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Rowlf and Lassie on The Jimmy Dean Show

LassieJimmyRowlf

Jimmy Dean, Rowlf and Lassie.

Lassie

Lassie's picture on The Muppet Show

Lassie

Lassie and Big Bird on Sesame Street

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Oscar lassie

Lassie and Oscar the Grouch, from Sesame Street Episode 3391.

Lassie, "the world's most famous dog," is a fictional character who has been the subject of many movies, TV shows, and books over the years.

The character of Lassie is a Rough Collie created by British-American author Eric Knight in Lassie Come-Home, which was published as a short story in The Saturday Evening Post in 1938 and as a novel in 1940. In 1943, the book was made into what would become the first Lassie movie, also titled Lassie Come Home. The television series Lassie aired from 1954 to 1974. The character has proven to be so popular that it is one of only three dogs awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the others being Rin Tin Tin and Strongheart. Kermit the Frog appeared in the Lassie Unleashed television special; nine years later, Lassie beat out Kermit for the top spot in Animal Planet's 50 Greatest TV Animals.

The first dog to play the role of Lassie was Pal, who was owned by animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax and his brother Frank Weatherwax. Before Pal's death, he was bred with a number of bitches, resulting in hundreds of offspring, several of which have performed under the name Lassie. Most have been male, because their coats are usually fuller and more impressive than the females'. Because the males tend to be larger, they are considered more physically suitable to perform many of Lassie's stunts. The character of Lassie, however, is female and often referred to as "girl." As is usually the case with canine film stars, several uncredited doubles have been employed in the films and TV shows. Currently, the "official" Lassie is used mainly for "celebrity appearances" at dog shows.

Appearances[]

The Jimmy Dean Show[]

Lassie was frequently mentioned by Rowlf the Dog in many of his appearances on the series, usually in dog-related contexts or as the object of his affection. In one episode, a fantasy sequence shows what Rowlf's life would be like if the two were married.

In the show's first season, Lassie appeared as a guest on the show in two episodes (on December 26, 1963 and again on February 20, 1964). When the show went to Hollywood to tape a pair of episodes, Lassie appeared as a guest in the December 17, 1965 broadcast, where Rowlf attempts a marriage proposal.

In 1964, Rowlf commented to a reporter "Oh, she's beautiful! Just think of a shaggy schnook like me appearing with that Hollywood beauty!"[1] Years later, in a 2011 interview with Yamaha All Access, Rowlf recalled that Jimmy Dean "even introduced me to Lassie. Nice girl. We dated for a while, but it didn't work out. We still exchange Christmas cards, though."

Dean would recall in his 2004 biography that their interactions were "one of the sweetest things you ever saw."

Sesame Street[]

Lassie made a surprise appearance on the show in Episode 3391 (1995). Lassie illustrated the word "DOG" in a march with Big Bird and the Birdketeers and later demonstrated the letter "K" by kissing Oscar the Grouch.

References[]

  • When Rowlf learns that he's a puppet in The Muppets on Puppets, he wonders out loud how he's going to explain it to Lassie.
  • In the German Die Muppet Show segment with Mary Roos, Rowlf recounts doing some episodes of the Lassie TV show, and working with all of the Lassies. He claims there were two or three to do all the tricks, and one for Rowlf's love scene.

Quotes[]

Actually, the [number of copies] of a character is something I don't particularly like to talk about in articles, but just for your information, most characters there's only one. Somebody like a Piggy or a Kermit, there needs to be several versions, and so there will be several of them. I'm not even sure how many, because often we'll also have a photocopy –- a character that's made that we use just for posing for photographs. It would be armatured, that sort of thing, but I don't think it's good to talk about that particularly. I remember hearing that there were several Lassies, and I never liked knowing that sort of thing... and besides that Lassie was always male, which was another one of those disillusioning pieces of information you don't want to know.
Jim Henson, in a 1982 Interview

Connections[]

See also[]

Sources[]

  1. Ruth E. Thompson, "Jimmy Dean and Muppet", Carlisle PA: The Sentinel, 16 May 1964, page 11.
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