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Jeff Miller (Lassie)
Encyclopedia
Jeff Miller is a fictional character in the long running television series Lassie
(1954–1973). Jeff is an eleven-year-old boy living on a weatherbeaten farm in the American midwest with his war-widowed mother, Ellen Miller
, and his paternal grandfather, George "Gramps" Miller
. The character was created by producer Robert Maxwell
and Lassie trainer Rudd Weatherwax
, and was portrayed by child actor
Tommy Rettig
. Jeff makes his first appearance in the series premiere, "The Inheritance" (1954), and his last appearance in the mid-fourth season episode, "Transition" (1957). The series won its only Emmy Award
s during the character's stint on the show.
's fictional rough collie
, Lassie
, made her film debut in MGM's Lassie Come Home
. Canine star Pal
, a male dog, appeared in the titular role. The success of the film generated six more MGM Lassie films, and, with the seventh feature, The Painted Hills
(1951), Lassie's MGM career came to an end. Pal's owner and trainer, Rudd Weatherwax
, took all rights to the Lassie name and trademark in lieu of back pay owed him by MGM and toured America with Pal in an 18-minute program starring "Lassie". Producer Robert Maxwell convinced Weatherwax that the dog's future lay in television. Together the men developed a scenario set on a weatherbeaten farm in Middle America about a struggling war widow, her son, her father-in-law, and their dog.
was cast as widowed, Ellen Miller
, and septuagenarian film veteran George Cleveland
cast as her father-in-law George Miller
, but the boy in the scenario eluded producers until Rudd Weatherwax's brother Frank (who was working on the Dr. Seuss
film, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.) apprised its young star, Tommy Rettig
of the Lassie television series being readied for production. Rettig later recalled,
Shortly after the show debuted, producers and writers decided Jeff needed a male companion his own age. Auditions were held with young actor Donald Keeler (Joey D. Vieira
) defeating hundreds of other applicants for the role of Jeff's pal, Sylvester "Porky" Brockway
. In conjunction with the role, writers created Porky's father, Matt Brockway, Porky's mother Birdie Brockway, and Porky's basset hound, Pokey (who appeared so frequently he was considered a regular by crew). Porky debuted in the show's first season episode, "The Lion" and saw his last appearance in the fourth season episode, "Timmy's Family" (1957). He was scripted into many episodes with Jeff, but, unknown to the show's audience, neither boy liked the other and feuded constantly off-screen.
, the episode was one of two pilots filmed for the show, the other being "The Well" which aired late in the first season.
"The Inheritance" brings Lassie and Jeff together when the boy receives the dog as a bequest from neighbor Homer Carey. Lassie however will have nothing to do with Jeff, breaking his heart time and again when she flees nightly from his bedside to sleep on the cold hearth in the dark and empty Carey house. There she remains hour after hour until Jeff solves a mystery involving a cache of hidden money and a hired hand with theft on his mind. The climax pitches Lassie against the thief in a tense battle.
In the episode's emotional last moments, Jeff has returned to the Miller farmhouse and waits anxiously on the doorstep with his mother and grandfather for Lassie to join him. Lassie remains at the end of the driveway, gazing down the road as if contemplating a return to her old home. Then she turns and bounds happily to Jeff. "She's mine now, isn't she, Gramps?" Jeff cries joyously to his grandfather. "Yes, she's all yours," Gramps replies, "She done her deciding."
, the star of the several MGM "Lassie" films of the 1940s, appeared in the two pilots, and his son, Lassie Junior (or, Junior) appeared thereafter. Lassie Junior was joined on the set by several other dogs: a stand-in for rehearsals, a stunt dog for long distance action shots, and a "fight" dog for battles with other animals.
Producer and show owner Jack Wrather
realized Rettig couldn't play a boy forever and developed a new storyline with seven-year-old Jon Provost
cast as Timmy, a foster child on the Miller farm. Timmy was teamed with Lassie for the sorts of adventures formerly assigned to Jeff. Rettig expected to be released any day but producers were happy with the status quo and made little effort to write Rettig out of the show.
