Does anyone remember the name of the Italian American guy who played the crying Indian

[Elspeth]

on the old commercials about the environment in the 70s? I am looking at cultural appropriation for a paper and was told that the "American Indian" was actually Italian American.

[Wetzelbill]

1. Iron Eyes Cody

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. I remember the commercial but I am not sure of his name. I used to cry right along with him, though,

a sensitive little girl. :)

[Elspeth]

3. Me, too.

:)

[maddiejoan]

4. Iron Eyes Cody

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Eyes_Cody

real name: Espera De Corti

[Burma Jones]

5. Here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Eyes_Cody

[AndyA]

6. Iron Eyes Cody.

The tear on his cheek in the commercial was glycerine, they say.

[XOKCowboy]

7. Well I'll be darned! I never knew that!!

Heck my grandma was a full blood (and the other 1/8) and I don't know how I missed that Iron Eyes Cody was of Sicilian descent! I guess it was the headdress.

I learn something new every day.

[Elspeth]

8. THANKS SO MUCH!

I appreciate it!

[XOKCowboy]

10. Lots of information on Snopes.com

http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/ironeyes.asp

[yurbud]

9. here's the commercial on YOUTUBE:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=X3QKvEy0AIk

[yurbud]

11. The left used to know how to use the media like this. How did they forget?

or is it just that they don't really want to make these simple, obvious points because it might offend potential corporate donors?

[NNN0LHI]

16. Keep America Beautiful didn't come from the left

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Keep_America_Beautiful

Keep America Beautiful receives millions of dollars a year from dozens of corporations who either directly or through their trade associations are actively engaged in lobbying against environmental legislation such as bottle bills. A list can be found on the KAB website at http://www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagename=index . Some of the bigger funders include companies include PepsiCo, Philip Morris, Waste Management, Anheuser-Busch, Georgia-Pacific, Coca-Cola, Home Depot, McDonald's. Major PR and advertising firms also contribute money to KAB including DDB Worldwide, Omnicom Group, BBDO Worldwide, Fleishman-Hillard, and Ogilvy & Mather.

The Container Recycling Institute reports: "The most outspoken opponents to bottle bills are almost exclusively the big-name beverage producers. The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Anheuser Busch, and their bottlers and distributers fight deposit laws at every turn. Retail grocers and liquor storeowners also oppose deposit laws, and in recent years, waste haulers and owners of materials recovery facilities who want the revenue from valuable aluminum cans have joined the opposition. ... Enter Keep America Beautiful. Though their name paints a rosy picture of environmentalism, Keep America Beautiful (KAB) promotes landfilling and incineration of waste, and refuses to accept bottle bills as a viable method of litter reduction. Why? Because KAB was founded by the very industries that find bottle bills a threat!"

Keep America Beautiful was founded in 1953 by group of businessmen from the beverage and packaging industries who were concerned that government would make them responsible for solving the litter problem by regulating their industries. Howard Chase was an early PR consultant to KAB and in the 1970's went on to become vice president and assistant to the chairman for public affairs of the American Can Company.

KAB's first campaign theme was “Every Litter Bit Hurts” and was supported by major environmental organisations.

In the early 1970s a new campaign was launched with the theme “People Start Pollution, People Can Stop It”. Environmentalists were not happy with the campaign theme and wanted KAB to focus on making producers responsible for packaging waste, but KAB's industry backers refused.

In 1974 KAB publicly opposed California's proposed bottle bill. However due to reactions that the organisation was self-serving, they decided to drop any official position on the issue. KAB changed their approach to promote alternatives to bottle bills instead.

[Wetzelbill]

15. Yeah I posted it a bit ago the video forum

Great minds think alike. :)

[LibDemAlways]

12. Back in the 70's and 80's my husband was president of a flying

club that brought gifts of food to different California Indian tribes each Thanksgiving. Iron Eyes would always show up at the planning meetings and considered himself a liaison between the tribes and the club. My husband will be very surprised to learn he wasn't a Native American, as he truly embraced Native American culture.

[Elspeth]

13. No kidding. I wonder what got him into it?

Of course, that was the early 70s, Carlos Castaneda and all that.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. It was earlier than that

He played an Indian in the 1950s Walt Disney movie Westward Ho the Wagons.

[XOKCowboy]

14. Yeah what a dichotomy....

He so despised his Italian-American heritage that when his stepfather died, he and his brothers changed their name to Cody (from Corti) and moved to Hollywood. He immediately began portraying himself as a Native American and with the help of Hollywood effectively changed his heritage. From what I'm reading he really took it to heart. Good for him.

[Elspeth]

17. Is there more information on the guy? An official bio?

THanks

[XOKCowboy]

19. I was looking at Wikipedia and Snopes..

I'm still amazed. I'd have sweared he was Native American. In those days though (the 50s-70s) everyone was claiming to be a "Cherokee". Also when he was young there was a significant anti Italian American sentiment, especially in the south where he grew up.

I'll have to delve into Google later on to see if I can find more.

[Lisa]

20. another example you might find interesting -- "Grey Owl"

He was an Englishman who moved to Canada and adopted an aboriginal identity. He later became a celebrated author and lecturer.

http://www.islandnet.com/~see/naturesong/nature/greyowl.htm