Pal (1940 – 1958) was a male
Rough CollieThe Rough Collie is a breed of dog developed originally for herding in Scotland. It is also well known because of the works of author Albert Payson Terhune, and was popularized in later generations by the Lassie novel, movies, and television shows...
and the first in a line of such dogs to portray the fictional female collie
LassieLassie is a fictional collie dog character and a stage name for several dog actors. The fictional character was 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 talented dog...
in film and television. Pal was born in California in 1940 and eventually brought to the notice of
Rudd WeatherwaxRuddell 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...
, a
HollywoodHollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States, situated west-northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word "Hollywood" is often used as a metonymy of American cinema...
animal trainerAnimal training refers to teaching animals specific responses to specific conditions or stimuli. Training may be for the purpose of companionship, detection, protection, entertainment or all of the above....
. In 1943, the dog was chosen to play Lassie in MGM's
feature filmIn the film industry, a feature film is a film made for initial distribution in theaters and being the "main attraction" of the screening...
,
Lassie Come HomeLassie Come Home is a 1943 MGM feature 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...
. Following his film debut, Pal starred in six more MGM
Lassie films from the mid-1940s to early-1950s, then appeared briefly in shows, fairs, and rodeos around the United States before starring in the two pilots filmed in 1954 for the television series,
LassieLassie is an American television series that follows the adventures of a female rough collie named Lassie and her companions, human and animal. One of the longest running dramatic series on television, Lassie was broadcast by a television network from September 12, 1954, to March 24, 1973...
.
Pal (1940 – 1958) was a male
Rough CollieThe Rough Collie is a breed of dog developed originally for herding in Scotland. It is also well known because of the works of author Albert Payson Terhune, and was popularized in later generations by the Lassie novel, movies, and television shows...
and the first in a line of such dogs to portray the fictional female collie
LassieLassie is a fictional collie dog character and a stage name for several dog actors. The fictional character was 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 talented dog...
in film and television. Pal was born in California in 1940 and eventually brought to the notice of
Rudd WeatherwaxRuddell 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...
, a
HollywoodHollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States, situated west-northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word "Hollywood" is often used as a metonymy of American cinema...
animal trainerAnimal training refers to teaching animals specific responses to specific conditions or stimuli. Training may be for the purpose of companionship, detection, protection, entertainment or all of the above....
. In 1943, the dog was chosen to play Lassie in MGM's
feature filmIn the film industry, a feature film is a film made for initial distribution in theaters and being the "main attraction" of the screening...
,
Lassie Come HomeLassie Come Home is a 1943 MGM feature 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...
. Following his film debut, Pal starred in six more MGM
Lassie films from the mid-1940s to early-1950s, then appeared briefly in shows, fairs, and rodeos around the United States before starring in the two pilots filmed in 1954 for the television series,
LassieLassie is an American television series that follows the adventures of a female rough collie named Lassie and her companions, human and animal. One of the longest running dramatic series on television, Lassie was broadcast by a television network from September 12, 1954, to March 24, 1973...
. Pal retired after filming the television pilots, and died in 1958. He sired a line of descendants who continued to play the fictional character he originated.
Birth and early years
Pal was born at Cherry Osborne's Glamis Kennels in North Hollywood on June 4, 1940. The son of Red Brucie of Glamis and Bright Bauble of Glamis, Pal's ancestry is traced to the nineteenth century and
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
's first great collie, "Old Cockie". Because of his large eyes and the white blaze on his forehead, Pal was judged not of the highest standards and sold as a pet-quality dog.
Howard Peck, an animal trainer, brought the eight-month-old collie to Hollywood animal trainer
Rudd WeatherwaxRuddell 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...
in order to break the animal of uncontrolled barking and a habit of chasing
motorcycleA motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are the most affordable form of...
s. After working with the dog, Weatherwax gained control of the barking but was unable to break Pal of his motorcycle-chasing habit. Peck was disappointed with the results and gave the dog to Weatherwax in exchange for the money Peck owed him. Weatherwax, in turn, gave the dog to a friend, but when he learned that
Eric KnightEric Knight was an author who is mainly notable for creating the fictional collie Lassie.Born on April 10, 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 1940 novel,
Lassie Come-HomeLassie Come-Home is a novel about a rough collie's trek over many miles to be reunited with the boy she loves. Author Eric Knight introduced the reading public to the canine character of Lassie in a magazine story published December 17, 1938 in The Saturday Evening Post, a story which he later...
, was being considered as a feature film by MGM, Weatherwax sensed Pal was the dog to fill the role, and bought Pal back from his friend for US$10.00. Peck later tried to reclaim him after he became famous as
LassieLassie is a fictional collie dog character and a stage name for several dog actors. The fictional character was 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 talented dog...
, but Weatherwax's legal ownership was upheld. Rudd's brother Frank Weatherwax, who trained dogs for such films as
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T and
The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical / fantasy film directed mainly by Victor Fleming from a script by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf, and others and based on the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum...