A crisis was reached when series star George Cleveland
died suddenly on July 17, 1957. Producers and writers were forced to completely overhaul the show. An episode called "Transition" was quickly scripted with a simple but believable plot: Ellen Miller and Jeff decide to sell the farm to Paul
and Ruth Martin, a young couple new to the area. The two adopt Timmy. Jeff gives Lassie to Timmy, and then leaves for the city. Rettig was dropped and the character of Jeff was never seen on the show again. The Miller years of the show were almost immediately sold into world-wide syndication as Jeff's Collie.
.
Lassie (1954 TV series)
Lassie is an American television series that follows the adventures of a female Rough Collie named Lassie and her companions, human and animal. The show was the creation of producer Robert Maxwell and animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax and was televised from September 12, 1954, to March 24, 1973...
(1954–1973). Jeff is an eleven-year-old boy living on a weatherbeaten farm in the American midwest with his war-widowed mother, Ellen Miller
Ellen Miller (Lassie)
Ellen Miller is a fictional character in the long-running television series Lassie . Ellen is a war widow living on a weatherbeaten midwestern farm with her young son Jeff and her father-in-law George Miller. The character was created by producer Robert Maxwell and Lassie trainer Rudd Weatherwax,...
, and his paternal grandfather, George "Gramps" Miller
George Miller (Lassie)
George "Gramps" Miller is a fictional character in the long running television series, Lassie. The character is played by film and television veteran George Cleveland. The character makes his debut in the first episode of the series, "The Inheritance". Miller is the father-in-law of war widowed...
. The character was created by producer Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell (producer)
Robert Maxwell Joffe was an American radio and television producer, screenwriter, and entertainment executive...
and Lassie trainer Rudd Weatherwax
Rudd Weatherwax
Ruddell Bird "Rudd" Weatherwax was an American actor and animal trainer. He and his brother Frank Weatherwax are best remembered for training dogs for motion pictures and television. Frank's collie, Pal, became the original Lassie, handled by Rudd for the 1943 MGM film Lassie Come Home...
, and was portrayed by child actor
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
Tommy Rettig
Tommy Rettig
Thomas Noel "Tommy" Rettig was an American child actor,computer software engineer, and author. Rettig is best remembered for portraying the character "Jeff Miller" in the first three seasons of CBS's Lassie television series, from 1954–1957, later seen in syndicated re-runs as Jeff's Collie...
. Jeff makes his first appearance in the series premiere, "The Inheritance" (1954), and his last appearance in the mid-fourth season episode, "Transition" (1957). The series won its only Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s during the character's stint on the show.
Role
Jeff is the typical 1950s American boy. He enjoys boyhood adventure, collects baseball cards, and struggles a bit with school work. He is eleven-years-old when the show opens and is the son of slain war hero John Miller and his wife, Ellen. With his mother and paternal grandfather George Miller, Jeff lives on a weatherbeaten farm on the outskirts of the fictional small midwestern town of Calverton. Some fifty miles distant is Capitol City which Jeff sometimes visits. In one episode, he hitch-hikes to Capitol City to find medical help for Lassie when she loses her eyesight. On the not-so-nice side, Jeff surreptitiously listens-in on party-line telephone conversations at home, much to the annoyance of his mother. Jeff attends a one-room schoolhouse and has his own horse, Domino.Background
In 1943, Eric KnightEric Knight
Eric Knight was an author who is mainly notable for creating the fictional collie Lassie.Born on 10 April 1897, in Menston in Yorkshire, England, Eric Mowbray Knight was the third of four sons born to Frederic Harrison and Marion Hilda Knight, both Quakers...
's fictional rough collie
Rough Collie
The Rough Collie is a long coated breed of medium to large size dog that in its original form was a type of collie used and bred for herding in Scotland. Originating in the 1800's, it is now well known through the works of author Albert Payson Terhune, and through the Lassie novel, movies, and...
, Lassie
Lassie
Lassie is a fictional collie dog character created by Eric Knight in a short story expanded to novel length called Lassie Come-Home. Published in 1940, the novel was filmed by MGM in 1943 as Lassie Come Home with a dog named Pal playing Lassie. Pal then appeared with the stage name "Lassie" in six...
, made her film debut in MGM's Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home is a 1943 MGM film starring Roddy McDowall and canine actor, Pal, in a story about the profound bond between Yorkshire boy Joe Carraclough and his rough collie, Lassie. The film was directed by Fred M. Wilcox from a screenplay by Hugo Butler based upon the 1940 novel Lassie...
