Francis Hamilton Striker (August 19, 1903 – September 4, 1962) was an American writer for radio and comics, best known for creating the characters the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet, and Sgt. Preston of the Yukon.

Early life

Born in Buffalo, New York, Striker attended Lafayette High School and the University of Buffalo, where he was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity. He dropped out of college and went to New York City where he worked briefly in an amateur theatrical company. Returning to Buffalo, he joined the staff of radio station WEBR (now WDCZ) as an announcer. In 1929, he moved to WTAM in Cleveland, Ohio, where he served as announcer and continuity writer and wrote his first radio drama script, a biography of Stephen Foster. Lured back to WEBR as station manager, Striker wrote material ranging from skits to half-hour mysteries and Western scripts.

Striker soon drifted to freelancing, creating and writing his own series and selling them to stations across the United States. He began a long association with station owner George W. Trendle and radio station WXYZ in Detroit, which was trying to make a name for itself as a producer of radio drama. There he created and wrote the early series Thrills of the Secret Service, Dr. Fang, and Warner Lester, Manhunter (which introduced Mike Axford, later a supporting character on The Green Hornet).

The Lone Ranger

Late in 1932, Striker began working on The Lone Ranger; his earliest scripts were largely reworked from his earlier series Covered Wagon Days. A letter from Trendle dated Monday, January 30, 1933, clearly gives Striker credit for creating the character. However, by 1934 Trendle pressed Striker into signing over his rights to the Lone Ranger for $10. Up to then, Trendle had been paying Striker $7.50 for each episode. Striker was under great financial pressure, supporting not only his wife and two small children but also a dozen other family members who had lost everything during the Great Depression. In exchange for the rights, Striker accepted a writing contract that would provide for his family and offer job security throughout the Depression. In 1939 alone, The Lone Ranger generated a half-million dollars in profit for Trendle. In 1954, Trendle sold The Lone Ranger rights to the Wrather Corporation for three million dollars, a record sale at the time. Trendle later claimed in interviews that he, not Striker, was the creator of The Lone Ranger. Thus began a long controversy over the creation of the character, extending as far as a 1960 television appearance by Striker on To Tell the Truth, which mentioned his role in the character's creation.

The characters Lucas Striker and Amy Striker in the 1981 film The Legend of the Lone Ranger were named in honor of Fran Striker. He was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 1998.

References

Sources

  • Bisco, Jim. Buffalo's Lone Ranger: The Prolific Fran Striker Wrote the Book on Early Radio. Western New York Heritage, Vol. 7, No. 4, Winter 2005.
  • Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
  • Grams, Martin, The Green Hornet: A History of Radio, Motion Pictures, Comics and Television, OTR Publishing, 2010.
  • Harmon, Jim, The Great Radio Heroes, Doubleday, 1967.
  • Osgood, Dick. Wyxie Wonderland: An Unauthorized 50-Year Diary of WXYZ Detroit. Ohio: Bowling Green University Press, 1981.