Zorro (TV Series) (DVD)

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Out of the night
when the full moon is bright,
comes the horseman known as Zorro.
This bold renegade
Carves a Z with his blade . . .
A Z that stands for Zorro.

Zorro (Zorro), the fox so cunning and free,
Zorro (Zorro), who makes the sign of the Z.

Zorro (Zorro), Zorro (Zorro), Zorro (Zorro), ZORRO

George Bruns, who wrote that famous theme song, worked his whole life as a composer for Disney. And he was certainly kept busy by this series, Disney's first TV series other than "The Mickey Mouse Club" and "Disneyland." Each of the 78 episodes from the show's two seasons had an original score, with orchestra. Classical Spanish guitar was well used, too, as an sonic echo of the accurate period set design and costuming. Each episode cost $78,000 to produce, and this was back in 1957-59, when it was unheard of to spend money on a TV show and the great Ted Williams made what everyone thought was an astronomical amount of money ($125,000) to play baseball.

But Disney believed in his concepts, he believed in television, and he believed in the future of color productions. Ironically, that last belief was what led to a conflict between ABC and Disney, with the popular "Zorro" series victimized by the legal tug-o'-war. Kids were traumatized by the cancellation of a show that drew close to 17 million viewers, and Disney knew it . . . which is why he devoted time on the air trying to explain to Mousketeer Moochie that "Zorro" wouldn't be in next season's line-up. That's how popular this show was, and while "Zorro" was aimed at children, television was still so new that families watched together. Kids watched "The Lawrence Welk Show" and other variety shows with their parents, and parents watched shows like "Zorro" and "Gene Autry" and "Roy Rodgers" with their children. Grandparents watched too, many of them living in the same household.

Maybe it was that uniquely broad audience for television that help shape Disney's something-for-everyone philosophy, because "Zorro" is a perfect example of how Disney combined action-adventure, drama, comedy, music, and subtle history lessons into a single package.

"Zorro" was a runaway hit its first season, and the second season it cruised along with new storylines and characters. Of course, Zorro himself--Guy Williams ("Lost in Space")--returned, as did the other popular characters that were tied to the show's structure: Gene Sheldon as the deaf-and-mute Bernardo, and Henry Calvin as the portly Sergeant Garcia. But Disney added a more serious love interest for Zorro in Season 2 with Ana Maria Verdugo (Jolene Brand), who was the daughter of a businessman trying to import goods to California and wanting to engage Don Diego's family as investors. Naturally, Señor Verdugo (Eduard Franz) is presented with some suspicion, and it doesn't help that everything Don Diego says to him seems to be heard by bandits led by a half-breed named Pablo (Ken Lynch). To add further interest, Don Diego has a little competition for the hand of the lovely Maria (Richard Anderson as Ricardo del Amo).

The setting shifts to Monterrey, with Don Diego and Bernardo riding ahead while Sergeant Garcia was to bring the money that the ranchers of the Los Angeles Pueblo were to invest. And where there's money, there are bandits and crooked administrators. It turns out that the Monterrey governor (John Litel) isn't paying much attention to what his underlings are doing, and it falls to Zorro to intercede again. Good thing Bernardo brought the Zorro costume with them!