 |
| Rin Tin Tin in 1929 |
On Yahoo! Answers, someone posed the question of "Who is your favorite TV dog?" Many folks of the younger generation stated dogs like Lassie, Snoopy, Buck from Married with Children, and Brian Griffin from The Family Guy. However, those of us from the more antiqued generation said, Rin Tin Tin.
 |
| Pal as Lassie in 1942 |
Since my earily childhood, Rin Tin Tin has always been my favorite dog in films and on TV. Lassie takes second place with Lad coming in third. Yet, it is little known among children of today, but Rin Tin Tin (1918-1923) , a German Shepard, was more than one dog. The original
Rin Tin Tin was found in France by Lee Duncan , an US Air Corporal, and his first film was the 1923 silent film "Where The North Begins". By the time me and my siblings got to see the Rin Tin Tin films and TV series in the 50s and 60s, they were already in rerun. Being young ourselves back then, we never noticed that the dogs in some of the films and the TV series were Rin Tin Tin off-springs.
 |
| The Real Lad in the 1900s |
So today, I got a little curious about what the original Rin Tin Tin looked like, and I found the following clip of him in his first film, "Where The North Begins". He was a handsome dog. In addition, Corporal Duncan wrote the script
for the film.
It should be noted that the first Lassie was a male named Pal (1940 – 1958), and that his first film debut was in 1942 with Lassie Come Home. Lassie was based on a fictional Rough Collie in a short story written by Eric Knight.
The real Lad, another Rough Collie, was born in 1902, and he was featured in 12 short stories by owner Albert Payson Terhune before his heir of the same name made it to the big screen in the 1962 film, Lad, A Dog.
The Lassie Radio Show
Lad: A Dog - Albert Payson Terhune - Audio Short Story
Enjoy.
Widescreen Online Review - Mother Site