"Across the Wide Missouri" again

[Mike Cleven]

Jim Holton wrote:
Dave, Here's a blurb on the movie from my draft:
"Across the Wide Missouri" was filmed in 1951.  It starred Clark Gable
as mountain man Flint Mitchell and Ricardo Montalban as Ironshirt, a Nez
Perce.  Taking place in the 1830s, the Natice Americans and mountain men
speak Chinoo jargon to each other.  Nipo T. Strongheart was the
technical advisor.
  The book, _Across the Wide Missouri_ by Bernard DeVoto, which the
movie is "based" upon, makes no reference to Chinook Jargon.

Beyond that, I remember a fair amount of Chinook Jargon, particularly
from Clark Gable's wife, but it was usually only a word or very short
sentence and there was no extended conversation, but is was dispursed
throughout the movie. It was understandable and made sense.  About
Strongheart, who was the one who provided the Chinook Jargon, this is
from a website on silent
films(http://www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/FeaturedStar/star14.htm):
<quote>
Chief Nipo Strongheart (1891 - 1966) (21k jpeg) - Born Nee-hah-pow
Tah-che-num (a.k.a. Chtu-Tum-Nah Strongheart, George William Mitchell),
on the Yakima Indian Reservation, Washington, he was the grandson of
Chief Standing Rock. Orphaned as a young boy, he developed a resiliancy
and a deep respect from his people. Previously a delegate to the House
of Representatives for the Indian People, Cecil B. DeMille brought him
to Hollywood in 1925 to assist him in the production of Braveheart
(Cinema Corp. of America, 1925). "He (DeMille) wanted to do a picture on
my life and the history of the Yakima Nation. I collaborated on the
screenplay, but Rod LaRoque played me. I played a medicine man."
Strongheart spoke eight Native American languages and their dialects
fluently. He could translate Ute as easily as he could decipher the
Eskimo and Athabascan dialects. His expertise established him as a
pioneer technical advisor for films that required guidance in Native
American lore and customs. He was also actively involved in Indian
Affairs and lectured extensively. He especially enjoyed speaking to
schoolchildren and took great pride in sharing his Native American
heritage. Strongheart continued working in films as a technical advisor
until his death at age 75.

I tried doing a web search to find the script for this film, but despite
the many excellent filmscript-sites they don't seem to go this far back
in film history despite the prominence of this film.  A lot of the
searchlinks re the film were about Ricardo Montalban, who apparently
suffered a serious back or other injury during filming which plagued him
for the rest of his life.

It'd be interesting to find out what the Jargon used in this script was;
not just the words, but how it was pronounced (of course); haven't found
it online but maybe I'll just have to go rent the bloody thing.



--
Mike Cleven
http://www.cayoosh.net (Bridge River Lillooet history)
http://www.hiyu.net (Chinook Jargon phrasebook/history)


--
Mike Cleven
http://www.cayoosh.net (Bridge River Lillooet history)
http://www.hiyu.net (Chinook Jargon phrasebook/history)