The Lone Ranger and Me-1996

Here's a treat for me! OTR friend Dan Hughes posted on YouTube this abridgement of a 1996 re-creation of a LONE RANGER episode at that year's CINCINNATI OLD-TIME RADIO AND NOSTALGIA CONVENTION. This was one of the happiest of all the re-creations with which I've been involved as it was the first time I played opposite Jack Benny uber-fan, Karen Hughes. Karen, age 11 here I believe, has become an unofficial good luck charm for the Cincy Con over the years since. A very good actress, I have had the great pleasure to appear opposite her dozens of times. I have been her father, her son, her husband, a robot who replaced her husband and, even though we had no scenes together, we appeared together this past weekend yet again in RICHARD DIAMOND, PRIVATE DETECTIVE.

Karen's dad Dan appears at the beginning of this clip as another outlaw opposite me. (I'm the guy with the beard and a lot more hair than I have now in case you didn't know). Toward the end, you also see and hear Joel Senter who, along with his lovely wife Carolyn, got my wife and I involved in these OTR cons in the first place two decades ago. The sound effects here are done live by the late Barney Beck, a wonderful, larger than life character and one of the best sound men from the late days of OTR. At one time or another he had done the sound effects for BOB AND RAY and SUPERMAN amongst many others!

The title role of THE LONE RANGER is here played by its long-time announcer Fred Foy who had played the role in the original broadcast of this script when star Brace Beemer took ill suddenly. My wife and I were priviliged to have dinner with Mr. Foy that weekend and he spoke of all the folks he had met while also announcing the late sixties DICK CAVETT SHOW.

A couple years back, this same script was re-done at Cincinnati with both Karen and I cast in our "original roles" a decade later. Unfortunately, show business being what it is, I ended up getting bumped for Bob Hastings that time. As Bob is always a treat and I learned everything I know about radio acting from him (not that its ever likely to come up away from the annual gathering), I got past it quickly.

I had not seen any clips of this performance. I'm not bad! Thanks, Dan, for posting it and a big public thank you for bringing your family--now our extended family-- back to the convention every year since!