Kim Winona part 2: "The script writers have never made me say "Ugh," "Me catchum this," or "Me wantum wampum."
TV Smokes the Peace Pipe
1956, July 8 The Los Angeles Times
Never since Pocahontas saved John Smith's scalp have the Indians behaved so nobly as they do nowadays on the American TV screen. Your modern video Indian - from Tonto on down - is a far cry from the war-painted, scalp-hungry heathens who used to swoop down on helpless wagon trains in the old Western movies.
Television has whitewashed the Red Man and equipped him with a shining, 20th century heart of gold.
"We are scotching the outworn theory that the only good Indian is a dead one," says Armand Schaefer, executive producer of Gene Autry's Flying-A Productions. "It's a general policy nowadays, when a "bad" Indian appears in the script, to insist that a "good" one be written in to counteract any implied slur on the race as a whole."
In a recent Western called "Apache Raid," the tribe was supposed to stampede a herd of cattle. Schaefer ordered the scene revamped to show that the herd was grazing on the land of the Apaches - who legitimately shooed them away.
No "Ughs" For Kim
CBS's "Brave Eagle" series guaranteed a fair shake for the Red Man by casting real Indians in three of the four leading roles. And a genuine Chippewa brave named Sunbear acted as technical advisor to make sure wigwams, tribal dances, etc. were the real McChippewa.
Shapely, raven-haired Kim Winona, a star of "Brave Eagle," is a full-blooded Sioux. Born and raised on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, Miss Winona accepted the part with one proviso - that she never have to say "ugh."
"The script writers have never made me say "Ugh," "Me catchum this," or "Me wantum wampum." says Miss Winona. "That's the greatest forward step in Indian relations since the mint put one of our chiefs on the nickel."
Another notable feature of what one TV tycoon calls the braves' new world: Indians are sometimes allowed to win a clean fight against the settlers...
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1956, July 8 The Los Angeles Times |