Jay M Snukis

Magazine advertisement for the film Son of
Lassie
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July 2005
Armed Services Full Edition of the start of the Lassie
phenomenon - Lassie Come-Home
Lassie
Jay M Snukis
For many of us who grew up in the 1950s and 60s, the
television programmes we watched as youngsters left
wonderful and emotional memories, Lassie was certainly
one of those programmes.
These episodes brought vivid recollections of the
adventures of young Jeff Miller and Timmy Martin, and
their faithful, brave, and loyal companion Lassie. Lassie
entertained us with her many wonderful and exciting
adventures, for instance saving the forest creatures, the
domestic farm animals that were in great danger, and
especially the family members. Lassie helped out the
forest rangers notifying them of forest fires, and any other
destruction to the national forest. Lassie had a very, very
long history by entertaining us not only through her many
TV adventures, but also through her ten movie films, and
her radio programmes as well. Lassie began her first
feature film “Lassie Come-Home” in 1942. It was
produced by MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer), then six
more films followed:
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Son of Lassie 1945
The Courage of Lassie 1946
The Hills of Home 1948
The Sun Comes Up 1949
The Challange to Lassie 1949, and finally
The Painted Hills, ending in 1951.
Lassie continued on, and was featured in three more films:
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Above: Board Game
Below: Coloring Book
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Lassie’s Great Adventure 1963
The Magic of Lassie 1978 and most recently
Lassie - Best Friends are Forever 1994.
Lassie had many co-stars, including Roddy McDowell,
Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Lawford, June Lockhart, Nigel
Bruce, Donald Crisp, Edmund Gwen, Elsa Lanchester,
Janet Leigh, Tom Drake, Jeannette McDonald, Nelson
Eddy, Dame May Witty, Claude Jarman jr, Gary Gray,
Jimmy Stewart, Michael Sharrett, Stephanie Zimbalist,
Jon Tenney, Federic Forest, and others.
Lassie was the longest running TV programme
featuring a dog and got underway in 1954, and ended
in 1998. The Lassie series started with titles such as
Jeff’s Collie, Timmy and Lassie, Lassie with Forest
Rangers - 1964 - 1969, Lassie with the Holden Family
1970-71, Lassie 1972, Lassie’s Rescue Rangers
cartoon 1973-75, The New Lassie 1989-1991, and
most recently Discovery Channel’s Animal Planet
series Lassie 1997-1998.
Lassie also made several TV movies, these include
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The Disappearance
A Joyous Sound
CANINE COLLECTABLES COURIER
July 2005
Above: Training book
Below: Coloring Book
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The Fugitive
The Road Back
The Miracle, and
Lassie The New Beginning,
just to name a few.
Lassie was owned and trained by Rudd Weatherwax,
and continuing on the legacy of Lassie is Rudd’s son
Robert (Bob) Weatherwax.
There were eight generations of the famous Collie,
with the ninth generation coming into the limelight in
2003. Lassie was played by male Collies because their
coats were fuller than the female dogs. So Lassie was
actually a male, but a female in disguise. Another
feature of the famous Collie is the white blaze running
down her face. Collie breeders tend to breed without
that famous marking, but Bob Weatherwax continues
breeding Lassie to produce that distinctive marking.
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Lassie collectibles have been produced since 1943.
Collectibles from the 1940s and 1950s can be
expected to be highly priced. Collectors can look to
pay anywhere fro US$100 -300 for movie
memorabilia featuring the famous Collie who starred
in the seven MGM Technicolor films. Most of the
Lassie collectibles will have copyrights held by MGM,
Robert Maxwell Associates, The Wrather Corporation,
Lassie TV, Lassie Television, Palladium Media
Enterprises, Palladium Limited Partnership,
Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, The Discovery
Channel’s Animal Planet, Golden Books, and no
doubt more.
Collectors should be on the look out for many
different and unique (obscure) rare, hard to find items
featuring the most famous Collie in the world of film
and television. Collectibles on Lassie include: books,
TV guides, puzzles, colo ringbooks, stickerbooks,
games, comic books, colorforms activity set, clothrug,
records & albums, GAF Viewmaster sets, Halloween
costumes, plastic dish set, jewelry, sneakers, hats,
postcards, playsets, linchboxes, lobby cards, posters,
movie & TV photos, tradecards, playing card sets,
plastic & ceramic or plaster figuries, stamp sheet,
child hassock (footstool/ottoman), magazine covers &
articles, Paint by Number sets, pencil painting
Top: mock bank note
Middle: Heavy chalkware sculpture
Bottom: etching by John James 1940s titled “Collie” but
obviously Lassie
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July 2005
Top: modern lunchboxes
Left: original artwork by the author
Right: Glass
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Top left: Juliana Collection
figurine for Lassie Come-Home
Top right: paint by numbers
Centre left: Hevener print
Bottom left: Hevener figurine
Bottom Right: Cover from
Young America 1943
All photos this article by the author and from his
collection
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CANINE COLLECTABLES COURIER
July 2005
July 2005
colouring sets, oil painting colouring sets,
vinyl inflatables, stuffed plush toys,
pinback buttons, vinyl puffy magnets,
biscuit tins, modelling clay set, Give a
Show & Tru Vue Projector colour film
slides, Moving Squares slide puzzles,
character watches, promotional movie &
premium items, collector plates, and
hundreds of other rare and odd items from
different countries all over the world.
lovely Lassie. The search can be exciting and
extremely rewarding and it can it also be very
competitive. =
Prices on Lassie collectibles can vary,
depending on the scarcity, the year of
manufacture, where it was produced, old,
new, in it’s original wrapping, like most
collectibles. Lassie collectors can
appreciate searching for these wonderful
and amazing items. I know I am one of the
legions of Lassie collectors who enjoy
collecting all of the neat items on the
A remake of Lassie Come-Home began filming
in Ireland in late May 2005, the film stars Peter
O’Toole and Samantha Morton, written and
directed by Charles Sturridge. Three dogs to
play the lead role were imported from the USA
and did their six months quarantine. Carter,
Mason, and Dakota are all about two years old
and are being trained by Birds and Animals who
have also worked on the Harry Potter movies. =
Background to this panel: designer fabric
Bottom left: jigsaw
Bottom right: collector’s plate from Italy
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