Who let the dogs out?

Over the years there have been many Dogs who have shared the spotlight both on the silver screen as well as television. To name a few, Toto from the Wizard of oz, Lassie, Old Yeller, Beethoven, Pete from The Little Rascals which shared both medias. Tv dogs include Eddie from Frasier, Zeus & Apollo from Magnum PI, Fang from Colombo and the list goes on. One of my of all time favorites "The adventures of Rin Tin Tin. This is a series of articles that will delve into the Animals stars over the decades Beginning with "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin".

A Children's program, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, first aired on ABC television in 1954 and ran until 1959. It was the story of a young boy, Rusty, played by Lee Aaker who was orphaned when the wagon train his parent was traveling in was attacked by Indians. Rusty survived the attack as did his dog. When found by the soldiers from a nearby Calvary post they took to raising the boy. During the series Rusty and his dog Rin Tin Tin helped to establish order in the Old West. What a show, every week a new adventure filled with drama, intrigue, danger and always a happy ending. Reruns of the show ran on CBS throughout the 70"s clear up into the mid-1980's.

It wasn't until years later that I was to learn that Rin Tin Tin actually begun his career back in 1922 when he first appeared in a silent film. Lets take a deeper look into the origin of this Famous K-9. To do this we must go back even further. During WWI an American serviceman Lee Duncan on tour in Lorraine France stumbled onto a bombed-out dog kennel where he found a shell-shocked pup. Duncan kept the pup and named it after a puppet called Rintintin. This was a name that the French children gave to American soldiers for good luck. It was less then 2 months and the war ended. Duncan returned to his home in Los Angles and took his new pup with him. Duncan nicknamed the dog Rinty and taught him many trick and Rinty learned to leap great heights. While performing in a dog show, Charles Jones saw him and became impressed, he was convinced that Rin Tin Tin was destined to be a star. He paid Duncan to film him. Playing a wolf in "The Man From Hell's Rive (1922). Throughout his career he would be cast as a wolf or wolf-hybrid many times even though he did not look like one. His big break came in 1923 when he was cast with silent screen start in Claire Adams in "Where the North Begins". This film was a success, some say that it saved Warner Brothers from filing bankruptcy but no matter Rin Tin Tin's career was launched. Appearing in such greats as "Shadows of the North (1923)", "Clash of the Wolves (1925)", "A Dog of the Regiment (1927)", and "Tiger Rose (1929)". Appearing mostly silen films he did however appear in four talkies including "The Lost Warrior (1931) staring Franki Darro.

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