Pete the Pup
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- Pete the Pup directs here, for the Don Marquis character, see Pete the Pup (archy and mehitabel)
Pete the Pup was a famous dog character in Hal Roach's Our Gang comedies (later known as The Little Rascals) during the 1920s and 1930s. Otherwise known as "Pete, the Dog With the Ring Around His Eye", or simply "Petey", he was famous for having a circled eye that was added on by Hollywood make-up artist Max Factor[citation needed] and credited as an oddity in Ripley's Believe It or Not. The original Pete (sired by Earl Tudor's "Black Jack") named "Pal the Wonder Dog" had a natural ring almost completely around his eye; dye was used to finish it off.
When he was about six months old, Pal the Wonder Dog made a cameo appearance in the Harold Lloyd film The Freshman, in 1925.[1]
Pal first started out as "Tige" in the Buster Brown series in the 1920s, It was during this time that he obtained the circled eye, and when he was recruited to appear in the Our Gang comedies later that year, Hal Roach simply left it on, creating one of the most recognized dogs in film history.
Trainer and owner Lt. Harry Lucenay used one of Pal's offspring as Pete in the series after Pal died. This dog, named "Lucenay's Peter", was registered as an AKC American Staffordshire Terrier.[2] Lucenay's Peter was whelped (born) September 6, 1929, and bred by A. A. Keller. A few other dogs played Petey, but Lucenay's Peter was the most famous. After being fired from the Our Gang series in 1932, Harry Lucenay retired Peter to Atlantic City, where he was photographed with children at the famed Steel Pier. Roach used a number of unrelated Pit Bulls to portray Pete in Our Gang until 1938.[2]
Pete became as recognizable and popular as the kids in the gang. Pal the Wonder Dog appeared in Our Gang comedies until he died in 1930. Lucenay's Peter continued on and died of natural causes in 1946, two years after the Our Gang series ended.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Commentary by Leonard Maltin, Richard Correll, and Richard W. Bann, from The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection Giftset, Volume 2 - disc one
- ^ a b Maltin, Leonard and Bann, Richard W. (1977, rev. 1992). The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang, p. 281-283. New York: Crown Publishing/Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-517-58325-9
- ^ Pete the Pup
