Lassie

Lassie filming on location in Florida
(photo courtesy State Archive of Florida)

Lassie, a female rough collie, is a fictional character that has starred in, or been the subject of, many radio shows, movies, TV shows, and books, entertaining generations of children around the world from 1938 to the present.

History

The character of Lassie was created by British-American author Eric Knight in the short story "Lassie Come Home" published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1938 and as the novel Lassie Come Home in 1940.

In Knight's story set in Depression-era England, a young Yorkshire boy owns an exceptionally beautiful and loyal collie (described as a Mahogany / Sable in color), but when the family faces severe economic hardship, the dog is sold to a wealthy nobleman. Both boy and dog grieve over the separation, made worse when the new owner transports Lassie hundreds of miles away to his estate in Scotland. However, the collie's instinct and courage cause her to escape, and the book follows Lassie's desperate efforts to return to the boy she loves.

In 1943, the book was made into what would become the first Lassie movie, Lassie Come Home, which generally followed the plot of the book, and which starred Roddy McDowall along with Elizabeth Taylor. In 1945, Son of Lassie premiered, starring Peter Lawford and June Lockhart. The next year, 1946, Courage of Lassie premiered (with Elizabeth Taylor, from the first film), and the "Lassie Radio Show" began (aired until 1949).

From 1954-1974 Lassie had her own self-titled television series, Lassie. Eventually, other series followed in the 80s and 90s from different production companies. Each series had with varied casts, with some tying back to the original series and others being new concepts. Together, though, all included the basic theme of Lassie being a highly intelligent collie that frequently had to help her owners get out of trouble, making the Lassie concept one of the longest running of any collective series.

Roddy McDowall and Lassie in Lassie Come Home (1943 movie).

Lassie is one of only three animals (and one of very few fictional characters, such as Mickey Mouse) to be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – the others being silent-film stars Rin Tin Tin and Strongheart. In 2005, the show business journal Variety named Lassie one of the "100 Icons of all time" – the only animal star on the list.

The dog behind the character

The first dog to play the 1943 movie role of Lassie was Pal, originally from Glamis Collies of California. The original owner could not train the dog and hired Studio Dog Training School to do the job. When the owner couldn't pay the bill, Pal became owned by animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax and his brother Frank Weatherwax. All of the dogs that played Lassie were owned and trained by Rudd Weatherwax until his death, and then by his son Robert Weatherwax after Rudd's death.

Pal was bred with a number of female dogs to ensure the Lassie look could be continued. Nine direct line descendants of Pal have since performed as Lassie. Any offspring not chosen to be the next Lassie were adopted with spay/neuter contracts. The Lassie looks of Sable coat with a white blaze, large white collar, and four white paws is legally trademarked. The Collies are also intentionally bred oversized so that the males selected can work longer with child stars.

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Tommy Rettig with Lassie (1955 TV show)

All nine Lassies have been male, playing a female character. The female collie loses her coat at least once a year making it unsuitable for use year round. Also, the male is larger and a child actor can play opposite the dog for a longer period of time.

Controversy

In 1997, a Canadian company, Cinar Films [1], produced the Lassie television show, with the 8th generation of line dogs("Howard") starring in the title show for the first 26 episodes. It was the first time in the history of Lassie that a direct descendant of the orginal collie was used on screen. Fans of Lassie, driven by http://www.lassie.net's "Help Save Lassie" campaign, protested the change. The successful campaign, waged against Golden Books (trademark holder), Cinar Films (producer) and Animal Planet (station that aired the show), called for the restoration of a line dog. A new contract was negotiated between Robert Weatherwax and Cinar to restore a line dog for the show. [2] Even though the contract was with Weatherwax Trained Dogs, Mr. Weatherwax did not go back to Canada to complete the series. For the last 13 episodes, shot in 1998, Howard's son "Hey Hey II", was sent to be used in the title role with Riggins as his owner and trainer.[3]. Carol Riggins had previously been credited as assistant trainer on Lassie ventures, beginning with "The New Lassie" television show in the late 1980's. The credits of the show name Weatherwax Trained Dogs as the supplier of the dog, Carol Riggins as owner and trainer, and Robert Weatherwax as script consultant. [3]

