Happy Birthday Ed Ames ~ Always MINGO to me …
One of the coolest television shows on when I was a kid in the 60s was Daniel Boone.
Maybe the coolest character on television was Mingo – Boone’s Native American Indian friend who shared many adventures.
Mingo to Daniel Boone was like Spock to Captain Kirk. An indispensable companion.
Mingo was much cooler than Mr Spock.
Ed Ames was the actor who played Mingo in the television series and was one of the best actors on television at the time.
I will always think of him as Mingo.
However, this awesome actor has a successful life before television.
Born on this day in 1927, he was the youngest kid with 8 brothers and sisters before him. His parents had immigrated from the Ukraine. Very early on they discovered they had a great talent singing together so four of the brothers formed a quartet and sang all over Boston, Massachusetts.
In 1948 they were signed to Decca Records – but because of the Musician Union strike, the recordings were never released ! But later, they finally had a record released with another label and their music career took off like a rocket.
All through the 1950s The Ames Brothers were on top of the music scene.
They disbanded in the early 1960s and Ed looked into acting. He did very well on television as well as continuing to record as a solo artist.
This led to his landing the role of Mingo on the television show Daniel Boone co-starring with Fess Parker.
While he was on the Boone show, Ames made an appearance on The Johnny Carson Show with a demonstration of his great skill at throwing a tomahawk. This is one of the most remembered, classic and hilarious Carson moments. You will have to look it up if you are too young to remember it. Believe me, it’s a real classic in the annals of comedy!
Ed Ames is still with us and going strong.
Not only was he a great singing entertainer and actor, he is a very wise man who loves the United States of America and what it means to be an American.
It was a long time since he sang on the 1950 hit “Rag Mop”:
However, I will always remember him as Mingo …
Category: Tony Rollo Blog
