Zorro

Zorro, Spanish for fox, is the name used by a fictional character, a Mexican-era California masked hero and master swordsman of the Old West, whose real name is Don Diego de la Vega. (Don Diego Vega in the original story). He fights for the Californio people against the corrupt tyranny of the Spanish governor, proving himself to be much too foxlike and cunning for the bumbling authorities to catch.

History of the character

The Zorro character is loosely based on the historical California outlaw Joaquin Murieta, whose life was fictionalized in an 1854 book by John Rollin Ridge.

Related Topics:
Joaquin Murieta - John Rollin Ridge

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Zorro first made his appearance in The Curse of Capistrano, a novel by pulp writer Johnston McCulley that was serialized in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly in 1919. After the success of the silent film The Mark of Zorro (1920) starring Douglas Fairbanks, McCulley's novel was re-released by the publisher Grosset and Dunlap under the new title The Mark of Zorro. (Fairbanks also starred in a 1925 sequel titled Don Q, Son of Zorro, playing Don Diego's grown-up son, Don Cesar, as well as reprising his role as Don Diego.)

Related Topics:
Pulp - Johnston McCulley - 1919 - The Mark of Zorro - 1920 - Douglas Fairbanks - 1925 - Sequel - Don Q, Son of Zorro

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McCulley had no idea how successful Zorro would become, so at the denouement, Zorro's true identity is revealed to all. Zorro soon became a regular character in numerous pulp fiction magazines.

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