Dad and Mom grew up listening to the radio.

They loved it.

My brothers and I grew up hearing them reminisce: “the Shadow knows” and “a pickle in the middle with the mustard on top … hoo, hoo, hoo, HOO!”

From Jack Benny to Burns & Allen to a laughter-choked explanation of Fibber McGee’s closet, we were well-schooled in our parents’ favorite radio shows.

When satellite radio launched a Radio Classics channel 20 or so years ago, I got the bug, too. For the last dozen or so years, I made sure Mom and Dad were aware of the channel’s schedule so that they could catch their favorites.

Imagine my surprise to find this news clip recently in their attic:

That’s Dad in the front row, to the left of the striped-shirt kid with the Peter Pan stance.

Here he is:

Unfortunately, the newspaper clip is not dated. A search on Newspapers.com and elsewhere does not lead to the original photo or any related articles about The Lone Ranger visiting Lowell, Massachusetts.

Surprisingly, Dad never mentioned this event. Surely it was a highlight of his childhood years.

Ah. A mystery.

First, I checked with my brothers three. They had not heard any stories about Dad about meeting The Lone Ranger either.

In that newspaper photo, Dad looks to be about the same age as he was in this 1938 portrait:

So back to Newspapers.com, with the search dates limited to late 1930s and the source limited to the Lowell Sun (that “Sun Staff Photo” credit on the clip was a welcome clue).

When I added “Lone Ranger” to the search, the results were in the thousands. That’s because the radio-show schedule was listed daily in the Sun and there’s a clip available for each mention.

The show, by the way, aired locally at 8pm Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays on WLLH radio.

With continued search, a cluster of articles appeared, which provided more hints about why the Lone Ranger and his trusty steed Silver were in Lowell.

It seems they were making a promotional tour of towns in the area during October of 1938.

This was just weeks after a huge hurricane shook up the eastern seaboard, including Lowell. It was quite an exciting time for a young boy.

The above article mentions a huge giveaway of toy guns and Lone Ranger masks. I can just hear the echo of countless mothers throughout the neighborhoods hollering: “No guns in the house – take that outside! I’ll call you when it’s suppertime!”

The Lone Ranger was also a comic strip, which ran daily in the Lowell Sun.

Here’s the strip from October 10, 1938:

There are lots of fun facts about the Lone Ranger available online. Books, movies, articles, even blog posts exploring the age-old question, “Was it ‘Hi-Ho, Silver’ or ‘Hi-Yo, Silver’?”

The Lone Ranger’s strict moral code was formulated by creator/writer Fran Striker from the very start (early 1933).

I’ve no doubt that little boy from Andover Street in Lowell took the code to heart:

I believe that to have a friend,
a man must be one.

That all men are created equal
and that everyone has within himself
the power to make this a better world.

That God put the firewood there
but that every man
must gather and light it himself.

In being prepared
physically, mentally, and morally
to fight when necessary
for what is right.

That a man should make the most
of what equipment he has.

That ‘this government,
of the people, by the people
and for the people’
shall live always.

That men should live by
the rule of what is best
for the greatest number.

That sooner or later…
somewhere…somehow…
we must settle with the world
and make payment for what we have taken.

That all things change but truth,
and that truth alone, lives on forever.

In my Creator, my country, my fellow man.

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