Contrary to some reports, Carol Riggins was never actually employed by Weatherwax Trained Dogs, except as a bookkeeper.[4] Although selected by Weatherwax Trained Dogs, assistant trainers were actually paid by the producers of TV shows and movies, or by the trademark holder for personal appearances. Carol's association with Lassie began when she was the trainer of a cougar for one of the Lassie episodes with Rudd Weatherwax. Through that meeting Carol began doing the books for Rudd, as well as many other trainers, to supplement her income. While working at Rudd's, he would ask for her help when working with Lassie at his home, but it was not until the 2nd year of "The New Lassie" that Carol began working as an assistant traner with Rudd's son, Robert Weatherwax. (The first year of "The New Lassie" series, the assistant trainer was Rudd's grandson, Robert Weatherwax Jr.) [5]

In 2000, Classic Media, who held the Lassie trademark, exercised a buyout option of the original contract written by Rudd and Frank Weatherwax and purchased the trademark from the 8 remaining heirs of Rudd and Frank Weatherwax. Robert Weatherwax continued to supply a dog to play the role of Lassie until 2003 when his separate contract ended. [6] This contract ended shortly after an appearance at the Rose Parade on the Pasadena Humane Society float, which had been arranged by www.lassie.net, and a television appearance celebrating the 50th Anniversary of CBS. [7] Also in 2003, Classic Media and Robert Weatherwax disagreed on the Lassie image during the filming of the GE Security Systems commercial, where a parody of Lassie became a CGI "kung fu" fighter. [8][9]

Neither Weatherwax or Classic Media pursued a renewal of their contract. [10], [11] With the end of the contract, the use of the Lassie name for the Weatherwax collies ended. As such, the Weatherwax family are legally prohibited from calling any of their collies "Lassie," despite their being Pal descendants. [12]

In the years leading up to the end of that contract a succession of non-line dogs were required to do appearances and film work when Mr. Weatherwax was not available, and these non-line dogs continued to represent Lassie after the contract ended. These include the Macy's Petacular, the Verizon Yellow Pages commercial, the 100th Anniversary of the Forest Service and several guest appearances on various television shows. [13], [14] The dogs used for these appearances were usually supplied by Birds and Animals [15], who holds a contract with Universal Studios [16] to supply the collie dogs that play Lassie in their "Animal Actors" show[17] in their theme parks around the world. In 2004 a remake of "Lassie Come Home" was shot in the UK in the original settings of the Scotland and Ireland by director Charles Sturridge.[18] No line dog was under contract at the time, and although it was reported that Robert Weatherwax was willing to have his dog to undergo quarantine to do the movie,[19] by the time those offers were made the shooting dates, stars, crew and locations were already set and there was no way to delay the filming. There was not a line dog anywhere that could gain entry into the UK to shoot the film. Three non-line dogs were used in the filming of "Lassie" and were supplied by Birds and Animals and had secured proper entry into the required countries months before filming.[20].

In 2005, Classic Media entered into a contract with Carol Riggins to provide line dogs to continue the role of "Lassie". HeyHey, Carol's 9th generation direct desecendant who played Lassie in the last 13 episodes of the Cinar series under the Weatherwax Trained Dogs banner, took on the role of "Lassie" and continues today as the "official" Lassie. [21]

After a 4 year absence, in 2007 Robert Weatherwax began doing personal appearances again with his 9th generation dog, Laddie (who once played Lassie), but without the family ownership of the trademark, or a separate contract with Classic Media to provide dogs to portray Lassie, his dogs cannot be called "Lassie". He now appears billed as "Bob Weatherwax and Laddie, son of Lassie" [22]

Robert Weatherwax now contends that he is still the exclusive legal owner of the Lassie dogs and the Pal bloodline [23], although 3 generations of collies bred by Mr. Weatherwax and his daughter have produced a large number of puppies that were placed outside the family, some with contracts, others with no contract at all. Some have long resumes working in TV, film and print ads, such as LuLu the Collie [24], and Rusty, the official mascot for the Red Cross in New Jersey [25] and several others without contracts have bred litters of puppies in states throughout the US.