. Canine star Pal
Pal (dog actor)
Pal was a Rough Collie actor and the first in a line of such dogs to portray the fictional female collie Lassie in film and television. Pal was born in California in 1940 and eventually brought to the notice of Rudd Weatherwax, a Hollywood animal trainer. In 1943, the dog was chosen to play Lassie...
, a male dog, appeared in the titular role. The success of the film generated six more MGM Lassie films, and, with the seventh feature, The Painted Hills
The Painted Hills
The Painted Hills, also known as Lassie's Adventures in the Goldrush, is a 1951 action film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Harold F. Kress...
(1951), Lassie's MGM career came to an end. Pal's owner and trainer, Rudd Weatherwax
Rudd Weatherwax
Ruddell Bird "Rudd" Weatherwax was an American actor and animal trainer. He and his brother Frank Weatherwax are best remembered for training dogs for motion pictures and television. Frank's collie, Pal, became the original Lassie, handled by Rudd for the 1943 MGM film Lassie Come Home...
, took all rights to the Lassie name and trademark in lieu of back pay owed him by MGM and toured America with Pal in an 18-minute program starring "Lassie". Producer Robert Maxwell convinced Weatherwax that the dog's future lay in television. Together the men developed a scenario set on a weatherbeaten farm in Middle America about a struggling war widow, her son, her father-in-law, and their dog.
Casting
Broadway star and television quiz show panelist Jan ClaytonJan Clayton
Jan Clayton was a film, musical theatre, and television actress.-Career:...
was cast as widowed, Ellen Miller
Ellen Miller (Lassie)
Ellen Miller is a fictional character in the long-running television series Lassie . Ellen is a war widow living on a weatherbeaten midwestern farm with her young son Jeff and her father-in-law George Miller. The character was created by producer Robert Maxwell and Lassie trainer Rudd Weatherwax,...
, and septuagenarian film veteran George Cleveland
George Cleveland
George Alan Cleveland was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in over 180 films between 1933 and 1954.-Career:...
cast as her father-in-law George Miller
George Miller (Lassie)
George "Gramps" Miller is a fictional character in the long running television series, Lassie. The character is played by film and television veteran George Cleveland. The character makes his debut in the first episode of the series, "The Inheritance". Miller is the father-in-law of war widowed...
, but the boy in the scenario eluded producers until Rudd Weatherwax's brother Frank (who was working on the Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone....
film, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.) apprised its young star, Tommy Rettig
Tommy Rettig
Thomas Noel "Tommy" Rettig was an American child actor,computer software engineer, and author. Rettig is best remembered for portraying the character "Jeff Miller" in the first three seasons of CBS's Lassie television series, from 1954–1957, later seen in syndicated re-runs as Jeff's Collie...
of the Lassie television series being readied for production. Rettig later recalled,
"...I was called in for an interview. At that time I was screen-tested, I read for the part and evidently I impressed some people. A few weeks later, it came down to me and two other kids. One was Lee Aker, who would eventually star in Rin Tin TinRin Tin TinRin Tin Tin was the name given to a dog adopted from a WWI battlefield that went on to star in twenty-three Hollywood films. The name was subsequently given to several related German Shepherd dogs featured in fictional stories on film, radio and television.-Origins:The first of the line Rin Tin...
. They decided that all three of us could do the role. So the decision as to who got the role was essentially left up to Lassie...I spent a week with Rudd [Weatherwax] and Lassie out in North Hollywood at the Weatherwax's home. The other finalists did, too. The fact was that Lassie liked me better than he did the other two kids. I loved animals, and this seemed to be very important to Rudd, too."
Shortly after the show debuted, producers and writers decided Jeff needed a male companion his own age. Auditions were held with young actor Donald Keeler (Joey D. Vieira
Joey D. Vieira
Joey D. Vieira is an American film and television actor. He began as a child actor using the professional name Donald Keeler as chubby, beanie-wearing farm boy, Sylvester "Porky" Brockway in the first several seasons of TV's Lassie...
) defeating hundreds of other applicants for the role of Jeff's pal, Sylvester "Porky" Brockway
"Porky" Brockway
Sylvester "Porky" Brockway is a fictional child character in the long running American television series, Lassie. The character is played by child actor Joey D. Vieira under the stage name "Donald Keeler". The chubby, beanie-wearing Porky is best friends with the show's star human character...
