In 1919, Johnston McCulley began to write a series of popular novels about a swashbuckling champion of justice. Dressed in black, disguised by a mask over his eyes, this adventurer was a master horseman and an expert swordsman, who moved silently and swiftly by night. He left a unique calling card, a “Z” slashed into the clothing or, sometimes, the flesh of his adversaries. The identity of this masked man remained a mystery to his enemies; he was known only as Zorro, Spanish for "fox."
The popularity of McCulley’s works carried over into cinema, with Douglas Fairbanks playing Zorro in a successful silent film and Tyrone Power reprising the role in a later sound version. Zorro then made the move to television with a series produced by Walt Disney Studios.
McCulley was inspired by tales of the exploits of bandits in California in the 1850s, when political and economic power was moving from the Californios to the ever-growing number of Anglos, many of whom were attracted by the lure of gold. The story of one man in particular fascinated McCulley, that of Salomon Pico.