Lassie’s Message for Scooby-Doo: Get Real

The most popular movie dog of the summer, Scooby-Doo, isn’t even the real deal.

He’s just a computer-generated figment of animators’ imagination that can’t hold a bowl of kibble to famous celluloid dogs of the past like Pal, Terry, Skippy and Romney--four-pawed thespians who stole scenes from some of film’s biggest stars during Hollywood’s Golden Age, including Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Garland, William Powell and Myrna Loy.

Every Wednesday this month, Turner Classic Movies will throw the spotlight on these canine heroes in a 28-film festival, “Dog Days of Summer.”

The celebration kicks off tonight with a seven-film “Lassie” marathon starring the superstar of the canine performers, Pal, a North Hollywood-born collie who had a habit of chasing motorcycles.

In between films are “dog bites,” featuring information on various film pooches, plus recollections from actors who worked with them.

“Pal was an amazing dog,” says Tom Brown, vice president of program production for TCM and a Scottie aficionado. “The thing we found out in researching Pal’s life is that he was the chorus girl who made good, even though Pal was a boy.”

Pal starred in all seven “Lassie” movies during the 1940s and early 1950s, as well as the 1940s radio series and 1954 pilot episode of the “Lassie” TV series, but he wasn’t the first choice to play the courageous female collie in the 1943 classic that started the franchise, “Lassie Come Home.”

“He was a great dog all the way around,” says trainer Bob Weatherwax, the son of Pal’s trainer, Rudd Weatherwax. “All the Lassies have been great dogs, but this was a particularly great dog in the sense that he was very physical and almost was never doubled.”

MGM, he recalls, had hired a prize female collie to star in “Lassie Come Home.” Though his father was one of the top dog trainers in Hollywood, the studio hired another trainer who had very little movie experience.

To be on the safe side, the movie’s production manager hired Rudd Weatherwax and Pal to double “in case this dog failed to perform in certain scenes.” Soon after production began, Pal got his big break when the star collie refused to swim in a river.

Not only had Weatherwax trained Pal to swim, he choreographed the whole sequence to show off Pal’s acting abilities.

“When Pal swam the river, when he came out the other side, my father had him collapse and crawl and get on his side and struggle. The director, Freddy Wilcox, got up and said, ‘Well, Pal swam in and Lassie swam out.’ ”

Pal also went on extensive press tours to promote his films, visiting children’s groups and veterans of World War II. “Lassie became an icon of America to the returning troops,” Brown says.

A veritable Laurence Olivier of the dog set, Pal retired at 14 and died at the ripe old age of 18 in 1958. “I have my new Lassie, No. 9,” says Weatherwax. “I just retired my eighth-generation Lassie. They are all descendants of the original collie.”

Almost as famous as Pal was Terry, the female Cairn terrier who played Dorothy’s male dog, Toto, in “The Wizard of Oz.”

Terry will be profiled during the festival, and although “Wizard” won’t be screened during the celebration, TCM is airing the 1939 Judy Garland classic on Thursdayand Sunday.

Terry also had a long healthy career at MGM, making 12 movies before she retired in 1942. Her original owner had left Terry with Carl Spitz, who owned a Hollywood dog-training academy, and never returned. The poor dog was so shy she wouldn’t come out from under the bed for several weeks.

Although she was a seasoned veteran by the time she got the role in “The Wizard of Oz,” she was fearful of the wind machines in the movie. During production, one of the witch’s soldiers stepped on her and sprained her ankle. Terry was out of commission for a few weeks and Spitz had to rush to find a replacement.

Romney, a descendant of Terry’s, was considered one of the best animal actors in Hollywood and starred in such films as “Without Love” with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn and “George Washington Slept Here” with Jack Benny.

Motivated by a Mouse

On July 10, TCM will honor famous crime-movie dogs, including Skippy, who played Nick and Nora Charles’ sophisticated wire-haired fox terrier, Asta, in “The Thin Man” and “After the Thin Man.”

Skippy, whose trainer used a squeaky mouse toy as motivation, also starred as the irrepressible Mr. Smith in the 1937 screwball comedy, “The Awful Truth.”

Famous crime-movie dogs are featured in such films as “Behave Yourself,” which starred a mutt named Archie whom costar Shelley Winters swore was so good that he must have studied with coach Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York.

Weatherwax is convinced that computer-assisted graphics dogs like Scooby-Doo will never replace real dogs.

“I don’t think it will ever work because they are not a living, breathing entity,” says Weatherwax.

“You cannot take that dog out like I do with Lassie to hospitals and let people see them. Also, you cannot advertise product with that dog because he does not eat products. He doesn’t wear flea collars!”

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“The Dog Days of Summer” festival begins tonight at 5 on TCM with “Lassie Come Home,” followed by “Son of Lassie” at 7; “Courage of Lassie” at 9; “Hills of Home” at 11 p.m.; “The Sun Comes Up” at 1 a.m. on July 4; “Challenge of Lassie” at 3 a.m.; and “The Painted Hills” at 4:30 a.m. The festival continues every Wednesday through July 31.