Remembering Ed Ames: Singer, Actor, Ardent Zionist, and Inadvertent Mohel on Johnny Carson Show

Ed Ames, the singer, actor, and ardent Zionist, died in Los Angeles on May 21 at the age of 95.

Best known for his singing career with three of his brothers as The Ames Brothers, and his acting in the role of Mingo, a Cherokee tribesman in the TV series Daniel Boone, Ames was a committed Zionist and president of the California chapter of the Zionist Organization of America.

Ames also became known as an unintentional mohel after a guest appearance on the Johnny Carson Show.

As Dennis Hevesi wrote in The New York Times,

Mr. Ames played Mingo for the first four of the show’s six seasons, from 1964 to 1968. But his most memorable moment during those years did not come on “Daniel Boone.” It happened on April 29, 1965, when he was Johnny Carson’s guest on “The Tonight Show.”

In a segment that soon became a staple of “Tonight Show” highlight reels, Mr. Ames set out to teach Mr. Carson how to toss a tomahawk, using a rudimentary drawing of a sheriff on a wooden panel as his target. He threw the tomahawk across the stage. When it embedded precisely in the sheriff’s crotch, the audience reacted with loud, sustained laughter.

Mr. Ames tried to retrieve the tomahawk, but Mr. Carson grabbed his arm. As another roar of laughter subsided, Mr. Carson looked at Mr. Ames and said, “I didn’t even know you were Jewish.”

He was.

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