[AGL] what does Kemo Sabe mean? Context, context

[Harry Edwards]

Aha. I see where you're coming from. Interesting to have all that early 
lore. I didn't know Striker Sr. also did the Green Hornet.             
td

On Jul 15, 2006, at 9:14 PM, Jon Ford wrote:

> Harry--- although you seem to suggest these words  (Kemo Sabe and 
> Tonto) can mean anything,just because there has been a lot of guessing 
> and speculation. However,  you have to see their meaning in the 
> context of the show's creators , who came up with these handles, and 
> their original intent for the characters. There is still some 
> confusion about the meaning of the word "tonto," but I don't think 
> Striker intended to indicate that Tonto was a "fool." Note the 
> comments below from Jim Jewell and Striker's son:
>
> http://www.endeavorcomics.com/largent/ranger/faq.html
>
>
> Is Kemosabe a real word? What does it really mean?
>
> Kemosabe (or any of the other various spellings) *is* a real word. 
> It's from the language of the Potowatomie Indians. The Potowatomie 
> Indians lived in and around Michigan. (The Lone Ranger originated at 
> WXYZ in Detroit.) One of the shows' producers, Jim Jewell, had a 
> father-in-law who ran a boy's camp named "Camp Kee-mo-sah-bee."
>
> Kemosabe means "faithful friend" or "trusty scout."
>
>
> Isn't it true that Tonto means "fool" in Spanish?
>
> This *is* true, but it was not that meaning that was intended by the 
> producers of the show.
>
> There are two versions of the story.
>
> Fran Striker told the Saturday Evening Post that he invented Tonto's 
> name and that it was picked by merely altering the consonants in the 
> name Bobo. (This was a caveman character Striker had created in 
> another radio program.)
>
> Jim Jewell says that Striker was remembering wrong. Tonto, he said, is 
> another Potowatomie word.
>
> There were a few Indians who would come to the camp to tell stories to 
> the children.
>
> One of the Indians apparently had a penchant for drinking after the 
> children had gone to sleep. Sometimes he would get rowdy and the other 
> Indians would call him "tonto." This meant "wild one."
>
>
>> From Fran Striker, Jr., son of the originator of the radio series:
>
> By Fran Striker, Jr
> The origin and meaning of the words "kemo sabe", often heard in in 
> Lone Ranger stories, are often debated. The first use of the words 
> apparently occurred in an episode in which Tonto is helping a severely 
> wounded Texas Ranger recover from injuries inflicted by The Cavendish 
> Gang. Tonto and th
> e Ranger recognize each other as childhood friends, when they called 
> each other "kemo sabe" (faithful friend).
> Fran Striker (senior) was a well-renowned writer of several OTR 
> favorites, including The Lone Ranger, Covered Wagon Days, The Green 
> Hornet, and Ned Jordan, Secret Agent. His son, Fran Striker, Jr. 
> relates the story of the origin of the words "kemo sabe".
> Hi Lou,
>
> I briefly visited the otr web site (http://www.old-time.com) over the
> weekend,  very interesting.  I don't recall the specific place where
> I found some interesting speculation about the meaning of Kemo Sabe.
>
> Naturally, this question has come up often, and has been the topic of
> many scholarly studies.  Below you find my (I hope definitive) answer
> the question-- which you may want to post at the site for others to
> enjoy.
>
> After I get a few more horse power into my PC, I hope to become a more
> regular web visitor, but until that time, I'll do my best to answer
> any E-mail that sent directly to me at FranStrike at aol.com.
>
> As for me, happy, healthy and living in New Jersey.  My current
> endeavour is trying to raise funding necessary re-launch my Dad's Tom
> Quest series.  The New TQ series is set in the current time, Tom has
> grown up and (along with a special sidekick) fights lawlessness around
> the world using hi-tech, wit, humor and good measures of traditional
> ethics and values.  I'm hoping to launch it as a series of comic
> books.
>
> Now,  About Kemo Sabay (Sabe)-- (It was first introduced as ‘sabay,’