Films

• Lassie Come Home (1943) Pal plays title character
• Son of Lassie (1945 - Pal plays title character, while a different dog appears as Lassie)
• Courage of Lassie (1946 - stars Elizabeth Taylor, who also appeared in first film; despite title, features Pal as "Bill").
• Hills of Home (1948 - a.k.a. "Master of Lassie" - Pal actually plays "Lass.")
• Challenge to Lassie (1949 - retells Greyfriar's Bobby story.)
• The Sun Comes Up (1949)
• The Painted Hills (1951 - Pal actually plays "Shep.")
• Big Jake (1971 plays Dog - uncredited)
• The Magic of Lassie (1978)
• Lassie (1994)
• Meiken Lassie (1996) - an animal television series which was produced in Japan
• Lassie (2005)

Books

• Lassie Come-Home
• Lassie
• Lassie - A Dog's Life: The First 50 Years
• The Lassie Method
• Magic of Lassie
• Painted Hills
• The Story of Lassie
• Lassie: A Christmas Story
• Challenge to Lassie
• The Sun Comes Up
• Lassie: The Prize (England/Australia only?)
• Forest Ranger Handbook
• Lassie: A Boy's Best Friend & Buried Treasure (England/Australia only?)
• Lassie: Party Nightmare & Water Watchdog (England/Australia only?)
• Lassie: Skateboard Stunt & Danger Zone (England/Asutralia only?)

Seafarer Books

• Lassie and the Lost Little Sheep
• Lassie's Forest Adventure

Whitman Cozy-Corner

• Lassie: Rescue in the Storm

Whitman Novels

• Lassie and the Mystery of Blackberry Bog
• Lassie and the Secret of the Summer
• Lassie: Forbidden Valley
• Lassie: Treasure Hunter
• Lassie: the Wild Mountain Trail
• Lassie and the Mystery of Bristlecone Pine
• Lassie and the Secret of the Smelter's Cave
• Lassie: Lost in the Snow
• Lassie: Trouble at Panter's Lake

Big Little Books

• Lasie: Adventure in Alaska
• Lassie and the Shabby Shiek
• Lassie: Old One Eye

Golden Books

• The Adventures of Lassie
• Lassie and Her Day in the Sun
• Lassie and Her Friends
• Lassie and the Big Clean-Up Day
• Lassie and the Daring Rescue
• Lassie and the Lost Explorer
• Lassie Shows the Way
• Lassie: The Great Escape

Tell-a-Tale Books

• Hooray for Lassie!
• Lassie and the Cub Scout
• Lassie and the Deer Mystery
• Lassie and the Firefighters
• Lassie and the Kittens
• Lassie Finds a Friend
• Lassie's Brave Adventure
• Lassie: The Busy Morning

Tip-Top Books

• Lassie: The Sandbar Rescue

Wonder Books

• Lassie's Long Trip

Marian Bray

• Lassie to the Rescue
• Lassie: Hayloft Hideout
• Lassie Under the Big Top
• Lassie: Treasure at Eagle Mountain
• Lassie: Danger at Echo Cliffs

The New Lassie

• The Puppy Problem
• Digging Up Danger
• The Big Blowup
• Water Watchdog
• Skateboard Dare
• Dangerous Party

Other

• Captain Loxley's Little Dog And Lassie The Life-saving Collie: Hero Dogs of the First World War Associated With The Sinking of H.M.S. Formidable Diggory Press ISBN 978-1905363131

Radio shows

• Lassie Show (1947-1950) – on the ABC radio network in 1947; NBC radio network in 1948-1950. Lassie would bark on cue.

TV shows

• Lassie (1954-1974) – produced in the U.S. on the CBS television network, first starring Tommy Rettig, later Jon Provost, and finally Robert Bray
• In the 1970s, Lassie appeared in a cartoon series by Filmation, Lassie's Rescue Rangers
• The New Lassie (1989-1991) – produced in the U.S. in first-run syndication, set in Glenridge, California. Will Nipper, later known as Will Estes, played Lassie's boy.
• Lassie (1997 TV series) (1997-1999) – produced by Cinar of Canada for the Animal Planet network, starring Corey Sevier as "Timmy Cabot" and set in mythical Hudson Falls, Vermont, although the show was actually filmed in Quebec
• Whose Line Is It Anyway? – As a guest appearance with Wayne Brady and Brad Sherwood during the skit "Duet", where Wayne and Brad sang a country song to Lassie.
• Meiken Lassie (Famous Dog Lassie) – produced in Japan by Nippon Animation from January 14, 1996 to August 18, 1996. This' the anime retelling of the black and white citcom/drama; Lassie.

See also

Lassie inspired a number of similar "heroic dog" characters, including:

• The Littlest Hobo
• Here's Boomer
• Benji

External links

• The Lassie Network
• Classic Media's Lassie Site
• Weatherwax Dogs and the Movies
• Robert Weatherwax
• Photographs of Lassie on location from the State Library & Archives of Florida
• Podcast about America's history with dog performers
• Weatherwax Trained Dogs