There is no denying that the fictional character of Zorro has maintained mass appeal since first being introduced by writer Johnston McCulley in 1919. Who isn’t drawn into the mystique of this fictional character? No one that I know!

Imagine this: right now there are no less than 5 generations of Zorro fans.

Imagine donning a black hat, black cape, black mask and a plastic sword and pretending to be Zorro, the “fox so cunning and free.” Zorro, like Robin Hood, was a good outlaw who defended the poor and oppressed from the corrupt and greedy politicians of his era and dressed in a dashing disguise which included a mask to conceal his identity. You can play the part convincingly in a Zorro costume, or if you’re a female, in a Lady Zorro costume.

Unlike other heroes of the day, Zorro had an exotic look and appeal. He was dark and mysterious, but not to the point that he frightened children. After all, Disney produced the Zorro series of TV programs.  The mask represented the double life he led and also represented a bit of the forbidden. And his trademark “Z” was created with the slash of his sword.

The first stories written about Zorro were in the form of a serialized novel entitled “The Curse of Capistrano.” In all, there were sixty-five stories of Zorro in this series. He was the masked hero  who fought injustice in the pueblo of Los Angeles in Southern California.

After the serialized stories appeared, a silent movie was filmed in 1920 and starred Douglas Fairbank entitled “The Mark of Zorro.” Today this movie is recognized as a great classic on the silent film era.

In 1937 and 1938 Republic Pictures produced sixty-six serial films based on the stories of James Vega, the great grandson of the original Zorro. This modern day Zorro adopted the identity of Zorro, but used twin pistols and a whip as his weapons of choice instead of a traditional sword.

The 1940′s spawned a successful remake of this classic starring the very handsome Tyrone Power. This remake featured sound.

Disney introduced a Zorro television series in 1957 that starred Guy Williams. This series had the biggest budget of any TV Western up until that time. The series proved to be one of the most popular TV shows of the era. A merchandising frenzy began at that time consisting of various Zorro toys and caused the value of earlier Zorro comics, which began in 1949, to increase.

Zorro was accompanied by his sidekick Bernardo. Bernardo was an interesting character who had been traumatized when he witnessed the rape and murder of his mother. As a result Bernardo chose to act like a deaf mute.

The scenery of the Disney Zorro series represented a romanticized version of 1820′s California where there were haciendas, Spanish aristocrats, Mexican rebels and beautiful señoritas. There were light-hearted moments, as I recall, in these TV programs. Zorro was fierce in fighting for justice, but took authentic delight in humiliating the crooked politicians and land owners he fought against, making them appear to be bumbling idiots.

Many European movies of Zorro were filmed during the 1960s and 1970s. The most popular of these being the French-Italian production entitled “Zorro” and starring Alain Delon which was filmed in 1975.

Please note that all costumes featured on this site are all officially licensed Zorro ® costumes.