Stars of the Silver Screen: Lassie (from "Lassie Come Home")

In celebration of American films, 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.

Lassie is a fictional female collie character created by Eric Knight in a short story expanded to novel length titled Lassie Come Home. However, Knight may have been influenced by another female collie named Lassie, featured in the 1859 story “The Half-brothers” written by British writer Elizabeth Gaskell. “The Half-brothers” is a short, sentimental story in which a female border collie named Lassie, loved only by her young master, saves the day.

Published in 1940, Knight’s novel was filmed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1943 as Lassie Come Home with a dog named Pal (born 1938; died 1952) playing Lassie. Pal then appeared with the stage name “Lassie” in six other MGM feature films through 1951. Pal’s owner and trainer Rudd Weatherwax then acquired the Lassie name and trademark from MGM and appeared with Pal (as "Lassie") at rodeos, fairs, and similar events across America in the early 1950s.

In 1954, the long-running, Emmy Award-winning television series Lassie debuted, and, over the next 19 years, a succession of Pal’s descendants appeared on the series. The “Lassie” character has appeared in radio, television, film, toys, comic books, animated series, juvenile novels, and other media. Pal’s descendants continue to play Lassie today.