Talk:The Cisco Kid

Publication
The story, The Cabellero's Way, with two Remington-like illustrations by W. Herbert Dunton, was also published in Everybody's Magazine, July 1907, pages 86-93. 03:50, 12 March 2010 (UTC) Two terms might baffle those relying on their memories of high school Spanish: Tonia is caring for a "little crippled chivo" -- that's a baby goat -- and the Cisco Kid is called "El Chivato" by the Mexicans -- that means "the sneaky one" and not in a good way. Sussmanbern (talk) 13:51, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

The O.Henry story has the Cisco Kid singing a song, the only one he knows, but all we get are two lines. It's a genuine song, "My Lulu", and the lyrics are to be found in Carl Sandburg's American Songbag. The stanza from which O.Henry's two lines are taken goes: "If you go monkey with my Lulu gal / I'll tell you what I'll do. / I'll carve your heart out with my razor. / I'll shoot you with my pistol, too." Sussmanbern (talk) 14:21, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Phrase
Somewhere in the article should be the catch phrase that the TV series was so noted for -- occuring at the end of each episode Pancho: "Oh Cisco!" Cisco;"Oh Pancho!"


 * Please check that this is correct. In my memory, they said,   "'Eh, Pancho!" "'Eh, Cisco!"211.225.34.185 (talk) 02:25, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

¶ There are a few videotapes of the Duncan Renaldo TV series available on the net, and that, and my own recollection, persuade me that the closing lines were invariably "Oh, Pancho" and "Oh, Cisco" -- but it sounds almost like "Oy, Pancho! ... Oy, Cisco!" By the way, each episode ended with the same bit of film of the two of them galloping up, waving to the viewer and the Kid would say "Goodbye amigos!" and Pancho would add "See you soon, hah!" (or maybe, "See you soon, huh?"), and then the two of them gallop off at high speed as if they were actually had to be somewhere.71.246.220.249 (talk) 18:21, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
 * In the radio series it sounds like "oh Cisco", at the end of every broadcast as they are wondering off Poncho makes a funny reference (example: the last episode I listened to at the end Poncho tells Cisco he would like to learn how to swim, Cisco agrees it would be a good idea, Poncho then asks Cisco how did you learn, he tells a story of his dad putting him over a side of a boat and telling him to swim. Poncho asks did you start to swim Cisco said no I went under the water and came up and hit my head on the boat, then went down and came up and hit my head on the boat again. Poncho says well that wasn't smart if you kept hitting your head on the boat why come back up. Then Cisco yells "Oh Poncho" Poncho yells "Oh Cisco" they begin to laugh and ride away calling their horses to pick up speed.) I know this was a long winded story, to hear it yourself here is the show I just listened to Cisco Kid - Gunplay on Riverfront Eagle4life69 (talk) 19:14, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

English only?
It wasn't always in English. There was at least one occasion where they spoke to each other in Spanish, but I don't know where.

from the name Francisco
Since the original story was published in 1907 (and presumably written earlier) -- and the movies and TV dramatizations were clearly based in the 19th century -- it is fairly certain that neither Cisco nor Pancho could be named for Pancho Villa, who did not attain any prominence until about 1910. The O. Henry story hints that the Kid got his name from his limited geographical wanderings -- roughly due south of San Antonio; there is a small city of Cisco, Texas, about 40 miles east of Abilene, far north of the territory described in the O.Henry story. 03:50, 12 March 2010 (UTC) 13:55, 12 March 2010 (UTC) Sussmanbern (talk) 14:22, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

the intro to the TV series
The TV series with Duncan Renaldo would begin each episode with the announcer saying "Here's danger. Here's romance. Here's O. Henry's famous Robin Hood of the Old West - the Cisco Kid!" However his only appearance in an O. Henry story was not as a Robin Hood at all, but as a psychopathic back-shooter and bank robber. Moreover, O.Henry makes relatively clear that the Cisco Kid is an Anglo - his name might be "Goodall", he sings a cowboy song in English, is feared by the Mexicans, and wears a hat - not a sombrero. But the movies and TV series (and the 1990 TV movie with Jimmie Smits) portrayed him as a cheerful and friendly Mexican wearing a sombrero and speaking with a thick Mexican accent (and suitably respectful of US Anglos). He is also presented as young; 25 years of age, looking younger. But the movies, TV series and TV movie portrayed him as considerably older - at the very least, in his 30s; in the TV series, Duncan Renaldo's portrayal (at age 52) suggested that "the Kid" was on the cusp of drawing Social Security. In the TV series, the Kid wore one of those elaborately embroidered dark cabarello shirts and decorated sombreros more appropriate for nightclub musicians and Pancho wore a much more plebian plain sombrero and a (somewhat effeminate by modern US standards) calico shirt of some sort of polka-dot or periwinkle pattern - somehow they always looked clean even though they didn't seem to carry a change of clothes or stopped to do laundry. Sussmanbern (talk) 13:44, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Clean-up tags
Without removing any information, I re-organized the page and tried to wikify some of the lists. Could any of the tags be removed now? Thanks! Aristophanes68 (talk) 03:31, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

It should be noted that Leo Carillo was born August 6, 1881 which makes him a man in his 70s for most of the run of The Cisco Kid. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.206.96.86 (talk) 20:29, 7 October 2011 (UTC)

I don't see the joke ...
The article previously said, "That "Pancho" and "Cisco" are Spanish nicknames for "Francisco" makes the sign-off with laughter an inside joke for Spanish speakers." How is that an inside joke? It's certainly possible that two people with the same legal name, but different nicknames, could be friends. While a television show might not usually have two characters with similar names, it wouldn't be an inside joke for English-speaking people if a show's main characters went by, say, "Robbie" and "Bob" even though both are nicknames for "Robert". Is it a joke that The Monkees included both a Michael and a Mickey, even though "Mickey" is a nickname for "Michael"? Or that Marge Simpson has a daughter named Maggie Simpson, even though both "Marge" and "Maggie" can be used as nicknames for "Margaret"?

"Throughout the TV series, Pancho addressed Renaldo as "Cisco" - although that is the name of a town near Abilene, Texas." We just ascertained that Cisco is a nickname for Francisco (see Cisco (name)), so why would the fact that there is a town by that name make a difference? There are also cities in Texas called Austin, Irving, Tyler, Allen, Bryan, Victoria, etc., all of which are also used as names for people. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 01:59, 13 September 2018 (UTC)