Thank You Mask Man 52 years old

This short animation set to Lenny Bruce's live monologue tells how the Lone Ranger hooks up with Tonto. With Bruce doing all the voices, this animation begins with local folks upset at the Lone Ranger because he won't stay around to be thanked after a good deed. So, he stays and finds he likes hearing "Thank you mask man." When their attention starts to shift elsewhere, he shocks and disgusts the townspeople with a final request. According to the cartoon’s producer John Magnuson, at early showings of this, gay audiences were upset by its apparent “fag-bashing”. And it’s true, part of the fun of the piece is just crying out “Masked man’s a fag”, scandalising and defacing the image of this all-American hero. But it’s within the larger context of Bruce’s analysis of heroism, and that the towns people reject the Masked Man is because of their prejudices, not because Bruce is asking us to endorse them. (from: http://ukjarry.blogspot.de/2010/01/352-lenny-bruce-thank-you-mask-man.html)

Credits

Thank You Mask Man Cast

Name Character
Lenny Bruce He was 45, 40 years old when he died as The Lone Ranger / Various (voice)

Thank You Mask Man Crew

Name Department
Lenny Bruce as Director. He was 45 (40) years old when He died Directing
John Magnuson as Director. Directing
Jeff Hale as Animation. He was 48 (now 101) years old Visual Effects
Thank You Mask Man poster
Thank You Mask Man (52 years)

  • Release day: Tuesday, September 28, 1971
  • Runtime: 7 minutes