SUNDAY, AUGUST 4, 2019 06 ‘Z’ for Zorro, 100 years on The adventures of Zorro have been told in dozens of films, books and theatre productions since the character made his first appearance in a US newspaper 100 years ago US movie star Douglas Fairbanks was first to play the caped avenger on the silver screen in the 1920 silent film “The Mark of Zorro”

ian-British writer Emma Orczy -- who rescued aristocrats before they were sent to the guillotine during the French Revolution. “Zorro was intended to express the spirit of the caballero of the times, and to everyone’s satis- faction he did,” the US Oakland Tribune Magazine wrote in 1923 after interviewing the author. Secret identity The character is the alter-ego of a young 19th-century Spanish nobleman, Don Diego de la Vega, who returns to California from studies in Spain to find it being ruled by corrupt and cruel tyrants. When he takes action in de - fence of the defenceless, he dis- guises himself in black with a A man dressed as Zorro takes part in a demonstration by anti-racism, anti-fascist cape, hat and mask covering the groups to protest against a meeting of nationalist leaders in downtown Milan top of his face. He famously uses Two featuring Spanish actor sword duels himself with an un- his sword to leave a “Z” on his Antonio Banderas and Cathe - protected blade. defeated villans. rine Zeta-Jones were Hollywood Another Zorro television series His secret identity is known blockbusters: “The Mask of Zor- was produced in the Philippines A man dressed as Zorro takes part in a demonstration by anti-racism, anti-fascist groups to protest against a meeting only to his trusted servant Ber- ro” (1998) and its sequel “The until 2009, with nearly 100 epi- of nationalist leaders in downtown Milan nardo, who is mute, and to his Legend of Zorro” (2005). sodes, and a popular telenovela AFP | Paris intelligent black horse Tornado. The Walt Disney television se- saw more than 110 episodes in ries, which ran for 78 episodes Colombia. he dashing masked aveng- From silent to blockbuster from 1957 to 1961, remains pop- In theatre, animation, comics er Zorro made his first It was on the screen that Zorro ular, still aired in France, for ex- books and video games, Zorro was Tswashbuckling appearance became famous. ample. credited by the creator of Batman, Zorro is the original caped crusader. 100 years ago in the pages of a US A year after “The Curse of Cap- Its musical title is legend- American Bob Kane, as a “major Before Batman, before Superman, magazine to become an interna- istrano” was published, it had ary: “Out of the night, when the influence” on his own masked and before Wonder Woman there was Zorro tional icon alongside the likes of been adapted for cinema as the full moon is bright, comes the cloaked character who debuted Tarzan and Superman. silent film “The Mark of Zorro” horseman known as Zorro. This 20 years later. STEPHEN ANDES The original caped crusader, starring Douglas Fairbanks, then bold renegade carves a ‘Z’ with In her 2005 “Zorro: The Novel”, Zorro was created by US writer one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. his blade. A ‘Z’ that stands for Chilean novelist Isabel Allende AMERICAN HISTORY PROFESSOR Johnston McCulley and intro- More than 50 Zorro films fol- Zorro.” imagines the background of the duced in the story “The Curse lowed, a handful made in Mexico The character is played by Zorro character, depicting him as of Capistrano”, carried in a Cal- and including spoofs and erotic the tall American Guy Williams, “a mixture of Robin Hood, Peter ifornian pulp magazine over five versions. a fencer who did all the many Pan and Che Guevara”. weeks starting from August 9, 1919. In conceiving the sword-wield- ing defender of the downtrodden, McCulley set the stage for a whole century of superheroes. “Zorro is the original caped crusader. Before Batman, before Superman, before Wonder Wom- an there was Zorro,” American history professor Stephen Andes, who studies the history and myth of Zorro, says on his website. Mexican role model? The prolific McCulley (1883- 1958) went on to pen about 60 books about Zorro, which means “fox” in Spanish, but was reputed for his reluctance to say what in- spired the character. One theory is that he was mod- elled on real-life Mexican high- way bandit, Joaquin Murieta, who took revenge for abuses of his countrymen in California during the 19th-century Gold Rush. Actors Catherine Zeta-Jones (L) and Antonio Banderas pose at the Another is that he was drawn premiere of Columbia Picture’s “The Legend of Zorro” at the Orpheum from the Scarlet Pimpernel Theater in Los Angeles character -- created by Hungar- Laurent Bàn (L) plays Zorro during a rehearsal of the musical directed by Christopher Renshaw, “Zorro”