Reel Dogs in Art Week 1

For the next three Wednesdays, we’re exploring dog movies through art.

In 1895 the first film exhibited to a paying audience featured two dogs: Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory a.k.a. La Sortie des usines Lumière (1895). It wasn’t until ten years later that a dog starred in a his own short. Rescued by Rover (1905) was a sensation in Great Britain and the idea of a dog playing a dramatic role in motion pictures was born.

Years later, movie dogs began appearing regularly in short films from New York, then Hollywood. Throughout the 1910s Hollywood dogs were mostly comedic players, from Keystone Teddy to Luke and Brownie. The legendary Charlie Chaplin was one of many stars to recognize the tremendous comic potential of dogs on screen.

This piece from The Champion (1915), by LaurasMuse, shows Chaplin with Bulldog sidekick in one of his early dog films. The Champion was later overshadowed by A Dog's Life (1918) as a true dog centered comedy, juxtaposing a stray dog’s life with that of a human tramp. The Gold Rush (1925) features more comic canines adding laughs throughout the script.

Strongheart was largely responsible for recasting Reel Dogs as dramatic players in the 1920s: heroes of the silver screen who rescued women and children, drove away bad guys, and were wrongly accused of something or other (often sheep killing) in every single film. This portrait sketch of Strongheart is by amberchrome. You can see Strongheart today in one surviving film from the era: The Return of Boston Blackie (1927).

After Strongheart and Rin-Tin-Tin paved the way for feature films wholly centered around canine characters, dog hero wannabes popped up in nearly every studio. Many did become well known and by the 1930s there were dozens of A- and B-list dog stars and their equally famed trainers.

One of the top Hollywood canines of the 1930s was another comedic actor with an impeccable sense of timing and devilish twinkle in his eye: Skippy, a Wire Fox Terrier, was rechristened Asta after the famous character he played in the Thin Man series. This striking sketch card portrait of Asta is by drewerd.

The artwork above is published here by kind permission of the artists; LaurasMuse, amberchrome, and drewerd of deviantART.

Watch for more Reel Dogs art next week!

Daily Reel - The Thin Man (1934)

The movie that launched one of the most successful and still best known series of the 1930s, The Thin Man follows the exploits of quirky detective Nick (William Powell), his new wife Nora (Myrna Loy), and their dog Asta.

A Wire Fox Terrier, Asta plays an important comic part in all the Thin Man films, both helping and hindering the sleuth couple and showing just as well developed a character as any of the human stars. Asta’s real name was Skippy (though he went by Asta in later life) and he appared in dozens of feature films throughout his career until 1938. He was originally trained by one of the great Hollywood trainers of early films, Henry East, also working extensively with East’s pupils such as the Weatherwax brothers Frank and Rudd, later made famous by Lassie.

Produced by MGM

Tenacious Terriers

Another terrier won top honors at the 134th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show last week. Sadie, a Scottish Terrier, was just one in a long line of her group to take Best in Show at the most prestigious dog show in the USA. These dogs seem to thrive at everything they try, and it's no surprise that they are not only top show dogs, but top dogs in the entertainment industry as well.

Here are just a few of the hundreds of movies out there which these amazing dogs have made their own:

A Border Terrier visits Earth from outer-space in Good Boy! (2003) and has to get the Earth dogs in shape before their inspection by the Greater Dane. An Irish Terrier goes from Hollywood hotshot to hometown hero in Firehouse Dog (2007). The most recent incarnation of the Greyfrier's Bobby story, The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby (2006), highlights a West Highland White Terrier playing the role of a Skye Terrier.

The 99 puppies captured by Cruella de Vil would not have made it out alive without the the help of a heroic Airedale Terrier in 101 Dalmatians (1996). And who could forget scene-stealing "Winky," the Norwich Terrier from Best in Show (2000)?

Wire Fox Terriers made their mark on film history forever when Skippy, "Asta," played alongside William Powell and Myrna Loy in the Thin Man series of the 1930s. Smooth Fox Terriers have known much less film fame than the wires, but can be seen in a few features like Disney's Charlie the Lonesome Cougar (1967), in-which a Smooth named "Chainsaw" terrorizes a mountain lion. I think the dog was typecast.

American Pit Bull Terriers, Pete the Pup and Luke, were two of Hollywood's first canine stars. Later, Bull Terriers flourished in movies from It's a Dog’s Life (1955), to The Incredible Journey (1963), to Oliver! (1968).

The most famous movie terrier ever, and one of the world's most famous movie dogs, is "Toto," played by a female Cairn Terrier named Terry. It wasn't the book that made Dorothy's "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," so well known. The Wizard of Oz (1939) remains one of the world's best known dog movies to this day, even though it was never meant to be a real dog movie.

Far and away the most prolific Hollywood Earth Dogs, are the Jack Russell and Parson Russell Terriers. Both in movies and TV, like Frasier and Wishbone, these dogs have stolen the hearts of audiences all over the world. Some noted performances can be seen in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), Clean Slate (1994), Richie Rich (1994), Michael (1996), Son of the Mask (2005), Hotel for Dogs (2009), and of course, one of the best loved Russell films, My Dog Skip (2000). Though in the true story the film was based on, Skip was a Smooth Fox Terrier, he was played by the talented father and son team Moose and Enzo in the movie.

Want to see a Parson Russell Terrier pull a sled in a dog sled race? Check out Kevin of the North a.k.a. Chilly Dogs (2001).