COUNTERPUNCH LETTERS : Memories of Balto

Ages ago, Balto, the sled dog hero of Universal’s animated feature, was as famous as reigning sports champs Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey. After the Alaskan dog made his dangerous 1925 race with serum to beleaguered Nome, he appeared onstage in first-run Los Angeles theaters, presented by my father, producer-exhibitor Sol Lesser. Father also made a film of him, then trucked him to 3rd Street grammar school so my sister Marjorie and I could show him to classmates. By 1927, Balto had moved to an L.A. sideshow, exhibited for 10 cents admission.

An Ohio man bought him for a comfortable retirement in Cleveland’s Brookside Zoo, where Balto died in 1933. Balto was so popular that he was stuffed and reverently placed in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where he has inspired generations of visitors ever since.

JULIAN “BUD” LESSER

Los Angeles

* Related Counterpunch. F3