Red Ryder and his wonder horse "Thunder" was created by Fred Harman when he was on a ranch in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. He was well known for his ink drawings of western figures and the detail in his work. He moved to Hollywood and the first "comic strip" was inserted into the daily newspapers under the title of "Bronc Peeler". Because Harmon had bright red hair, it was determined that the name of the cowboy would be changed to "Red Ryder".
On November 6, 1938 "Red Ryder" became a syndicated comic strip in 750 newspapers with a national reading audience of fourteen million nationally. Globally, the syndicated comic strip was printed in ten languages.
In September 1940 it was developed into a "Comic Book" which was in print until 1957. In 1940, the Red Ryder would also ride onto the silver screen in local theatres. Between 1940 and 1950 a total of thirty movies would be produced. The Red Ryder was one of the good guys, he seldom had to shoot a villain, he would simply disarm them by shooting their weapon out of their hands. Being from the San Juan Mountain area, the Red Ryder had a young Navajo Indian boy that also rode with him as a sidekick.
Several actors played the role of this young Indian boy, if you can answer the following questions, you will be able to solve the "Prattler Trivia Mystery".
1. What active toy did Red Ryder series make popular and is still being produced today?
2. What was the name of the horse that Little Beaver rode?
3. Who was the actor that is most famous for playing "Little Beaver"? **
**Hint: He turned down the role of "Little Joe Cartwright" in Bonanza in 1959, a role that Michael Landon would accept.
In March 2005, he would be found innocent of murdering his wife.
