On October 10, 1957, out of the night, when the full moon was bright, the horseman known as Zorro was first introduced to television audiences. The story of the masked avenger starred Guy Williams in the title role of Zorro and his daytime alter ego, Don Diego de la Vega. After the series’ 78 total episodes had been completed, four hour-long episodes appeared on the Disneyland television program, during which Walt Disney explained in his introduction: “To most of us, the early days of California mean the time when (the state flag) flew over the California republic before its admission into the United States in 1850. And we think of Sutter’s Mill, near Sacramento, where gold was discovered back in 1849. But a full half century before the exciting days of the gold rush, California was the sunny land of the Spanish Dons. It was a romantic period of leisurely and gracious living, but it was a lawless period, too… a time when California’s isolation from the forces of law and order in the rest of the world was an open invitation to violence and banditry. Stories are told of a legendary hero who lived in those outlaw days. A dashing young man who appeared as a gay bon vivant by day, but who wore this (mask) by night to ride the countryside as the champion of justice and protector of the oppressed. Hated and feared by those he opposed, honored and respected by those he defended, he was known as Zorro!”
