Tonto is a
fictional character
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...
; he is the
Native American (either
Comanche
The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...
or
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...
)
companion of the
Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture.
He first appeared in 1933 in ...
, a popular American
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
character created by
George W. Trendle
George Washington Trendle (July 4, 1884 – May 10, 1972) was an American lawyer and businessman best known as the producer of the ''Lone Ranger'' radio and television programs along with ''The Green Hornet'' and '' Sergeant Preston of the Yukon'' ...
and
Fran Striker
Francis Hamilton "Fran" Striker (August 19, 1903 – September 4, 1962) was an American writer for radio and comics, best known for creating the characters the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet, and Sgt. Preston of the Yukon.
Early life
Born in ...
. Tonto has appeared in radio and television series and other presentations of the characters' adventures righting wrongs in 19th-century
western United States
The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...
.
Tonto made his first appearance on the 11th episode of the radio show, which originated on the
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
, radio station
WXYZ. Though he became well known as the Lone Ranger's friend, Tonto was originally created just so the Lone Ranger would have someone with whom to talk.
Throughout the radio run (which spanned 21 years), with only a few exceptions, Tonto was played by American actor
John Todd.
Chief Thundercloud played the character in the
Republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
movie
serials ''
The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture.
He first appeared in 1933 in ...
'' and ''
The Lone Ranger Rides Again
''The Lone Ranger Rides Again'' is a 1939 American Republic serial. It was a sequel to Republic's 1938 serial '' The Lone Ranger'', which had been highly successful, and the thirteenth of the sixty-six serials produced by Republic.
The serial ...
''. To this point, Tonto had been depicted, on the radio series, as a somewhat elderly sidekick. This serial established the better-remembered image of Tonto as a handsome young tribal warrior in buckskins. The only diversion from this image since then has been
Johnny Depp
John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...
's depiction in Disney's 2013 film, ''
The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture.
He first appeared in 1933 in ...
'', its most recent portrayal.
Jay Silverheels
Jay Silverheels (born Harold Jay Smith; May 26, 1912 – March 5, 1980) was an Indigenous Canadian actor and athlete. He was well known for his role as Tonto, the Native American companion of the Lone Ranger in the American Western television ...
portrayed the arguably best-remembered version in
''The Lone Ranger'' television series. This was the highest-rated television program on the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
network in the early 1950s and its first true "hit".
Ivan Naranjo, a
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...
/
Southern Ute
The Southern Ute Indian Reservation (Ute dialect: Kapuuta-wa Moghwachi Núuchi-u) is a Native American reservation in southwestern Colorado near the northern New Mexico state line. Its territory consists of land from three counties; in descendin ...
actor from
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
, voiced the character in ''
The Tarzan/Lone Ranger Adventure Hour''.
Michael Horse
Michael Horse (born Michael James Heinrich; December 21, 1949) is an American actor known for his portrayals of Native American characters in film and television.
Early life
Horse was born Michael James Heinrich near Tucson, Arizona, on Decem ...
portrayed Tonto in the film ''
The Legend of the Lone Ranger
''The Legend of the Lone Ranger'' is a 1981 American Western film that was directed by William A. Fraker and stars Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse and Christopher Lloyd.
It is based on the story of The Lone Ranger, a Western character create ...
'' (1981).
Character
Tonto made his first appearance on the 11th episode of the radio show ''
The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture.
He first appeared in 1933 in ...
''.
Two conflicting
origin stories have been given for the character Tonto and how he came to work with the Lone Ranger. As originally presented, in the December 7, 1938, radio broadcast, Reid had already been well established as the Lone Ranger when he met Tonto. In that episode Cactus Pete, a friend of the Lone Ranger's, tells the story of how the masked man and Tonto first met. According to that tale, Tonto had been caught in the explosion when two men
dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...
d a
gold mine Gold Mine may refer to:
* Gold Mine (board game)
*Gold Mine (Long Beach), an arena
*"Gold Mine", a song by Joyner Lucas from the 2020 album ''ADHD
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characteri ...
they were working. One of the men wanted to kill the wounded Tonto, but the Lone Ranger arrived on the scene and made him administer
first aid
First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with either a minor or serious illness or injury, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery. It includes initial in ...
