El Coyote (character)
El Coyote (The Coyote) is the name of a fictional character very similar to Zorro, although acting 100 years later. He first appeared in the novel El Coyote (1944) by José Mallorquí. Between 1944 and 1953 El Coyote appeared in 192 pulp-like novels.[1]
Contents
Description
El Coyote's real name is César de Echagüe and he is a rich man living at a ranch called San Antonio outside of Los Angeles. In Mallorqui's novels one can trace that César was born sometime between 1826 and 1830. The novels cover adventures from 1846 until circa 1875. César was inspired by a masked female actress and by the Zorro legend when he started operating as El Coyote in 1846. Coyote protects the original Spanish community of California from the Anglo Americans, and certainly all "bad ones", The novels comprise the years from December 1851 to around 1874, there are 120 original volumes plus 10 extras; plus at least 62 Nuevo Coyote - telling stories of pre-1851. Coyote had a black shirt (neither white nor blue or red - although the drawings show a white or blue shirt) ... and he wore gloves - the mask covered more of his upper face than shown on the fine drawings. He was born César de Echagüe in Los Angeles, which he left for Havana as a youngster (around 1845) and "officially" returned in December 1851 (although operating as Coyote in California several times before that). César's sister Beatriz was born 1833 - she married ex-Washington resident Edmond Greene (both knew of Césars double identities). After his first wife's - Leonore de Acevedo, born circa 1832 - death in 1857, when César Jr (nicknamed El Cuervo - The Raven - from 1873) was born, his father César (Coyote) left Los Angeles again, for several years, but returned in circa 1865 (although he secretely worked in America as Coyote after only a few years abroad). Guadelupe - Lupe/Lupita Martinez - later de Torres (in 1872), who became even much richer than César, was born circa 1835 and married César in 1870. Their child Leonorin was born in 1871 - and fosterchild Eduardito (Gomez de la Mata) also in 1871. Ricardo Yesares (Coyote's sub for many years from circa 1865) was born circa 1834. The Lugones brothers and the Indian woman Adelia helped Coyote from the very first beginning. Coyote's closest allied from 1865 was César's servant, the deaf Indian Matias Alberes. In later novels gunman Mario Lujan helped Coyote several times. From around 1873 the skilled Indian Pedro Bienvenido became Coyote's foremest allied and César's servant.
Films
- El coyote (1955) Spain & Mexico Act Odón Alonso
- La justicia del Coyote/Judgement of Coyote (1956) Spain & Mexico Odón Alonso
- Il segno del coyote/The Sign of the Coyote (1963) Italy & Spain Fernando Casanova
- La vuelta de El Coyote/The Return of El Coyote (1998) Spain José Coronado
Comics
El Coyote had a comic book adaptation in Spain, by Jose Mallorquí and Francisco Batet, in the comic magazine Novelas del Oeste (Western Novels) during the 1940s and 50's.
Notes
- ↑ p.314 Stephan, Alexander The Americanization of Europe: Culture, Diplomacy, and Anti-Americanism after 1945 Berghahn Books, 2006