, assisted Rudd in training Pal.
MGM films
The first MGM "Lassie" film was planned as a low budget, black and white children's film. Pal was among 1,500 dogs who auditioned for the title role, but was rejected because he was male, his eyes were too big, his head too flat, and a white blaze ran down his forehead. A female prize-winning
showShow dog is not a variety, kind, type, or breed of dog; neither is it a dog trained for a specific skill, as in assistance dog or police dog; rather, show dog refers to any dog entered into a dog show...
collie was hired to play the title character. Weatherwax was hired to train the star, and Pal was hired as a stunt dog.
During the course of filming, a decision was made to take advantage of a massive flooding of the
San Joaquin RiverThe San Joaquin River , long, is the second-longest river in California. The average unimpaired runoff of the main stem of the river at Millerton Reservoir is about 1.8 million acre feet per year . The San Joaquin and its eight major tributaries drain about of California's San Joaquin Valley...
in central
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
in order to obtain some spectacular footage for the film. The female collie was still in training and refused to enter the raging waters created by the flood. Weatherwax was on the site with Pal and offered to have his dog perform in a five-stage shot in which Pal would swim the river, haul himself out, lie down without shaking the water off his coat, attempt to crawl while lying on his side and finally lie motionless, completely exhausted. Pal performed exceptionally well and the scene was completed in one take. Weatherwax said director Fred M. Wilcox was so impressed with Pal during the sequence that he had "tears in his eyes." In response, producers released the female collie and hired Pal in her stead, reshooting the first six weeks of the filming with Pal now portraying Lassie. MGM executives were so impressed, they upgraded the production to an A film with full advertising support, top publicity and filming in
TechnicolorTechnicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation , now a division of Thomson SA. Technicolor was the second major color film process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color motion picture process in Hollywood...
. Pal went through his paces with enthusiasm, rarely required multiple retakes, and did his own stunt work.
Pal's success in
Lassie Come Home in 1943 led to six more MGM films:
Son of LassieSon of Lassie is a 1945 feature film produced by MGM and starring Peter Lawford, Donald Crisp, June Lockhart and Lassie. A sequel to Lassie Come Home, the film focuses on the now adult Joe Carraclough after he joins the Royal Air Force during World War II and is shot down over Nazi-occupied Norway...
(a sequel to
Lassie Come Home),
Courage of LassieCourage of Lassie is a 1946 MGM feature film starring Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Morgan, and dog actor Pal in a story about a collie named Bill and his young companion, Kathie Merrick. When Bill is separated from Kathie following a vehicular accident, he is trained as a war dog, performs heroically,...
,
Hills of HomeHills of Home may refer to:*Hills of Home , a 1948 movie in the Lassie series*"Hills of Home", a song by Hazel Dickens**Hills of Home: 25 Years of Folk Music on Rounder Records, a compilation album by Dickens...
,
The Sun Comes UpThe Sun Comes Up is a 1949 MGM Lassie picture. Set in the rural south of the United States, a bereaved war widow learns to put aside her bitterness and grief as she grows to love a young orphan boy and his dog...
,
Challenge to LassieChallenge to Lassie is an American drama directed by Richard Thorpe and released October 31 1949 by MGM Studios. It was the fifth feature film starring the original Lassie, a collie named Pal and the fourth, and final, Lassie film that Donald Crisp would star in.The movie is based on Eleanor...
, and
The Painted HillsThe 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...
. In his earlier years with MGM, Rudd Weatherwax was assisted by
Frank InnFrank Inn was born as Elias Franklin Freeman , was an American animal trainer. He trained several animals for movies, but was most known for his work with the dogs in the Benji series.-Personal life:...
, who, for fourteen years, trained Lassies and later supplied animals for the 1954 Lassie television series.
Following the
The Painted HillsThe 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...
in 1951, MGM executives felt Lassie had run her course and planned no future films featuring the character. MGM executives then sought a way to break Weatherwax's contract. Weatherwax was concerned about protecting Pal and the Lassie image he had created from future diminishment at the hands of others. In lieu of US$40,000 in back pay owed him by the studio, Weatherwax bargained for and received the Lassie name and trademark.
Television series
Following their departure from MGM, Pal and Weatherwax went on the road performing an 18-minute program at dog shows and department stores. Television producer
Robert MaxwellRobert Maxwell Joffe was an American radio and television producer, screenwriter, and entertainment executive...
convinced Weatherwax that Pal's future lay in television. Together, the men created a boy-and-his-dog scenario about a struggling family on a weatherbeaten farm in Middle America.
The field for the role of the boy in
LassieLassie is an American television series that follows the adventures of a female rough collie named Lassie and her companions, human and animal. One of the longest running dramatic series on television, Lassie was broadcast by a television network from September 12, 1954, to March 24, 1973...
was narrowed to three young actors, but the final decision was left to Pal. After spending a week with the boys at Weatherwax's North Hollywood home, Pal seemed to like eleven-year-old
Tommy RettigThomas Noel Rettig, more familiarly Tommy Rettig or, as an adult, Tom Rettig, was an American child actor and computer software engineer and author...
more than the other two. Rettig won the role based on Pal's response, and filming for the two pilots began in the summer of 1954, with Pal portraying Lassie in both.