. In conjunction with the role, writers created Porky's father, Matt Brockway, Porky's mother Birdie Brockway, and Porky's basset hound, Pokey (who appeared so frequently he was considered a regular by crew). Porky debuted in the show's first season episode, "The Lion" and saw his last appearance in the fourth season episode, "Timmy's Family" (1957). He was scripted into many episodes with Jeff, but, unknown to the show's audience, neither boy liked the other and feuded constantly off-screen.
First appearance
Jeff makes his first appearance in the series premier, "The Inheritance" (1954). Shot in British ColumbiaBritish Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, the episode was one of two pilots filmed for the show, the other being "The Well" which aired late in the first season.
"The Inheritance" brings Lassie and Jeff together when the boy receives the dog as a bequest from neighbor Homer Carey. Lassie however will have nothing to do with Jeff, breaking his heart time and again when she flees nightly from his bedside to sleep on the cold hearth in the dark and empty Carey house. There she remains hour after hour until Jeff solves a mystery involving a cache of hidden money and a hired hand with theft on his mind. The climax pitches Lassie against the thief in a tense battle.
In the episode's emotional last moments, Jeff has returned to the Miller farmhouse and waits anxiously on the doorstep with his mother and grandfather for Lassie to join him. Lassie remains at the end of the driveway, gazing down the road as if contemplating a return to her old home. Then she turns and bounds happily to Jeff. "She's mine now, isn't she, Gramps?" Jeff cries joyously to his grandfather. "Yes, she's all yours," Gramps replies, "She done her deciding."
Dogs
PalPal (dog actor)
Pal was a Rough Collie actor and the first in a line of such dogs to portray the fictional female collie Lassie in film and television. Pal was born in California in 1940 and eventually brought to the notice of Rudd Weatherwax, a Hollywood animal trainer. In 1943, the dog was chosen to play Lassie...
, the star of the several MGM "Lassie" films of the 1940s, appeared in the two pilots, and his son, Lassie Junior (or, Junior) appeared thereafter. Lassie Junior was joined on the set by several other dogs: a stand-in for rehearsals, a stunt dog for long distance action shots, and a "fight" dog for battles with other animals.
Leaving the show
As the fourth season approached, Rettig was fifteen years old and had grown tired of playing the Jeff Miller role. He was dating, driving cars, making college plans, and wanted to leave the show to enjoy the life of a normal teenager.Jack Wrather
John Devereaux "Jack" Wrather, Jr. , was a petroleum millionaire who became a television producer and later diversified by investing in broadcast stations and resort properties...
realized Rettig couldn't play a boy forever and developed a new storyline with seven-year-old Jon Provost
Jon Provost
Jon Provost is a former child actor of film and television. He is best known for his role as young Timmy Martin in the CBS series, Lassie....
cast as Timmy, a foster child on the Miller farm. Timmy was teamed with Lassie for the sorts of adventures formerly assigned to Jeff. Rettig expected to be released any day but producers were happy with the status quo and made little effort to write Rettig out of the show.
A crisis was reached when series star George Cleveland
George Cleveland
George Alan Cleveland was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in over 180 films between 1933 and 1954.-Career:...
died suddenly on July 17, 1957. Producers and writers were forced to completely overhaul the show. An episode called "Transition" was quickly scripted with a simple but believable plot: Ellen Miller and Jeff decide to sell the farm to Paul
Paul Martin (television character)
Paul Martin is a fictional character on the long running television series, Lassie . Paul is a farmer, and the husband of Ruth, a housewife. The couple are adoptive parents of Timmy, a foster child living on a small farm in the American midwest that the couple purchase...
and Ruth Martin, a young couple new to the area. The two adopt Timmy. Jeff gives Lassie to Timmy, and then leaves for the city. Rettig was dropped and the character of Jeff was never seen on the show again. The Miller years of the show were almost immediately sold into world-wide syndication as Jeff's Collie.
Awards
Lassie won its only Emmy Awards (Best Children's Program 1955, and Best Children's Series 1956), during the Jeff years of the show. Tommy Rettig and co-star Donald Keeler jointly accepted the 1956 award. The show also received a 1956 Peabody AwardPeabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
.