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Pop Culture Flashback: Unmasking the Lone Ranger

Who was that masked man? On this day, actor Clayton Moore was told to remove it or else.

September 1, 2026

1979 – The Lone Ranger is Unmasked

“Who was that masked man?” was a line frequently said during The Lone Ranger TV show which began airing on September 15, 1949, on ABC. Clayton Moore donned the mask for 169 episodes plus many public appearances, but that all changed on this day in 1979.

Clayton Moore as The Lone Ranger and his horse Silver — Silver and Clayton Moore *(Wikimedia Commons)*

After a successful run on radio, The Lone Ranger came to TV in 1949. Actor Clayton Moore starred as the masked one for ABC. Not only was The Lone Ranger the first western TV series, but it also became the network’s first big hit.

Moore was often quoted as saying he had “fallen in love with the Lone Ranger character” and continued to make public appearances as the masked man for many years after. However, it was on this day in 1979 that an L.A. court prohibited Moore from wearing the iconic mask in public appearances.

Jack Wrather, owner of the Lone Ranger character, had made plans for a new movie version of the story and didn’t want fans to think that the actor, now 65 years of age, would be playing the role. In response, Moore dropped the Domino mask in favor for Foster Grant wraparound sunglasses and counter-sued Wrather. He won that battle and was given the right to wear the costume, which he continued to do so until his death in 1999.

Incidentally, 1981’s The Legend of the Lone Ranger (starring Klinton Spilsbury) and 2013’s The Lone Ranger by Disney (starring Armie Hammer) were both critical and commercial failures.

OTHER EVENTS THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY:

1972 – The First Christian Comic Books

The very first Christian comic books were released in September of 1972. Spire produced a version of Brother Andrew’s God’s Smuggler and David Wilkerson’s The Cross and the Switchblade. Unlike traditional comic books which create new stories every month, the Christian versions came out about once a year.

In 1973, Spire added an Archie series drawn by actual Archie Comics artist, Al Hartley. In 1974, the company added Bible stories, and a series dedicated to younger readers including the Barney Bear series. The last of the original comic books was a Barney Bear printed in 1988.

1903 – Hate Car Tab Fees? Blame This Guy

A painting of Henry Lee Higginson by John Singer Sarge (1903) *(Wikimedia Commons)*

If you hate renewing your car tabs every year, we can blame Henry Lee Higginson who started it all. Higginson, who was the founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was pretty important in his day. He was tired of cars speeding past his home at the high speed of 15 MPH, so he turned in the petition. The title was a mouthful: “A Petition Relative to Licensing Automobiles and Those Operating the Same.”

Massachusetts passed a provision in 1903 to create an automobile department which required car owners to register their cars and then pay a $2 fee each year and posting a license plate of each of their cars. The first license plate was issued on this day to Frederick Tudor of Brookline.