Magnums Ring
Jim Defoyd
David Romas
>What is the significance / meaning of the ring or its symbol worn
>by Magnum?
This from http://www.dejanews.com "Power Search" using keywords
"Magnum AND Ring AND Romas"....
Subject: MPI's Team Ring
Author: David Romas <ac2...@wayne.edu>
Date: 1996/09/01
Forum: alt.tv.magnum-pi
Magnum Memorabilia's
_A Word On The "Team Ring"_
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_Background and Comments on this most
popular item of Magnum, P.I. memorabilia_
by David Romas
2 June, 1996
Updated Version
I have been meeting and assisting MPI fans since the early
1980s. Not everyone is interested in collecting, specifically,
but among those who are, the Team Ring is by far the item I get
asked about more than any other. Nearly every MPI fan contacting
me for the first time wants to know about the Team Ring, not just
how to get a copy of it but also what it stands for - its meaning,
both within the MPI series and to the rest of the world.
These of course are the two ways of describing the Ring:
its fictional meaning for Thomas Magnum and his friends within
the world of the show, and its real-life meaning(s) throughout
history out here in the land of nonfiction.
In Magnum's World:
The ring stands for the bond Thomas and the other five
members of one of his combat teams shared in Vietnam. He, Dan
Cooke, T. C., Rick and the two French Paratroops Felipe
Trusseau and Pepe were together as a combat team during the
final of Magnum's three tours in Vietnam. They got together and
had the rings made as a symbol of their espirit de corps. Later
when Thomas married Michelle he gave her a necklace and pendant
with the same French Croix symbol on it.
Why the men chose that particular symbol over anything else
is never revealed in the TV series. But there are logical
explanations. It is a French symbol (with a long real life
history) of liberty and resistance to opression. Two of The
Team's members were actually Frenchmen who had been fighting all
their lives against communist incursions into a land they regarded
as their colony. Thomas was pursuing a French woman at the time.
T. C. grew up in the heavily French influenced city of New
Orleans and part of his extended family is Cajun. And a ring
very much like the Team Ring is used as a prop in Rick's favorite
movie _Casablanca_. Dan Cooke appeared only in the first episode
of the TV series and we aren't given enough information about him
to speculate why he might have felt a significance of his own in
the ring design The Team chose. At any rate, it can be seen how
most of The Team's members might have felt attracted to that
particular design to symbolize their unique group character and
their bond.
In Our World:
This type of cross, with the second cross bar and the
"clover-like" enhancements on all ends, is known in theology as
a Patriarchal Cross. There are a few existing Christian followings
of the Orthodox type which draw their crosses just like or very
much like this one. A few that I have encountered before are the
Russian Orthodox, Romanian Orthodox, and Greek Orthodox churches.
Other than its traditional religious usage, this type of
cross as seen on Magnum's ring was part of the crest for one of
the larger and more powerful families in the French aristocracy,
the House of Lorraine, before the French Revolution. During the
revolution it became a symbol of underground resistance activity
and campaigns to smuggle aristocrats out of the country. In time
it became known as the Lorraine Cross.
In the 20th century, during World War I several American
Army infantry regiments which saw combat in the Alsace-Lorraine
region of France adopted the Lorraine Cross into their regimental
crests to show their having taken part in that theatre of the
war. During World War II the cross was once again used as an
underground symbol of solidarity among free French and other
people who struggled against the Nazi occupation of France and
its immediate surroundings. This particular usage of the Lorraine
Cross was fictionalized (pretty accurately) in the Humphrey
Bogart film _Casablanca_. The film is an old favorite of
Magnum, P.I. creator Donald P. Bellisario who adopted the ring
and cross idea from the film into the storyworld of the premiere
episode of his TV series.
The idea in MPI of how that cross/ring was used, while
plausible (French and American soldiers resisting an occupying
force, this time in Indochina rather than France), nevertheless
is entirely fictional. People sometimes have asked me (noticing
the Team Ring that I wear) about the supposed ties the symbol has
to the Navy's SEAL Teams (Magnum was SEAL qualified) or the U.S.
Marine Corps (T. C. and Rick are former Marines). But all that
was just made up for the show. Further, to my knowledge, neither
this type of ring design nor the Lorraine Cross were or are used
for any unit's insignia in the U.S. Navy or Marine Corps.
Here are some books I've used over the years to gather info...
For background into the cross:
_Christian Symbols_ by H. Child, (1971), pp. 18, 41.
_Handbook of Symbols in Christian Art_ by G. Sill, (1975), p. 31.
For background into use of the cross by the U.S. Army:
_American Badges and Insignia_ by E. E. Kerrigan, (1967), pp. 163,
195.
_Infantry Regiments of the U.S. Army_ by J. A. Sawicki, (1981),
pp. 515-16.
Additionally, I recommend viewing the outstanding film _Casablanca_.
And the MPI episode that focuses on the Team Ring the most for
background, storyline, etc. is the series premiere "Don't Eat the
Snow in Hawaii" which is available for sale from MCA Home Video.
Also, I have information on three different sources/ways fans have
obtained actual replicas of the MPI Ring in the past. This I will
copy and mail to you at no charge. All I need is your conventional
mailing address (street, city, state, etc.). As is the case with all
services provided by Magnum Memorabilia: there is no fee.
Best,
David Romas
Magnum Memorabilia
(MPI's nonprofit foundation for collecting,
production, scholarship, and fan services)
Robert P. Morrone
Jim Defoyd <Purple...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:7erspl$5pn$1...@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net...