Animals on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Animals on Hollywood's Walk of Fame
Famous Dogs, Character Costumes : Muppets, Godzilla

Walk of Fame Animals: Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Strongheart, The Muppets, Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, Godzilla

The only actual animals with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame are three dogs: Strongheart, Rin Tin Tin and Lassie. Featured here are also Godzilla, Kermit the Frog, Big Bird and the Muppets as a group just because they're sometimes live-action, puppets, etc and not exclusively animation. All information is correct as of the writing of this page.


The Muppets received their group star on the Walk of Fame March 20, 2012. More info on a post to come. Have you seen their latest film? Now Kermit and Big Bird are the first fictional characters to have received two stars!

If you're on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood would you look for animal stars? How many can you find? There's currently a push to get Tarzan's Cheetah the chimp a star.

When Roy Rogers signed his name in cement in at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, his horse Trigger also placed his prints on the sidewalk beside Roy's.

These are other animal characters with stars. Looking for your Hollywood Walk of Fame map? Included you'll find the Hollywood Walk of Fame address for each star. Did you know that there are several star walks in the United States and in other countries? 

The American Buffalo and Midnight the horse, the most famous bucking bronc on the rodeo circuit from 1923 until 1933 can be found on the Texas Trail of Fame in Ft. Worth, Texas. I may be wrong, but at the time of this writing, I believe there are no animals or fictional characters on Canada's Walk of Fame.

These aren't best known as being animated though they may be seen on film or TV in animated form sometimes. Hollywood animals work hard, they're remembered fondly and some get stars on the walk of fame.

The characters are Godzilla, Kermit the Frog and Big Bird. Do you think Godzilla has a secret rivalry with King Kong to see who's more popular?

The Munchkins are another example of fictional characters on the Walk of Fame.

I have a separate series of pages celebrating the animated characters with stars on the Walk of Fame. There are some fun and nostalgic YouTube videos here. If you're so inclined, give the folks who uploaded the videos some Likes, comments and such. They add a lot to the Web.
Kermit the Frog Star Hollywood Walk of Fame Poster Prints , Amazon, see below

On the Border poster 1930
Vintage Rin Tin Tin poster

Rin Tin Tin

1623 Vine Street : On the Border, Rin Tin Tin

Rin Tin Tin (often billed as Rin-Tin-Tin in the 1920s and 1930s) was the name given to several related German Shepherd dogs featured in fictional stories on film, radio and television. ....

The dog's big break came when he stepped in for a recalcitrant wolf in The Man From Hell's River (1922). Rin Tin Tin would be cast as a wolf or wolf-hybrid many times in his career, though not looking like one.

His first starring role was in 1923's Where The North Begins, playing alongside silent screen actress Claire Adams. This film was a huge success and has often been credited with saving Warner Brothers from bankruptcy.  

Rin Tin Tin was featured in the one Technicolor segment of the Warner Brothers all-star 1929 The Show of Shows. Toto in The Wizard of Oz, which was shot partly in color in 1939 could look back on Rin Tin Tin's color performance a decade earlier.

It's said that in 1929, Rin Tin Tin may have received the most votes for the first Academy Award for Best Actor. The Academy determined that a human should win. 

In her book, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, Susan Orlean writes that in the first year Oscars were awarded, "according to Hollywood legend, Rinty received the most votes for best actor. But members of the Academy, anxious to establish the awards were serious and important, decided that giving an Oscar to a dog did not serve that end."

It was followed by Shadows of the North (1923), Clash of the Wolves (1925), A Dog of the Regiment (1927) and Tiger Rose (1929). As with superstar Lassie years later, there were mass produced Halloween costumes and other memorabilia in and with the likeness of Rin Tin Tin.

Although primarily a star of silent films, Rin Tin Tin did appear in four sound features, including the 12-part Mascot Studios chapter-play The Lightning Warrior (1931), co-starring with Frankie Darro.

Rin Tin Tin got his star on The Walk of Fame in Hollywood on February 8, 1960.



Radio

Between 1930 and 1955, "Rin Tin Tin" (though not always portrayed by the original dog) was heard in three different radio series, beginning April 5, 1930 with The Wonder Dog, in which the original Rin Tin Tin did his own sound effects until his death in 1932, when Rin Tin Tin, Jr. took over. This 15-minute program was broadcast Saturdays on the Blue Network at 8:15pm until March 1931 when it moved to 8:15pm on Thursdays. 
-- Wikipedia

John Florea image from Life Magazine Close Up of Collie "Lassie"

Lassie Hollywood Walk of Fame

6368 Hollywood Blvd.

Lassie is a stage name for several dog actors. The fictional character was created by Eric Knight in a short story expanded to novel length called Lassie Come Home. Published in 1940, the novel was filmed by MGM in 1943 as Lassie Come Home with a talented dog named Pal playing Lassie.

June Lockhart played Ruth Martin 1959-64, the wife of Paul Martin (portrayed by Hugh Reilly) and the mother of Timmy Martin (played by Jon Provost) in the 1954 CBS series, Lassie.

