Two Television Dog Classics

by Guy Belleranti

Coming to television in 1954 were two programs where the main hero was a dog.
One was The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, and the other was Lassie.

Besides being about an extra special dog the two programs also shared other traits: Both shows were 30 minutes long. Both were family programs in which a boy was the dog’s best friend and vice versa. Both animal characters had appeared in movies far before the TV programs began.

Now for a little more detail on each program:

The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
This series ran until 1959. All episodes were black and white.

Rin Tin Tin, or Rinty (as he was called by his child friend Rusty) was a German Shepherd. The series was set in a fort in the old west.

Rusty was a freckle-faced orphan who had survived a massacre. He had the honorary title “Corporal Rusty”. The program consisted of action packed stories with Rin Tin Tin always saving the day and receiving big hugs from Rusty.

Lee Aaker played Rusty. James Brown (not the rock and roller) was Lieutenant “Ripley “Rip” Masters and Joe Sawyer provided some comedy as Sergeant Aloysius “Biff” O’Hara.

The character of Rin Tin Tin goes back all the way to the silent era of movies beginning with The Man From Hell’s River (1922).

Lassie
Lassie ran in various forms until 1974 with nearly 600 episodes being produced.

The two versions I remember are those which ran from 1954 to 1964. Lassie had two boy owners during this period – Jeff Miller and his family from 1954 to 1957 and Timmy Martin and his family from late 1957 to 1964. Both families lived on farms.

Jeff was played by Tommy Rettig. Other important characters during the Lassie/Jeff years were Jeff’s mother, Ellen (played by Jan Clayton) and Gramps (played by George Cleveland).

Then in 1957 in a special transition episode Lassie was passed from the Miller family to the Martins. Jon Provost played Timmy Martin. Cloris Leachman was his mother, Ruth, during 1957, then June Lockhart took over as Ruth for the duration of the Lassie/Timmy years. The father Paul Martin, meanwhile, saw a similar changeover with Jon Shepodd playing the part in 1957 and Hugh Reilly playing it thereafter.

Lassie was actually played by a number of dogs over these years, all of them male though the character Lassie was supposed to be female. In any case, Lassie helped first Jeff, and then Timmy, out of many a scrape with super canine thinking.

After 1964 Lassie had an adult master in Ranger Corey (played by Robert Bray), and still later, until the series ended, Lassie was out on her own. The first two forms were later syndicated. The Jeff Miller years were called Jeff’s Collie, and the Timmy Martin years are known as Timmy and Lassie.

One aspect of the program that still sticks in my head is the theme music. Titled “Whistle”, it was memorable and I really liked it.

No discussion of Lassie would be complete without a mention of the character’s beginning. Like Rin Tin Tin, Lassie also became well known in film before television. And the first film, Lassie Come Home (1943), was adapted from a novel of the same name by Eric Knight. Other Lassie movies were also made before the TV series. And newer Lassie movies and a couple of short-lived TV series have been made since.

Indeed, there is always a market for boy and dog stories, and Rin Tin Tin and Lassie have been two of the best.

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