I apologize if this is a Google-question, but my Google-fu is weak, and neither wikipedia nor imdb list an explanation.
In the TV series Airwolf, the main character Hawke’s first name in the original US version* is Stringfellow ** What is that name supposed to mean? To what cultural event, popular phrase or whatever does this refer?
The only tentative connection I can think of is that he likes to play a cello in his cabin, which is a string instrument. But how could his parents when naming him as a baby, know that he would like to play classical instruments?
Did his parents intend for him not to become a figher pilot, but a classical musician?
Were his parents hippies high on drugs, and the name doesn’t mean anything?
Was there ever an explanation given in the series?
In the German version, it was changed to Huckleberry, which is also an odd (American) name, but also makes sense for a maverick/loner person. Most people will know that name as unusual, typically American from Huckleberry Finn as Tom Sawyers friend.
** His brother is called Saint John, which is a really weird name in the German version.
I have the whole series on DVD (well, except the crappy USA season that starred Barry van Dyke.)
I’m pretty sure it’s not stated in the series where his name comes from, or why his brother’s name is spelled Saint John but pronounced “Sin Gin.” It does seem clear that Hawke’s parents intended him to play the cello–his is an extraordinarily expensive one that his parents gave to him. Likewise his art collection, which is all original and, it seems, rather priceless. That’s all from the pilot movie, where the F.I.R.M. steals the art (and cello) as a sort of ransom–they want Hawke to go get Airwolf back from Libya. Arkangel gets his stuff back for him at the end.
I’m not so sure his parents were hippie scum, either. His father was a WWII vet and close friend of Dom Santini, and Dom is really old-fashioned.
The hero of Airwolf was named for Stringfellow Barr, the president of St. John’s College. Google on Airwolf and Stringfellow Barr and you’ll find a article on it. Sorry, but I’m on a strange computer at the moment and can’t cut and paste.
I would guess that the writers wanted the character to be the child of old-money aristocrats. “St. John” and “Stringfellow” sound like W.A.S.P. family names. In some circles, parents will use the mother’s or grandmother’s maiden name as the child’s first name. (Especially if the mother’s family is richer than the father’s.)
I have no idea if it was their intent (probably not, but you never can tell), but John Stringfellow built the first steam engine-powered heavier-than-air monplane, and flew it some 50 years before the Wright Brothers.
Thanks, that’s also very interesting. If Hawke’s family was rich/old, that would explain the cello-playing and art collection better than his simple cabin and his figher pilot career. I always assumed he was normale working or middle class because of his job and living conditions.
i always figured on old money family with surnames as first names. also the going into the military would be part of it, with military academies like say, valley forge m.a. for those young formative years; followed by one of the big mil. academies for college.
i believe the cabin was one of those “built by grandpa” by hand passed down for years thing.
i only saw the jan micheal vincent parts of the show. i stopped watching sometime in the third season.