FAQ

Most of the FAQ's are explained in sections of the Nostalgia areas of this fansite. After browsing and reading the different areas you can not find an answer to your question send us an email using the form on our "contact us" page.

  • Is Kemo-Sabe / Kemo-Sabay a real word? What does it really mean?

Kemo-sabe / Kemo-Sabay (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." Kemo-sabe means "faithful friend" or "trusty scout."

  • What is the Lone Ranger's real name?

    We know that the Ranger's last name is "Reid," because his brother who was killed in the ambush by the Cavendish gang was named Dan Reid. (This is also the name of the Lone Ranger's nephew, although we do not know what his true first name was. His mother was killed in an Indian attack and the kindly woman who raised him got the name Dan from a locket that Dan's mother had worn.)

    No first name was given to the Lone Ranger during the radio and television program.

    Somehow, though, the name "John" appeared in the liner notes of a Lone Ranger record. (Wes Tom fills in this part: "The name John first appeared in the book Radio's Golden Age by Frank Buxton and Bill Owen in 1966 published by Easton Valley Press.")
  • What was the Lone Ranger's mask made of?

Story-wise, it was made from the fabric of the Ranger's brother's (Dan Reid) black vest. The one he was wearing when he was killed along with the other Rangers.

  • 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.

Fran Striker told the Saturday Evening Post that he invented Tonto's name and that it was picked by merely alterring the consanants 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."

Jewell remembered the word, liked it, and gave the name to the Lone Ranger's Indian companion.