From time to time I like to remember “The Cisco Kid.” It was on 1950s TV. I adopted a favorite sentence often uttered by Pancho as played by Leo Carrillo: “Let’s went.” They also had this thing at the end of every episode when Pancho would say: “Oh, Cisco!” Then Cisco would say: “Oh Pancho!” Then they would both laugh as though they shared a really nasty/dirty little secret. Wish I knew what it was, and that it was at the very least risqué.

I am now rather irritated by the fact I just discovered that Duncan Renaldo, who played Cisco, was born in Romania, in Oancea, a small town on the border with Moldova. His name was Renault Renaldo Duncan and would  have more appropriately cast in a Dracula movie. Or a French flick with Renault driving his Renault.

A Romanian playing a Mexican is just wrong, really, really wrong — like Donald J. Trump playing a presidential candidate.

At least Carillo was the real McCoy, a California native and great conservationist — a state park is named in his honor. I have heard he had family in Tucson, but was never able to confirm it. Incidentally, “Cisco” is short for “Francisco.” And “Pancho” is a nickname for “Francisco.” That makes much too Frank for me, even if “Cisco” is about the city. In which case, it should have been the “Frisco Kid.” In which case, it sounds a little too close to the “Frisky Kid.” In which case, the censors likely would have been involved.

Here is a Cisco Kid movie poster from 1949:

 

Don’t think we’ll see another movie of its like, certainly not the title.

The ingenue in the movie was played by Armida, a Mexican actress from the 30s and 40s. She did not land many roles. She was not born in Romania, but in Aguascalientes, Sonora. Her name was Armida Vendrell, and her father ran a movie house in Douglas.