Lassie
| Lassie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First appearance | Lassie Come-Home |
| Created by | Eric Knight |
| Portrayed by | Pal |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Dog (Rough Collie) |
| Gender | Female |
Lassie is a fictional female Rough Collie dog and is featured in a 1938 short story by Eric Knight that was later expanded to a 1940 full-length novel, Lassie Come-Home. Knight's portrayal of Lassie bears some features in common with another fictional female collie of the same name, featured in the British writer Elizabeth Gaskell's 1859 short story "The Half Brothers". In "The Half Brothers", Lassie is loved only by her young master and guides the adults back to where two boys are lost in a snowstorm.[1]
Knight's novel was filmed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1943 as Lassie Come Home, with a dog named Pal playing Lassie. Pal then appeared with the stage name "Lassie" in six other MGM feature films through 1951. Pal's owner and trainer, Rudd Weatherwax, then acquired the Lassie name and trademark from MGM and appeared with Pal (as "Lassie") at rodeos, fairs, and similar events across America in the early 1950s. In 1954, the television series Lassie debuted and, over the next 19 years, a succession of Pal's descendants appeared on the series. The "Lassie" character has appeared in radio, television, film, toys, comic books, animated series, juvenile novels, and other media. Pal's descendants continue to play Lassie today.[2]
History
[edit]Elizabeth Gaskell short story
[edit]An early depiction of Lassie is found in British writer Elizabeth Gaskell's 1859 short story "The Half-brothers". In the story, Lassie is described as a female collie with "intelligent, apprehensive eyes" who rescues two half-brothers who are lost and dying in the snow. When the younger brother can no longer carry on, elder brother Gregory, Lassie's master, ties a handkerchief around Lassie's neck and sends her home. Lassie arrives home, and leads the search party to the boys. When they arrive Gregory is dead, but his younger half-brother is saved. Thus, Gaskell apparently originated the character Lassie and, at the same time, defined the "Lassie saves the day" storyline that is the essence of subsequent Lassie tales.
World War I incident
[edit]According to writer Nigel Clarke in the "Shipwreck Guide to Dorset and South Devon", the original Lassie that inspired so many films and television episodes was a rough-haired crossbreed who saved the life of a sailor during World War I.
Half collie, Lassie was owned by the landlord of the Pilot Boat, a pub in the port of Lyme Regis. On New Year's Day in 1915 the Royal Navy battleship Formidable was torpedoed by a German submarine off Start Point in South Devon, with the loss of more than 500 men. In a storm that followed the accident, a life raft containing bodies was blown along the coast to Lyme Regis. In helping to deal with the crisis, the local pub in Lyme Regis, called the Pilot Boat, offered its cellar as a mortuary.
When the bodies had been laid out on the stone floor, Lassie, a crossbred collie owned by the pub owner, found her way down amongst the bodies, and she began to lick the face of one of the victims, Able Seaman John Cowan. She stayed beside him for more than half an hour, nuzzling him and keeping him warm with her fur. To everyone's astonishment, Cowan eventually stirred. He was taken to hospital and went on to make a full recovery. He visited Lassie again when he returned to thank all who saved his life.
When the officers heard the story of Lassie and what she did to rescue Cowan, they told it again and again to any reporter who would listen as it was inspirational and heart-warming. Hollywood got hold of the story, and so a star was born.
Eric Knight short story and novel
[edit]The fictional character of Lassie was created by English author Eric Knight in Lassie Come-Home, first published as a short story in The Saturday Evening Post in 1938 and later as a full-length novel in 1940. Set in the Depression-era England, the novel depicts the lengthy journey a rough collie makes to be reunited with her young Yorkshire master after her family is forced to sell her for money.
Movies and television
[edit]In 1943, the novel was adapted into a feature film, Lassie Come Home, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) that starred Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor. The movie was a hit and enjoyed favorable critical response.[3] MGM followed this with several additional films, including a sequel entitled Son of Lassie (1945), starring Peter Lawford and June Lockhart, and Courage of Lassie with Elizabeth Taylor. A radio series, Lassie Radio Show, was also created, airing until 1949.