After viewing the pilots,
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
executives immediately signed the 30-minute show to its fall 1954 schedule. Pal retired after filming the two pilots, and his son, Lassie Junior (who was three years old and had been in training for a couple of years), stepped into the television role. Pal would come to the show's studio home at Stage One of KTTV in Los Angeles every day with his son during filming. He had a bed behind the set, and was respectfully termed The Old Man. Series star Tommy Rettig later recalled, "When Rudd would ask Lassie, Jr. to do something, if you were behind the set, you could see The Old Man get up from his bed and go through the routine back there."
Death
By 1957, Pal was growing blind, deaf, and stiff, and rarely visited the
Lassie set. Series star
Jon ProvostJon 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....
later recalled, "As young as I was, I recognized how much that dog meant to Rudd. Rudd loved that old dog as much as anyone could love an animal or person."
Pal died in 1958, and, for months, Weatherwax slipped in and out of deep depression. Robert Weatherwax, Rudd's son, later recalled, "It hit him very hard when Pal died. He buried him in a special place on the ranch and would often visit the grave. Dad would never again watch an MGM Lassie movie. He just couldn't bear to see Pal. He didn't want to have to be reminded of just how much he loved that dog."
Legacy
In 1950, Rudd Weatherwax and co-author John H. Rothwell co-wrote a book about Pal's life called
The Story of Lassie: His Discovery and Training from Puppyhood to Stardom.
Several descendants of Pal played the fictional Lassie character following their progenitor's death. On the original television series (1954 – 1973), Pal's son, Lassie Junior, and his grandsons, Spook and Baby, worked the first several seasons. Mire appeared in a few of the Ranger seasons, and Hey Hey worked the final two syndicated seasons.
The casting of non-Pal bloodline collies in the role of Lassie has met with protest. In 1997, a
Lassie television series debuted on the
Animal PlanetAnimal Planet is an American satellite and cable television channel , that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications...
network but without a Weatherwax-trained dog as Lassie. A protest campaign was waged, and producers brought a ninth generation Weatherwax dog to the show. The 2005 – 2006 remake of the original
Lassie movie provoked comment when a non-Pal bloodline collie was cast in the title role. Robert Weatherwax has disputed the casting of non-Pal bloodline dogs in the role of Lassie.
Film roles
| Year |
Title |
Role |
Notes |
| 1943 |
Lassie Come HomeLassie Come Home is a 1943 MGM feature 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 |
Principal role |
| 1945 |
Son of Lassie Son of Lassie is a 1945 feature film produced by MGM and starring Peter Lawford, Donald Crisp, June Lockhart and Lassie. A sequel to Lassie Come Home, the film focuses on the now adult Joe Carraclough after he joins the Royal Air Force during World War II and is shot down over Nazi-occupied Norway...
|
Laddie |
Principal role |
| 1946 |
Courage of Lassie Courage of Lassie is a 1946 MGM feature film starring Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Morgan, and dog actor Pal in a story about a collie named Bill and his young companion, Kathie Merrick. When Bill is separated from Kathie following a vehicular accident, he is trained as a war dog, performs heroically,...
|
Bill |
Principal role |
| 1948 |
Hills of Home Hills of Home may refer to:*Hills of Home , a 1948 movie in the Lassie series*"Hills of Home", a song by Hazel Dickens**Hills of Home: 25 Years of Folk Music on Rounder Records, a compilation album by Dickens...
|
Lassie |
Principal role |
| 1949 |
The Sun Comes UpThe Sun Comes Up is a 1949 MGM Lassie picture. Set in the rural south of the United States, a bereaved war widow learns to put aside her bitterness and grief as she grows to love a young orphan boy and his dog...
|
Lassie |
Principal role |
| 1950 |
Challenge to Lassie Challenge to Lassie is an American drama directed by Richard Thorpe and released October 31 1949 by MGM Studios. It was the fifth feature film starring the original Lassie, a collie named Pal and the fourth, and final, Lassie film that Donald Crisp would star in.The movie is based on Eleanor...
|
Lassie |
Principal role |
| 1951 |
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...
|
Shep |
Principal role |
Television roles
| Year |
Title |
Role |
Notes |
| 1954 |
Lassie Lassie is an American television series that follows the adventures of a female rough collie named Lassie and her companions, human and animal. One of the longest running dramatic series on television, Lassie was broadcast by a television network from September 12, 1954, to March 24, 1973...
: "The Inheritance" |
Lassie |
Principal role |
| 1954 |
Lassie Lassie is an American television series that follows the adventures of a female rough collie named Lassie and her companions, human and animal. One of the longest running dramatic series on television, Lassie was broadcast by a television network from September 12, 1954, to March 24, 1973...
: "The Well" |
Lassie |
Principal role |
External links