He was a combination of the Lone Ranger, Robin Hood and Don Juan. No wonder that the masked bandito known as The Cisco Kid succeeded in galloping across just about every entertainment medium — comic books, newspaper comic strips, radio, film and television.

The name of the character came from a story by O.Henry, the 1907 "The Caballero's Way," published in the short story collection "Heart of the West." Though in O'Henry's tale, he wasn't Hispanic. The character he was to become was first developed initially in two silent films, "The Caballero's Way" and "The Border Terror." On the surface a bold and brash Mexican bandit, Cisco was like Robin Hood, a righteous defender of justice. This identity was more fully established in a 1929 talkie called "In Old Arizona," with Warner Baxter starring as the heroic anti-hero. (Future director Raoul Walsh was originally cast as a lead until a jackrabbit jumped through the windshield while on location, costing him an eye.) After winning an Oscar for his performance, Baxter repeated the role in the 1931 "The Cisco Kid," the film that introduced the tubby sidekick character named Gordito. Twenty-three sound feature films followed, starring Cesar Romero, Gilbert Roland and Duncan Renaldo in the leading role.

The next medium conquered by the character was radio, where he was heard on and off from 1942 to 1956. After the announcer's introduction of "Here's adventure! Here's romance! Here's the famous Robin Hood of the West — the Cisco Kid!" there followed a half-hour of crime-fighting adventure, this time with Mel Blanc (aka Bugs Bunny) playing the sidekick now known as Pancho and various actors as Cisco.

The Kid came to television in 1950 as a syndicated series, and became one of the most popular kids' Westerns on early TV. On the show, the Mexican adventurer, once again played by Duncan Renaldo, sporting a spiffy embroidered black caballero outfit, ranged the old Southwest on his horse Diablo with his trusty sidekick, now named Pancho (Leo Carrillo), riding Loco. In most episodes he employed his Latin charm to captivate some lovely senorita, leaving her at the end ,with a sweep of his sombrero, as he rode off into the sunset, laughing with his compadre. Pancho's broad accent was just the other side of political correctness, and was much imitated by kids of the day. More than 150 episodes were filmed in color, although TV could broadcast only in black and white at the time. Trivia note: In the 1953 season, Rinaldo was injured in a rock fall, missing the shooting of nine episodes; to cover up, a double was used wearing various masks and other disguises.

Cisco and Pancho first appeared in comic books in 1944, in a single-issue produced by the Bernard Baily company. Dell introduced an authorized version in 1950, which continued until 1958, in a run of 41 issues. King Features began to syndicate a daily newspaper comic strip in January 1951, impressively drawn by Argentinean artist Jose Luis Salinas, who rarely left Buenos Aires, collaborating with scriptwriter Rod Reed, whom he never met. The newspaper strip ran until 1968.

In all his incarnations, The Cisco Kid engendered a lot of collectible memorabilia, though much of it dates to the 1950s. Much of it bore the name of various sponsors, such as Tip-Top Bread paper masks and puzzles, Wrigley's Cisco Kid Signal Arrowhead, Eddy's Bread Humming Lariat, Arden Milk black bandana, Dolly Madison Ice Cream plastic reflective mask, Kern's Bread 'Triple S Club' clothing transfer, Butter-Nut Bread portrait photos, Leatherwood Dairy plastic tumblers, Nolde's Bread store posters, Dr. Swetts Cardboard Clicker Gun, and many other similar products. Also collectible is ephemera from the "Cisco Kid Ranchers Club."

Linda Rosenkrantz has edited Auction magazine and authored 18 books, including "Cool Names for Babies" and "The Baby Name Bible" (St. Martin's Press). Visit her baby names website at http://nameberry.com. She cannot answer letters personally. To find out more about Linda Rosenkrantz and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.