This bold renegade carves a "Z" with his blade, a "Z" stands for Zorro. With this song sounding from their TV sets and mysterious Zs scrawled all over the house, millions of American parents have become acutely aware that a hero they knew in their youth is riding again. In the field of kids' idols, in fact, there has been nothing like Zorro since Davy Crockett became a national household problem three years ago.
Zorro, the rich caballero who acts like a lazy fellow by day but at night puts on a mask and rides forth to help the poor, has been a film and fiction hero for 40 years. His current revival was brought on by Walt Disney, who introduced Zorro in an ABC-TV series last October for a 39-week run, kept him going this summer with 13 weeks of repeats, and starts him out in n new 39-week cycle this fall. Zorro. with his derring-do and do-gooding, has all the stuff a childhood hero is made of, being a combination of all three Musketeers and the Lone Ranger. Disney has added fine touches of excitement, with zigzag flashes of lightning making Zs in the sky, and always a pulse-stirring clatter of hoofs and ringing swords. Inevitably, he also sells Zorro capes, masks, hats and plastic swords tipped with chalk so the kids can write Z on the kitchen floor. […]
