Old Timers, Did you play Zorro as a kid.

Jeff Clark

Jeff Clark

Joined
Apr 27, 1999
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A recent thread took my mind back to "those thrilling days of yesteryear" and Disney's Zorro TV show. Every week he was carving a 'Z' on something and it was also part of the intro and credits. In the theme song the refrain was "Zorro, the Fox so cunning and free---Zorro, Zorro, who makes the sign of the Zee." The orignial movie wasn't called "Zorro" it was called "The Mark of Zorro" They used to make plastic Zorro swords with a chalk-holding tip so that you could mark fences and even your friends.

Now to the question, how many of you who were kids in the 50's got in trouble for carving Z's on things? I particularly remember carving one on the wooden frame of our front screen door. (I don't think that I carved it on the paneled front door). I don't remember what type of home made sword I used for the task. It couldn't have been much heavier than coat hanger wire. Maybe I used my pocket knife. There were a lot of places that I left a Z back then.

I also liked the way that he used his whip. I made myself one using an aluminum tube handle and electrical wire. My mom was somewhat upset when I used it to level part of her garden.

So are there any other used-to-be foxes, so cunning and free out there?

PS. Guy Williams was "The Man". He actually knew how to use a fencing saber. Here is a great link:
http://www.guywilliams.tv/zorro1.html
 
I guess I came along a little later than when Zorro was on, but growing up in the 60s / 70s I really enjoyed a Disney mini-series called "The Scarecrow". It had this guy and his two buddys who rode horses and wore these cool masks, and they went around righting wrongs just like Zorro. We used to make paper bag masks and fence with the sticks my mom used for propping up stuff in the garden. I thought it was the coolest show ever.

drsyn.jpg
 
What red-blooded kid who watched Zorro DIDN'T get into trouble whacking Z's into various animate and inanimate objects. My sword was a carpet rod, as I recall... whips, too.

Hmm.. maybe I could blame Disney for my current neurosis/psychosis about knives... :D
 
TorzJohnson said:
I guess I came along a little later than when Zorro was on, but growing up in the 60s / 70s I really enjoyed a Disney mini-series called "The Scarecrow". It had this guy and his two buddys who rode horses and wore these cool masks, and they went around righting wrongs just like Zorro. We used to make paper bag masks and fence with the sticks my mom used for propping up stuff in the garden. I thought it was the coolest show ever.

drsyn.jpg
Click to expand...
I watched Scarcrow in the mid 80's loved it! :D more then Zorro anyway
My love of sharp things however came from Samurai flicks :rolleyes:
 
Sure did play Zorro. That's what got me into fencing as a teenager. In turn fencing is how I met my wife--just celebrated our 20th anniversary.
 
I didn't PLAY Zorro, I WAS Zorro...... Kevin Fox


Z

..and many years after the movie my cousin married Ty Powers daughter...hmmmmm coincidence??
 
I was in high school when the Disney Zorro came out, so I never played it. However, I was a deadly D'Artagnan, as well as a noble King Arthur, Robin Hood, and Ivanhoe, a heroic David Crockett, a courageous Audie Murphy, and several others.
 
I had a toy Zorro sword. It was like a fencing sabre, a black plastic blade with a red plastic hand guard. The blade was long and thin, and the tip was rounded and had a hole in it to put a piece of chalk in, so that you could write Z's on walls and stuff.
 
We have much in common Berzerker. I took up the sword in college. I didn't meet my girlfriend on the team, but we both joined at the same time. She fenced foil while I fenced saber. In the end she was not the one I married. Guy Williams fenced saber and they used fencing sabers for most of the swordplay.

You might appreciate this concept, have you ever seen a Belgian grip on a fighting knife? At one point I put one on a light 10-inch bowie blade. It gave murderous power in a thrust and great snap cutting action.