Between 1954–1973, the television series Lassie was broadcast, with Lassie initially residing on a farm with a young male master. In the eleventh season, it changed to U.S. Forest Service rangers as her companions, then the collie was on her own for a season before ending the series with Lassie residing at a ranch for orphaned children. The series was the recipient of two Emmy Awards before it was canceled in 1973. Lassie won several PATSY Awards (an award for animal actors).[4] A second series followed in the 1980s. In 1997, Canadian production company Cinar Inc. produced a new Lassie television series for the Animal Planet network in the U.S. and YTV in Canada. It ran until 1999.
In 2005, a remake of the original Lassie Come Home movie was produced in the United Kingdom. Starring Peter O'Toole and Samantha Morton, Lassie was released in 2006.[5]
Additionally, two animated TV series featuring the canine were produced. The first was Lassie's Rescue Rangers, created by Filmation Associates, which aired on ABC from 1973 to 1975.[6] Nearly four decades later, a new animated series titled The New Adventures of Lassie was co-produced by Superprod and Classic Media, in which Lassie was owned by the Parker family and lived in a national park. The series was primarily a traditionally animated (2D hand-drawn animated) TV series, though it also used some CGI animation. It was first seen in the United States starting in 2020 via the CBS All Access streaming service, then carried over to successor service Paramount+.
Lassie continues to make personal and TV show appearances as well as marketing a line of pet food and a current pet care TV show, Lassie's Pet Vet on PBS stations in the United States. Lassie is one of only four animals (and one of very few fictional characters, such as Mickey Mouse, Kermit the Frog, and Bugs Bunny) to be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—the others being silent-film stars Rin Tin Tin, Uggie and Strongheart. In 2005, the show business journal Variety named Lassie one of the "100 Icons of the Century"—the only animal star on the list.[7]
Media
[edit]Art
[edit]Lassie is featured in Our Nation's 200th Birthday, The Telephone's 100th Birthday (1976) by Stanley Meltzoff for Bell System.[8]
Films
[edit]List of films
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 | Lassie Come Home | Lassie | Principal role played by Pal |
| 1945 | Son of Lassie | ||
| 1946 | Courage of Lassie | Bill (as credited; also called "Duke") | |
| 1948 | Hills of Home | Lassie | |
| 1949 | The Sun Comes Up | ||
| 1949 | Challenge to Lassie | ||
| 1951 | The Painted Hills | Shep | |
| 1963 | Lassie's Great Adventure (TV film) | Lassie | Principal role; compilation of television episodes |
| 1978 | The Magic of Lassie | Principal role played by Boy | |
| 1994 | Lassie | Principal role played by Howard | |
| 2005 | Lassie | Principal role played by Mason
Action scenes played by DR Dakota | |
| 2020 | Lassie Come Home[9] | Principal role played by Lukas |
Box office performance
[edit]| Title | Year | Worldwide Gross | Rotten Tomatoes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lassie Come Home | 1943 | $4,517,000 | 94% |
| Son of Lassie | 1945 | TBA | TBA |
| Courage of Lassie | 1946 | $4,100,000 | |
| Hills of Home | 1948 | $2,312,000 | |
| The Sun Comes Up | 1949 | $2,044,000 | |
| Challenge to Lassie | 1949 | $1,155,000 | |
| The Magic of Lassie | 1978 | TBA | |
| Lassie (1994) | 1994 | $9,979,683 | 87% |
| Lassie (2005) | 2005 | $6,442,854 | 93% |
| Lassie Come Home (2020) | 2020 | $3,683,655 | N/A |
| Total gross/average rating | $34,234,192 | 91.3% |
Radio
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1947–1948 | Lassie Show | Lassie | Principal role; ABC series |
| 1948–1950 | Lassie Show | Lassie | Principal role; NBC series |
