Chasing After Zorro
by Britt Lomond
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Book Summary Information
Author: Britt LomondEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-10
ISBN: 1594081026
Number of pages: 248
Publisher: Cork Hill Press
Book Reviews of Chasing After Zorro
Book Review: A Great Book from Zorro's Greatest Nemesis
Summary: 5 Stars
For those of us who remember the Zorro television series (the Walt Disney one, which is the only one for true Zorro fans), this book is a treasure. Britt Lomond gives us an interesting and informative tour of the first 13 episodes of the Zorro TV show, the ones in which he played the villian, Capitan Monastario. As many others have noted, he set the standard for villians in the series, and even though the succeeding bad guys (and gals) were exceptionally villianous in their own right, Capitan Monastario, as defined and played by Mr. Lomond, was never equaled and certainly never beaten.
The behind-the-scenes stories Mr. Lomond tells are fascinating, and he has uniformly kind words to say of his co-actors and the production personnel who did such a wonderful job of making the show so successful that it is still popular almost 50 years later.
That success was made possible by the contributions of artists like Mr. Lomond. He details each of the 13 episodes in which he appeared in the 13 chapters of his book, a fine way to present his material. In particular, he often notes the changes he himself made in the script. He would memorize the script, but then, where he thought his character would have said something different or would have said the same thing but in a different way, he would make the changes during the filming. Almost always, his changes were approved by the director. What this illustrates more than anything else is Mr. Lomond's professionalism. What he was doing was his very best to present his character as he thought the character actually was, or would have been had he been a real person. He was not satisfied with merely speaking his lines as written in the script; rather, he brought to the role an experience as an actor that was unique. Mr. Lomond even imagined the life of his character prior to the time depicted in the programs, in order to best know how his character would be motivated in various situations, and thus know how his character would act, react, and speak. By doing so, he depicted the personality of his character consistently in the best way.
Thus, he would study the script in the context of his own idea of what kind of man his character was, and he made changes which did not aggrandize his own role, but made the programs better because of his insistence on his character's acting and speaking the way he should. That kind of professionalism is, I think, rare in any line of work, including acting.
Mr. Lomond has nothing but praise for the others who worked so hard on the series, including unstinting praise for Guy Williams, Henry Calvin, Gene Sheldon, Than Wyenn, Tony Russo, and the other actors. The humorous stories he tells, such as tricks the actors played on one another, are fabulous, and he tells one story of a trip on the ocean in Guy Williams's sailboat that turned into a disaster and could very nearly have killed all on the boat. He has particular praise for Walt Disney himself as well as the directors, the production designer and art decorator, and others who made the programs look so good.
Mr. Lomond is a multi-talented artist, having acted in many stage, movie, and television roles, and also having worked in many different jobs behind the cameras. Look him up on [...] and you will see just how many different jobs he has done. Thus, he knows the filmaker's craft inside and out, and that makes his comments on the actors and production staff on the Zorro TV series that much more meaningful. He knows whereof he speaks, and he has done many of the jobs of the people about whom he writes in this book.
The substance of Mr. Lomond's writing is entertaining and full of information. The only criticism I have of the book is that he was not well served by the editors and proofreaders of his book; there are a great many typographical and other errors, not the fault of the author. The book is nonetheless deserving of 5 stars because of Mr. Lomond's writing.
If you are a Disney Zorro television series fan, this book is a must for you. If you are not, buy it and read it anyway; it will give you insights into the making of television programs that you would never know otherwise; and it will make you a Zorro fan if you are not one already.
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