I of course also loved The Scarecrow of Romney marsh. I was too old to get into playing the part. I remember a scene where the vicar, who was the scarecrow, is leading singing at church and someone sings the words to him, "naval press gang on...the road", and he finds a way to tip off the congregation.

Another, more obscure character I loved back in the late 50's was Hiram Holiday. A mild mannered accountant or something who was a master with every weapon known to man. He was played by Wally Cox.
 

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We loved Zorro, my older brother and I.
We're lucky that nobody lost an eye from all the swordplay.
We sure did hurt each other with all the action, though.

And don't forget Superman and Popeye and the 3 Stooges.
 
ok, I'm a old guy... I remember Zorro and I remember the grey/red plastic swords that I got one christmas. I Zeed everything... I also " fenced " with the dogs... that is until I poked one in the eye... That cost my mom a trip to the vets... The dog was ok.. the eye healed fine... Me Well DAD gave me a beating and the swords got thrown out. From then on Zorro was a stick or a piece of wood
Ok now I got a question ?
At the same time Zorro was on Disney on TV there were 2 other shows that shared time with Zorro... One was a Texas Ranger I dont remember the name the other was El fago Baca a Mexican sherriff/ atty in Texas.. Neither show went more than a few episodes,
do any of you old guys remember ?
 
They used to make plastic Zorro swords with a chalk-holding tip so that you could mark fences and even your friends.


Jeff,I had one of those swords and the tip broke off 1" from the chalk the first time I tried it. + shaped cross section in red plastic for those who need to know.tom. :mad:
 
WHADDAYA MEAN....OLDTIMERS????

I played Zorro as a kid and I am not and oldtimer....or at least I don't like to think of myself as an oldtimer and being in my 30ies shouldn't really qualify me as an oldtimer....or does it? Oh brother, I am getting old.....:D
 
I had a Zorro costume as a kid but the sword did not have the chalk holder.

I remember the series with Guy Williams and the movie with Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone, and the older one with Douglas Fairbanks. There were of course many other films, I've seen the trailer from the new one with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones (Zeta Jones, now that's a fine name for someone in a Zorro film), I can't say I liked it much, the fighting looks like its from a Kung Fu film.

Zorro was very popular in Mexico, we could of course easily relate to the Spanish setting, He he, this guy was Don Diego, I am Don Luis...

Luis
 
I can see that I watched a lot of the same shows as my Bladeforums compadres.

Elfego Baca was a real guy in New Mexico around Soccoro. I remember this incredible shootout in the show where the building he was in was perforated and he came out OK. I always remember theme music from these things, "and the legend was that like el gato, the cat, nine lives had Elfego Baca." Here's a link to some real history:
http://www.southernnewmexico.com/Articles/Southwest/Socorro/Socorro/ElfegoBaca-tamingSocorro.html

Here's a line of some theme music, see if you can name the show and the name of the main character:
"There was a gun that won the west, there was a man among the best, the fastest gun or man alive, a lightning bolt when he drew that...."
 
severtecher said:
..and many years after the movie my cousin married Ty Powers daughter...hmmmmm coincidence??
Click to expand...

Would that be Taryn Power, whom I saw in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger back in 1977 and had a huge crush on????

TarynPowerSinbad-TheDoveHITW-01_t.jpg


Tell your cousin I hate him. :grumpy:
 
severtecher said:
I didn't PLAY Zorro, I WAS Zorro...... Kevin Fox


Z

..and many years after the movie my cousin married Ty Powers daughter...hmmmmm coincidence??
Click to expand...


another coincidence--Zorro is the Spanish word for Fox.
 
Hey Jeff,

From one Colorado guy to another....
was it Paladen Have Gun Will Travel....... and the star was Richard Boone
 
Jack142 - was the third Disney show "Texas John Slaughter"? Two of my other favorites were "Seargent Preston Of The Yukon" and "Yancy Derringer" I was also a huge Zorro fan, my cousin had the hat, mask, and cape!

John

Palidin was Richard Boone.
 
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