. The miner subsequently decided to keep Tonto around, intending to make him the
fall guy
Fall guy is a colloquial phrase that refers to a person to whom blame is deliberately and falsely attributed in order to deflect blame from another party.
Origin
The origin of the term "fall guy" is unknown and contentious. Many sources place ...
when he would later murder his partner. The Lone Ranger foiled both the attempted murder and the
framing. No reason was given in the episode as to why Tonto chose to travel with the Lone Ranger, rather than continue about his business.
A different version was given in later episodes of the
radio drama
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...
and at the beginning of
''The Lone Ranger'' television series: Tonto rescues the sole surviving
Texas Ranger of a party that was tricked into an ambush by the
outlaw
An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them ...
Butch Cavendish. Tonto recognizes the ranger as someone who had saved him when they were both boys. He refers to him by the title "
ke-mo sah-bee", explaining that the phrase means "faithful friend" (radio series) or "trusty scout" (television series) in the language of his tribe. In the 2013 film, Tonto translates the word as meaning "wrong brother". Tonto buries the dead rangers, and the Lone Ranger instructs him to make a sixth empty grave to leave the impression that he, too, is dead.
The radio series identified Tonto as a chief's son in the
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...
nation. The Potawatomi originated in the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
region, but in the 19th century, most had been relocated to the
midwestern states
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
. The choice to make Tonto a Potawatomi seems to come from station owner George Trendle's youth in
Mullett Lake, Michigan
Inverness Township is a civil township of Cheboygan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,261 at the 2010 census. It was named after Inverness in Scotland.
Communities
*Geyersville was the name of a rural post office in Inver ...
. Located in the northern part of the
Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
, Michigan is the traditional territory of the Potawatomi, and many local institutions use Potawatomi names. Trendle gained the name "Tonto" from the local Potawatomi, who told him it meant "wild one" in their language. Other sources indicate that Camp Kee Mo Sah Bee belonged to the father-in-law of the show's director, James Jewell. According to author David Rothel, who interviewed Jewell a few months before his death, ''Kee Mo Sah Bee'' and ''Tonto'' were the only two words that Jewell remembered from those days.
Alternatively, Tonto's name may have been inspired by the name of
Tonto Basin, Arizona
Tonto Basin is a census-designated place (CDP) in Gila County, Arizona, United States. The population was 1,424 at the 2010 United States Census, up from 840 in 2000.
Within Tonto Basin is located the unincorporated community of Punkin Center. ...
. In the first novel in a series published by
Grosset and Dunlap Tonto is described as a "half-breed." Though credited to
Fran Striker
Francis Hamilton "Fran" Striker (August 19, 1903 – September 4, 1962) was an American writer for radio and comics, best known for creating the characters the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet, and Sgt. Preston of the Yukon.
Early life
Born in ...
, this book was actually written by Gaylord du Bois. Later books in the series were actually written by Striker, and were in line with the continuity from the radio series.
In the
2013 theatrical feature film of ''The Lone Ranger'', Tonto is depicted as a disgraced
Comanche
The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...
tribesman and the last of the
wendigo
Wendigo () is a mythological creature or evil spirit originating from the folklore of Plains and Great Lakes Natives as well as some First Nations. It is based in and around the East Coast forests of Canada, the Great Plains region of the U ...
hunters. It's revealed that Tonto is actually suffering severe mental illness and survivor's guilt for inadvertently causing the massacre of his tribe by the film's villains. To rationalize what he had done, he convinced himself that the cannibalistic Butch Cavendish was a wendigo, a non-existent monster used in Native American ghost stories to frighten children. The character wears black-and-white face paint and a deceased crow on his head. According to Johnny Depp, who played him, the inspiration for the costume was a painting entitled ''I Am Crow'' by Kirby Sattler.
Tonto's horse
Tonto first rode a horse named "White Feller" (White Fella/Fellah). When the 1938
Republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
movie serial
A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...
''
The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture.
He first appeared in 1933 in ...
'' was being filmed, it was thought that having two white horses would be confusing, so the producers made "White Feller" a
pinto horse
A pinto horse has a coat color that consists of large patches of white and any other color. The distinction between "pinto" and "solid" can be tenuous, as so-called "solid" horses frequently have areas of white hair. Various cultures through ...
