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OK, this is just a bit of my warped sense of humour. I recently bought a copy of the original 1943 film 'Lassie Come Home' and decided to do a Google search about it. First, although it's set in northern England and Scotland, it was actually shot in the USA - not surprising I guess as Britain was a bit preoccupied with World War Two at that time and America hadn't yet signed up. Secondly, the title role which from the name is obviously a female dog (I won't use the b... word) was played by a male dog called Pal of the breed called a Rough Collie. He was born in 1940 and went on to play the part in six sequels and a couple of television show. He lived to the ripe old age of 18, and also sired a number of dogs who took over the role when he became too old to play it. I just thought you'd like to know.
Bronwen.
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I knew
and used the idea for my shaggy dog story Alec, Alas
https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/9211/alec-lass
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Roddy McDowall's mom pushed
Roddy McDowall's mom pushed Roddy forward as a child actor for the human starring part in Lassie Come Home primarily as a way of getting him out of England during the war since the film, as you say, was made in the USA.
BTW, Pal was considered a non-show quality collie, which is how he ended up with a dog trainer for an owner, but his conformation with the white blaze down the middle of his face became the de facto standard for the collie breeds because of the success of the movies, TV shows, other media and merchandise. Pal had a favorite hobby, chasing motorcycles. :)
Pal himself starred in the first two episodes filmed for the TV show before turning the role over to Lassie Junior, his son. :) Pal also picked his human co-star out of three candidates and attended the set for a couple of years, staying behind the camera as The Old Man and running through his routines and acts in private, while Lassie Junior and eventually other sons and grandsons took over the public role.
Pal's 9th and 10th generation descendants, HeyHey and Pal X, currently portray Lassie in most media, guided by the partner of Pal's original trainer. And yes, both HeyHey and Pal X are male. :)
Hugs,
Erin (long time Lassie fan)
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Thanks Erin
That's a lot more information than I found on Wikipedia Erin, thanks. I didn't know that 'Lassie' was still appearing. I showed the film at an old folks home today where it was a huge success. My only problem was a bad case of 'leaky eye' for much of the film.
Bron
America hadn't yet signed up.
Your assertion that the film was made in the USA because "America hadn't yet signed up" is patently false. The USA declared war on Japan on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Germany declared war on the USA on Dec. 11, 1941 and the US responded by declaring war on Germany later that same day. The US joined the UK in the invasion of North Africa on 8 November 1942 (Operation Torch). By 1943, the US was fully involved in the war, both in the Pacific Theater and the Atlantic Theater. What is true is that most of America, with some minor exceptions on the Pacific coast, was not under threat of direct attack, and film making could proceed without interruption by air raids.
Oops - my apologies
My sincere apologies to all American readers. Due to a 'senior moment' I had it in my head that Pearl Harbor happened in 1944! I just don't know where that came from. Apart from Darwin which had a number of attacks, and also Sydney Harbour, Australia was largely free of direct attacks too, but we had no film industry to speak of at that time.
In Britain, the Crown Film Unit was still making films, mostly documentaries, many of them providing information or to boost morale, examples are 'Target for Tonight' and 'Fires Were Started'.
In some ways, 'Lassie' could be said to be a morale-booster film too, as in 'this is the England we'll lose if we lose the war'.
Anyway, I'll promise to try and get my facts straight in future.
Bron
Transfurite
Your comments about the use of male dogs were fascinating. I had read that somewhere. Assuming Pal and his offspring wore collars intended to portray them as females, they were truly cross dressing.
The later comments about The US entry into the war are true. My Late father was in North Africa by the end of 1942 as a young infantry officer with the American Army.
Thanks for starting this thread.
Thought everyone knew about that...
everyone over the age of 30 anyway. It used to be a popular insult in my school back in the 80's "Lassie's". Transgenderism wasn't a known thing at the time in my area (and age group) but we knew what gay's and cross dresser's were. Being called a Lassie was probablly the worst insult you could suffer at the time (especially if you were straight), and usually was followed by a beatdown. Of course we were like 11 or so at the time...
I'm more than twice your age criteria...
but I never knew Lassie was transgender.
If I'd heard anyone called a Lassie (which I don't remembers hearing), I'd have assumed it was as in Lads and Lassies, which rather predates 1943.
Mad Magazine...
...here in the US celebrated Johnny Cash's 1969 hit single, A Boy Named Sue (written by Shel Silverstein) with a feature, "A Boy Dog Named Lassie" (9/70, according to Wikipedia). (Longtime Mad artist Jack Davis did the visual; E Nelson Bridwell, who I remember from DC comics, was the writer.)
But I'd seen the Lassie story some years earlier, in TV Guide. (No pun intended, but...)
Eric
Lassie or Lizzie?
I just found this reproduced from an old Mad magazine. http://www.lassieweb.org/lasslizz.htm I used to be an avid 'Mad' reader and still have a few old copies somewhere. Collectors' items?
No, That One Was a Lot Earlier...
Different artist, also. (Mort Drucker, I think.)
Mid-60s issues seem to be running $5-10 apiece on eBay, depending on condition; it's about twice that for '59-'60. No shortage of them, apparently.
My younger brother's collection (both of ours, originally) started with #90 in late 1964 and ran about ten years. Don't know whether he took it up to Seattle with him a few decades back, but I haven't seen it down here in San Francisco for a long time.
Eric
...and Flipper was FTM...
The dolphin was referenced as "he" on the television show, but portrayed by a female named Suzy.
Eric
look at some recent movies.
in the first John Wick the beagle that played the part of his murdered dog, was a male dog but they needed to play it off as a female for the name Daisy, so they used some creative video editing to hid it, and when Reeves walked down the red carpet for the premier he brought the dog with him. Some reporters asked questions about why he had male dog instead of a female one and they started digging. when it comes to a trained animal that can do a part you do not always have the luxury of having the right physical look or gender for the role, I guess that is why they do make-up on the animals and creative video editing to match what the writer wrote.
"Cortana is watching you!"