the PB broadcast and 'Tonto'

[Joel S. Berson]

At 2/21/2008 03:52 PM, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
>I listened to the whole 12-minute broadcast and heard only the expalantion of
>the meaning of kemosabe, not the meaning of Tonto. Am I looking in the wrong
>place?

Perhaps -- click on the Listen Now just under "Letters: Lone Ranger,
Tonto, and UFOs" (3 min, 20 sec).

I just listened and heard the explanation of Tonto -- according to
Striker Jr., Sr. was looking at a map, saw the Tonto Basin, and liked
the sound of the word.

Joel


>In a message dated 2/21/08 3:27:02 PM, dad at POKERWIZ.COM writes:
>
>
> > Ah ha. Delving further into the depths of NPR archives, it turns out that
> > the origin of Tonto's name had in fact been covered in the original story,
> > but had been cut due to time constraints (figures they would cut the
> > Indian's part...). Rather than tell you about it, you can go here
> > http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18195323
> > and hear it for yourself (Click on the "Listen Now" link). Hint: It's a
> > little bit of an anticlimax and it would appear that Fran Striker did not
> > know that the word "tonto" meant stupid, fool, etc. in Spanish.
> > DAD
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
> > RonButters at AOL.COM
> > Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 12:54 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Lone Ranger gets his Name
> >
> >
> > >Thanks for this find. I'm sorry that the interview did not tell
> us what the
> > >rationale was for Tonto's name.
> >
> > >Of course, being someone for the hero to talk to is shorthand for a lot
> > >more,
> > >e.g., Tonto frequently has LR's back in his various crime-fighting
> > >endeavors
> > (cf. Robin for Batman). As I recall, the amount of serious conversation
> > between LR and the laconic Tonto is far less than what one usually finds
> > among
> > sidekicks and the big cheese. Tonto also shows far more wisdom and insight
> > than
> > most sidekicks. And because he is a competent adult who is wise in the ways
> > of
> > nature, there is less need for LR to protect him or explain things to him.
> > And
> > there is very little patronizing humor of the sort that one finds
> in some of
> > these pairings' interchanges.
> >
> > In a message dated 2/21/08 5:29:19 AM, dad at POKERWIZ.COM writes:
> >
> >
> > > I found this NPR site some days ago but didn't pass it on as I figured
> > > interest in the Lone Ranger had waned. But, FWIW, if you look here
> > >
> > > http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18073741
> > >
> > > they have an interview with Fran Striker Jr., son of the original TLR
> > > writer.
> > >
> > > Part of what Jr. says is that (quoting the article) "For the first 10
> > > episodes of The Lone Ranger, the Ranger actually rode alone. (This was
> > > before they cooked up the backstory of the ambush at Bryant's Gap.) As
> > > writer Fran Striker told his son, Fran Junior, that posed a problem for
> > > creating dialogue.
> > >
> > > 'The Lone Ranger had nobody to talk to if he was a lone ranger,' Striker
> > > says. 'So it was suggested they create a sidekick for TLR. Script 11
> > > introduced Tonto. And [he] was developed solely for the purpose of giving
> > > the Lone Ranger someone to talk to.'"
> > >
> > > So Tonto was apparently an antecessor of Tom Hanks's ball Wilson in Cast
> > > Away and Will Smith's dog in I am Legend; all were created to give a lone
> > > protagonist someone to talk to.
> > > DAD
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > **************
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> > ffy/
> > 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)
> >
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> >
> >
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>
>
>
>**************
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>
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>
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