Stars of the Silver Screen: Asta (from "The Thin Man" movies)

In celebration of this year's Academy Awards, Dogbotz Boneyard is making available for purchase top-quality, mint-condition, glossy black-and-white photographic prints of well-renowned movie stars of the 1930s, ‘40s, ‘50s and early ‘60s. Each print comes in a clear document holder and is ready to be matted and/or framed.

Asta (born Skippy, 1931 or 1932; retired 1939) was a wire-haired fox terrier actor who appeared in dozens of movies during the 1930s. Asta is best known for the role of the pet dog in the 1934 detective comedy The Thin Man, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. As the playful canine companion of retired detective Nick Charles and his rich and charming wife, Nora, Asta tugged the couple around town on his walks, hid from danger, and sniffed out corpses. (“Asta, you're not a terrier, you're a police dog,” Nick once tells the dog.) Asta was also famous for his comical back flips.

The character of Asta later appeared in the sequels After the Thin Man, Another Thin Man, Shadow of the Thin Man, The Thin Man Goes Home, Song of the Thin Man, as well as the 1950s television show The Thin Man, though the original dog actor Asta was himself retired from films in 1939.

Of all the canine characters of the 1930s and 1940s, the look and attitude of this terrier actor, much beloved by moviegoers, was the most mimicked in the Silver Screen films of the Great Depression and World War II.

NOTE: The purchase of Stars of the Silver Screen: Asta (from "The Thin Man" movies) comes with a free $10 Dogbotz Boneyard gift certificate, which can be redeemed during a future purchase at our online store. The expiration date of the gift certificate is one year after purchase of this item.