Learning Dividends

January 2012

Learning Dividends

JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING...

By Jay Speyerer

Every so often, you learn something you think you should have known already. For instance, I recently found out that the name of the Lone Ranger's sidekick, Tonto, means "fool" in Spanish. Granted, Spanish is not one of my languages, but my goodness, I should have stumbled on that well before now.

The way I learned this was from actor Cheech Marin. Not personally, unfortunately. It was from a line he delivered during a TV promo for what looks to be a dreadful new sitcom, Rob, starring the comic (?) actor Rob Schneider. (Note: All opinions expressed in this column are mine, and therefore, automatically true.) Marin was speaking Spanish and describing the character Schneider plays: El es un tonto. He's a fool.

Radio station owner George Trendle and writer Fran Stryker are both credited with creating the masked rider of the plains, depending on what source you read. Tonto was brought in after a few episodes of the 1933 radio show had aired when a problem arose writing dialogue for a "lone" ranger. He had nobody to talk to.

I've mentioned before that one of the critical differences between writing fiction for print and writing for the stage is how to let the reader/audience in on what a character is thinking. On stage, we have only two ways of knowing a character's feelings: what they do and what they say. On the page, however, a character's thoughts can be expressed in the narrative. You can theoretically write paragraph after paragraph about what your hero is thinking, and as long as it's compelling and interesting and moves the story along, you're in the clear. Of course, you can also have him talk. On the radio show, in order for the Ranger not to come off as a lunatic by carrying on complex conversations with his horse, another sentient human was necessary.

Ever listen to a recording of a vintage radio show? Writing for that medium had its own unique problems considering that the action had to be written into the dialogue so the listener could visualize what was going on. For instance:
"Pass the salt."
"Drop that gun."
"Why are you limping?"

Consider Superman's catchphrase: "Up, up, and away!" Our superhero said that every time he took off as an indication to the radio audience that he was flying.

Trendle reportedly knew that tonto was a word in the Potawatomie Indian language meaning "wild one." But mostly, he just liked the sound. Later, when the stories were dubbed into Spanish or Italian, Tonto's name was changed to Toro (bull) or Ponto, which doesn't mean anything.

Short lesson: You never know when you'll learn something (even on television), so keep your mind open. Don't be a tonto.

~end~