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954–1973 | Lassie | Lassie | Principal role |
| 1968 | The Adventures of Neeka | Principal role; compilation of television episodes | |
| 1970 | Peace is Our Profession | Principal role; compilation of TV episodes | |
| 1970 | Well of Love | Principal role; compilation of TV episodes | |
| 1972 | Sound of Joy | Principal role; compilation of TV episodes | |
| 1972 | Lassie and the Spirit of Thunder Mountain | Principal role | |
| 1972 | Lassie's Rescue Rangers | Principal role | |
| 1980 | Taxi | Guest appearance (1 episode) | |
| 1989–1991 | The New Lassie | Principal role | |
| 1995 | Space Ghost Coast to Coast | Guest appearance (1 episode) | |
| 1996 | Famous Dog Lassie | Principal role | |
| 1997–1999 | Lassie | Principal role | |
| 2001 | Whose Line Is It Anyway? | Cameo appearance | |
| 2007 | Lassie's Pet Vet | Principal role | |
| 2014–2019 | The New Adventures of Lassie | Principal role |
Video games
[edit]| Game | Title | Console | Year | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Lassie | PlayStation 2 | 2005 | [10] |
Books
[edit]- Lassie Come-Home
- Lassie: The Prize
- Forest Ranger Handbook
- Lassie: A Boy's Best Friend & Buried Treasure
- Lassie: Party Nightmare & Water Watchdog
- Lassie: Skateboard Stunt & Danger Zone
Seafarer Books
[edit]- Lassie and the Lost Little Sheep
- Lassie's Forest Adventure
Whitman Cozy-Corner
[edit]- Lassie: Rescue in the Storm
Whitman Novels
[edit]- Lassie and the Mystery of Blackberry Bog
- Lassie and the Secret of the Summer
- Lassie: Forbidden Valley
- Lassie: Treasure Hunter by Charles S. Strong
- 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
[edit]- Lassie: Adventure in Alaska
- Lassie and the Shabby Sheik
- Lassie: Old One Eye
Golden Books
[edit]- 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
[edit]- 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
[edit]- Lassie: The Sandbar Rescue
Wonder Books
[edit]- Lassie's Long Trip
Marian Bray
[edit]- 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
[edit]- The Puppy Problem
- Digging Up Danger
- The Big Blowup
- Water Watchdog
- Skateboard Dare
- Dangerous Party
See also
[edit]- Rough Collie
- Bessy, a Belgian comic strip inspired by the success of "Lassie" and which also featured a collie.
- John English
- Rin Tin Tin
- List of fictional dogs
- List of individual dogs
References
[edit]- ^ Gaskell, Elizabeth (1889). "The Half Brothers". Lizzie Leigh and Other Tales. London: Smith, Elder & Co.: 482–492.
- ^ "Lassie: The Perfect Dog Sets High Bar for Real Pups". NPR. 7 January 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
- ^ "Lassie Come Home". Variety. Reed Elsevier Inc. January 1, 1943. Archived from the original on 12 October 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
- ^ Harris, Norene (September–October 1973). "1973 PATSY Awards" (PDF). Animal Cavalcade. pp. 24–25. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
- ^ Potempa, Philip (August 11, 2006). "Latest Lassie busy promoting new film". Northwest Indiana Times. TownNews.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
- ^ "Lassie's Rescue Rangers (TV Series 1973–1975) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
- ^ "100 Icons of the Century: Lassie". Variety. Reed Elsevier Inc. October 16, 2005. Archived from the original on 4 January 2006. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
- ^ "Stanley Meltzoff Archives: The 1976 Bell System Telephone Book Cover" JKL Museum of Telephony (December 19, 2015); retrieved March 16, 2021
- ^ "Lassie Come Home - Film Review". www.weekendnotes.com.
- ^ "Lassie (PS2): Amazon.co.uk: PC & Video Games". www.amazon.co.uk.
External links
[edit]- Official website
- Lassieweb.org, a comprehensive site about every facet of Lassie lore
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| National | |