, presumably on the theory that, being partly white, a pinto could still be named "White Feller". The radio series, noting that the pinto in the film had gone over well with audiences, decided that Tonto's mount would henceforth be a pinto. For several episodes, Tonto's new horse went unnamed, referred to only as "the paint horse" or simply "Paint". Eventually the name "Scout" was adopted.
Reception
The portrayal of Tonto has been seen by some
Native Americans and others as degrading, notably by Native American author and poet
Sherman Alexie
Sherman Joseph Alexie Jr. (born October 7, 1966) is a Spokane- Coeur d'Alene-Native American novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and filmmaker. His writings draw on his experiences as an Indigenous American with ancestry from se ...
. Tonto spoke in a
pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...
, saying things like, "That right,
Kemo Sabe
Ke-mo sah-bee (; often spelled kemo sabe, kemosabe or kimosabe) is the term used by the fictional Native American sidekick Tonto as the " Native American" name for the Lone Ranger in the American television and radio programs ''The Lone Ranger''. ...
", or "Him say man ride over ridge on horse".
In 1975, poet and science fiction writer
Paul O. Williams
Paul O. Williams (January 17, 1935 – June 2, 2009) was an American science fiction writer and haiku poet. Williams won multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Award and the Museum of Haiku Literature Award; and was professor emeritus of ...
coined the term "tontoism" to refer to the practice of writing
haiku
is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...
with missing articles ("the", "a", or "an"), which he claimed made such haiku sound like Tonto's stunted English.
Later adaptations of the character, such as ''The Legend of the Lone Ranger'' and the
Filmation
Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and pr ...
animated series, depict him as being articulate in English and speaking it carefully.
Silverheels was not above making a little fun of the character, as in a classic sketch on ''
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the ''Tonight Show'' franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, ...
'' with Carson playing a career counselor and Silverheels playing Tonto looking for a new job after working "thirty lousy years" as the Lone Ranger's faithful sidekick. When asked why he was looking for a new job, Tonto replies, "Him finally find out what Kemo Sabe means!"
In translation
In Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, "tonto" translates as "dumb", "moron", or "fool". In the Italian version the original name is retained, but in the Spanish dubbed version, the character is called "Toro" (Spanish for "bull") or "Ponto".
In other media
Tonto has appeared in various media based on ''The Lone Ranger''.
Comics
Tonto starred in his own comic book, ''The Lone Ranger's Companion Tonto'', 31 issues of which were published by
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...
during the 1950s.
Later depictions beginning in the 1980s have taken efforts to show Tonto as an articulate and proud warrior whom the Ranger treats as an equal partner. In the
Topps Comics
Topps Comics was a division of Topps, Topps Company, Inc. that published comic books from 1993 to 1998, beginning its existence during a short comics-industry boom that attracted many investors and new companies. It was based in New York City, at ...
four-issue
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
, ''The Lone Ranger and Tonto'', Tonto is even shown to be a very witty, outspoken, and sarcastic character willing to punch the Lone Ranger during a heated argument and commenting on his past pop-culture depictions with the words, "Of course, Kemosabe. Maybe when we talked I should use that 'me Tonto' stuff, way they write about me in the dime novels. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
Television
In the ''
Timeless'' episode "Murder of Jesse James", Wyatt Logan, one of the main characters, mentions that
Native American deputy U.S. marshal Grant Johnson was the inspiration for Tonto.
Jon Lovitz
Jonathan Michael Lovitz (; born July 21, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990. Lovitz starred as Jay Sherman in '' The Critic'' and played a baseball scout in '' A League of ...
played a comic version of Tonto, in a group of other characters who speak little or broken English, on
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
.
References
Further reading
*
* Biography of Jay Silverheels.
*
{{Authority control
Comics characters introduced in 1948
Dynamite Entertainment characters
Fictional Comanche people
Fictional sole survivors
Film characters introduced in 1938
Film sidekicks
Male characters in comics
Male characters in film
Male characters in radio
Male characters in television
Radio characters introduced in 1933
Radio sidekicks
Television sidekicks
Western (genre) heroes and heroines
Film serial characters