title role. Zorro was, at the time, the highest-budgeted Western on television. According to the Official Zorro Web Site, the Zorro merchandising mania that resulted is still well known among toy and comics collectors. Many more movie and television adaptations of Zorro's adventures were made in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Included among these were films from Europe and an animated series, The New Adventures of Zorro, which ran from 1981 to 1983.

Zorro experienced another resurgence in popularity in the 1990s with another live-action television series that ran for 88 episodes. A new animated series debuted in 1992, and a 1995 stage musical opened to critical acclaim. The year 1998 saw the release of The Mask of Zorro, starring Antonio Banderas as the protege of Anthony Hopkins' Don Diego. The film was a great success, collecting $95 million at the box office, the highest total for any Zorro film. Yet another animated series was unveiled around the same time, along with a new line of Zorro toys.

Zorro has also seen his share of caricature. In the early 1980s the television series Zorro and Son took a comedic approach towards his adventures, and the 1981 film Zorro, the Gay Blade featured George Hamilton as an effeminate relative of Zorro who fought injustice in a pink leather costume, complete with Zorro's trusty whip.

Zorro was one of the earliest of many successful twentieth-century characters that tapped into the frustration of readers. People were afraid: afraid of crime, afraid of war, afraid of oppressive governments. El Zorro and his dashing adventures allowed them to imagine a world where wrongs could be righted, not through a system that was often slow and corrupt, but swiftly and surely. His sword and whip attacked villains justice could not touch; sometimes the villains were themselves the supposed guardians of justice.

Zorro is also the consummate romantic, a combination of Latin lover, gentleman bandit, and charming rogue. Even as enemy forces closed in from all sides, he often found the time to give his leading lady a passionate kiss before he executed another daring escape.

Another important component of Zorro's appeal lies in his near-supernatural ability to defy the odds. No matter how great the challenge or powerful the enemy, Zorro always came out on top and set things right. He was the underdog who could even the odds with a stroke of his blade, taking down the powerful and arrogant by several notches. Whenever a screen swashbuckler defies a sputtering tyrant or a grim, black-clad comic book vigilante stalks the night seeking criminal prey, both are following in the footsteps of El Zorro and the ideals that made him popular through four generations of fans.

Curtis, Sandra R. Zorro Unmasked: The Official History. New York, Hyperion, 1998.

Hutchison, Don. The Great Pulp Heroes. Buffalo, New York, Mosaic Press, 1996.

McCulley, Johnston. The Mark of Zorro. New York, AmericanReprint Co., 1924, 1976.

Toth, Alex. Zorro: The Complete Classic Adventures. Forestville, California, Eclipse Books, 1988.

"Zorro." http:\www.zorro.com March 1999.

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