Pictured with Rob and Ritchie here is Buddys dog, Larry, in a still from the shows seventh episode, The Unwelcome Houseguest. Id never given much thought to the identity of the animal actor who played Larry until I ran across the cast list in that episodes original script (which is included in the new enlarged eBook edition of The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book, natch,) and noticed that Larry was played by a dog billed as J.R. That name didnt ring any bells, until a few days ago, when reader Chris Perridas sent me this 1961 press clipping that identifies Larry as none other than Rin Tin Tin, one of cinema (and televisions) most famous canine action stars. Since Id never heard that fascinating detail before, I decided to do a little digging to make sure this too good to be true fact actually is a fact. I immediately dropped a note to Susan Orlean, the New Yorker writer who just published a fabulous book on the dog star, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, and who was nice enough to confirm that the dog who played Rinny in the poochs 1950s TV series was a canine named Flame, Jr, who was often billed as simply, JR, which was close enough to the doggies credit in this episode to convince me. Ill be updating my entry on that episode in upcoming revisions of The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book. In the meantime, I wanted you to be the first to hear about the impressive pedigree of this most memorable Dick Van Dyke Show guest star.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 19:58:34 +0000
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