From The Scoop: Lassie
From the January 12 issue of Gemstone Publishing's The Scoop:
An improbable superhero, Lassie, the brown and white collie with the communicative whimper and authoritative bark showed fearless love and devotion to mankind, as well as to the animal kingdom. Through her exemplary heroism, courage and loyalty, Lassie became the one of the first ever animal rights advocates, elevating people's perceptions of dogs as mere pets to invaluable members of the family.
Lassie challenged the meaning of the term "man's best friend." As a tireless devotee to young male owners like Jeff and Timmy on the television series, Lassie was more accurately "child's best friend." The mid-20th century approach to educating children often included animals-stuffed, animated or live-and for nearly three decades, Lassie was a major proponent of that education.
Though many only associate the compassionate canine with TV, Lassie first appeared in print as the protagonist in novelist Eric Knight's short story, Lassie Come Home. The 1938 story, which first appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, became a novel, which further explored the premise of a boy's devotion to his dog--and vice versa.
Following the success of the book, Hollywood took interest in the courageous collie and made Lassie Come Home a 1943 feature film, starring Roddy McDowell and Elizabeth Taylor.
Lassie became an icon after "her" (and we use quotes because television's Lassie was played by more than a half dozen dogs, and none were female) CBS debut on September 12, 1954. Her first family was the Millers-Jeff (played by Tommy Rettig), Ellen (Jan Clayton), and Grandpa (George Cleveland). Eventually, the Millers adopted an adorable boy--much cuter than the pre-adolescent Jeff--named Timmy (Jon Provost).
Eventually the Millers sold their farm--with Timmy in it--to the Martins. Ruth (played both by Cloris Leachman and June Lockheart) and Paul (John Shepodd/Hugh Reilly) took Timmy and Lassie under their wings. Then, the Martins moved to Australia and left their dedicated "girl" with forest rangers Corey Stuart (Robert Bray), Scott Turner (Jed Allan) and Bob Erickson (Jack De Mave). The final season of the series found Lassie aimlessly roaming the world, seeking out victims and friends in need of help and love.
At 17 seasons, Lassie was the longest running half-hour drama in television history. Though the last episode aired in 1971, Lassie's influence didn't end there. Throughout the years of her film and television career, she inspired thousands--if not millions--of Americans to purchase collies as pets. She also spawned a cartoon series, Lassie's Rescue Rangers, which ran from 1973-'75; three decades of comic books; Jeff's Collie Club; a forest ranger handbook (authored by "Corey Stuart and Lassie") and a host of buttons, badges and fan cards, all of which can be purchased and traded at auctions and collectibles shows today.
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