> but soon became ‘sabe.’)    WHAT DOES IT REALLY MEAN?
>
> It is a most interesting question... one that has been pondered and
> investigated frequently throughout the decades.  In the past there
> have been scholars who have conducted extensive research and studies
> on the phrase... trying to develop the premise that in Kemo Sabay (as
> with the name Tonto) there was a subtle discriminatory nuance
> intended.  Logic usually seemed to dictate that those researchers look
> the dialects native to the southwest for support.
>
> The investigator, student or scholar, must realize that when this land
> was discovered there were already some 220 mutually unintelligible
> languages native the America north of the Rio Grande alone.  While it
> may be logical to make geographical associations with the southwest
> and the Spanish language, then put forth suppositions -- when dealing
> in non-scientific areas (such as the creation of fiction) logic can be
> quite misleading and the conclusions drawn quite incorrect.
>
> In addition to writing the scripts, books, cartoon strips, and
> personal appearance scenarios; my father was also charged with
> answering fan letters to the Lone Ranger.  He always started his
> replies with... "Ta-i ke-mo sah-bee (Greetings trusty scout)"  AND
> this was Dad's only intended meaning of the term.   But still, there
> have been many interesting, but incorrect, conclusions drawn (with no
> negative implications intended) about the derivation of the phrase.
>
> Many years ago, a Dr. Goddard, of the Smithsonian Institution, was
> reported as believing that Kemo Sabe was from the Tewa dialect.  He
> supported his contention by calling on the "Ethnogeography of the Tewa
> Indians" which appeared in the 29th Annual Report of the Bureau of
> American Ethnology (1916).  It seems that in Tewa, "Apache" equates to
> Sabe and "friend" to Kema.
>
> A scholar from the University of California at Berkley hypothesized
> that Kemo Sabe came from the Yavapai, a dialect spoken in Arizona.  He
> suggested that my Dad could have asked a source in Arizonia for the
> Indian term for "one who is white," or shown a picture of the Ranger
> (in the white shirt and trousers he wore in the earliest publicity
> photos) and asked for a descriptive name. A Yavapai would respond
> (correctly) kinmasaba or kinmasabeh.
>
> So what's the truth?  One must look at practicality rather than logic.
> An article in an old Saturday Evening Post magazine claims that Tonto
> was supposed to be a Potawatomi Indian, from the great lakes area.
> (Now that's practical... at the time Dad had never been west of
> Buffalo, New York and the program was launched from WXYZ in Detroit,
> Michigan.)  In research for my book, I came across another old
> reference-- a photograph of a children's camp in the northern part of
> Michigan.  The photo was from the early 1930s and showed the camp
> entrance.  It was named camp "Ke Mo Sah Bee."  The accompanying
> caption pointed out that the name stood for "trusty friend" or "trusty
> scout."  These two tidbits from history dovetail nicely and are in
> keeping with the meaning of the term as officially stated for the last
> sixty some years.
>
> It has been written that Jim Jewell, the radio programs dramatic
> director in the early years and a native of Michigan, originally
> suggested the phrase to my dad.  In light of everything else, I find
> that to be a credible claim.
>
> Most recently, I became aware of yet another (humorous) meaning of the
> phrase.  In his book of humor and observation, noted columnist James
> Smart observes that the New York Public Library defines Kemo Sabe as
> Soggy Shrub. His entertaining collection is appropriately titled
> "Soggy Shrub Rides Again and other improbabilities."
>
> Allow me just one final note on Kemo Sabe... an interesting side
> light.  It is usually assumed that Kemo Sabe is how the Ranger refers
> to Tonto. However, in many of the early radio broadcasts, the Ranger
> calls Tonto Kemo Sabe AND Tonto also calls the Ranger Kemo Sabe.
>
> Fran Striker, Jr.  (franstrike at aol.com)
>
>
>