She also played Dr. Maureen Robinson, the wife of Professor John Robinson (portrayed by Zorro actor Guy Williams) in Lost in Space (1965-68) and appeared as Dr. Janet Craig on the final two seasons of Petticoat Junction (1968-70). Her character was brought in to fill the void created after Bea Benaderet died during the run of the show.

She was a regular, playing in the Maria Ramirez on the soap opera General Hospital during the 1980s and 1990s.

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 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.

A Christmas episode, Lassie's Gift of Love, she befriends a toy maker.


The character of Lassie was created by English American author Eric Knight in Lassie Come-Home, first published as a short story the Saturday Evening Post in 1938 and later as a full-length novel in 1940.

Set in the Depression-era England, the novel depicts the lengthy journey a rough collie makes to be reunited with her young Yorkshire master after his family is forced to sell her for money. In 1943, the novel was adapted into a feature film, Lassie Come Home, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) that starred Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor. The movie was a hit and enjoyed favorable critical response.

MGM followed this with several additional films, including a sequel entitled Son of Lassie (1945), starring Peter Lawford and June Lockhart, and Courage of Lassie with Elizabeth Taylor. A radio series, Lassie Radio Show likes lassie with his friends was also created, airing until 1949.

Between 1954-1973, the television series, Lassie was broadcast in America, with Lassie initially residing on a farm with a young male master. In the eleventh season, she changed to adult forestry workers as her companions, then had the collie on her own for a while before ending the series with Lassie residing at a ranch for troubled children.

The long running series was the recipient of two Emmy Awards before it was canceled in 1973. A second series followed in the 1980s. In 1997, Canadian production company Cinar Inc. produced a new Lassie television series for the Animal Planet network in the U.S. and YTV in Canada. It ran until 1999.

In 2005, a remake of the original Lassie Come Home movie was produced in the United Kingdom. Starring Peter O'Toole and Samantha Morton, Lassie was released in 2006.

Lassie made a guest appearance on Whose Line is it Anyway?



Remember the show with Lassie's Great Adventures DVD, Share it with your family

Lassie continues to make personal appearances as well as marketing a line of pet food and a current pet care TV show, Lassie's Pet Vet on PBS stations in the United States.

In 2005, the show business journal Variety named Lassie one of the "100 Icons of all time" - the only animal star on the list.
 -- info from Wikipedia and other sources 

Lassie made a surprise guest appearance on the 2015 season of Project Runway All Stars sitting between her trainer and designer Isaac Mizrahi.

Lassie got her Hollywood Walk of Fame star on February 8, 1960. (Walk of Fame site shows same date for Lassie, Strongheart and Rin Tin Tin, as well as many actors and other professionals from the early era of Hollywood.)




Patricia Morison was in Kiss Me Kate on Broadway opening in 1948


I Hate Men Lyrics, from Kiss Me, Kate :
First on Broadway 1948
From Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate
Mentions Lassie

I Hate Men Lyrics excerpt

I hate men.

I can't abide 'em even now and then.

Than ever marry one of them, I'd rest a maiden rather,

For husbands are a boring lot and only give you bother.

Of course, I'm awfully glad that Mother had to marry Father,

But I hate men.

Of all the types I've ever met within our democracy,

I hate most the athlete with his manner bold and brassy,

He may have hair upon his chest but, sister, so has Lassie.

Oh, I hate men!

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

Lassie isn't the only icon mentioned in a Kiss Me, Kate song lyric. Clark Gable's name also appears in the song, Always True to You in My Fashion.

Timmy is where??? tee shirts 

Dog Stories on Old Time Radio

While you're driving, wrapping presents, doing housework, resting or any time you want to Dogs of Old Time Radio Collection: of dog-themed old time radio programs on this MP3 CD shows. 

From man's best friend to man wolves, the OTRCAT Dog Collection includes radio shows about dogs.

One of the many artists who, through their alluring offering via the big chains, are making the ownership of a good receiving set ever more desirable. A dog's tail serves as a radio receiver for Frank G Kerk, Los Angeles, experimenter. 

Kerk attaches an aerial to the collar of his Great Dane and hooks an ear phone to the animal's tail. The canine radio is then complete and all that is necessary is to place the phone to the ear and listen. Dogs have long served humans as protectors, hunters, herders, and companions. 

They also make fun additions to radio shows. 

Stories in this collection include:
* Cathy sneaks a scary, huge dog into her playroom in Father Knows Best.
* In Suspense a DJ investigates a haunted house with his dog, only to have the dog run out of the house!
* Cecil gets a dog named Nero in Cecil and Sally
* In Dragnet, a man that appears to be more wolf-like is hunting the women in Los Angeles.
* It's National Dog Week in Fibber McGee and Molly and Fibber tries to convince Molly to get a dog.

Their Cat Collection presents cat-themed shows.

"Cats have long been the muses of artists, writers, musicians, and now web pages. Worshipped by the Egyptians and Mayans, hated during the Inquisition, and cuddled by smart folks listening to old time radio shows. The world is under the paw of cat scratch fever. We're not a lion!

Roaring old time radio shows about cats, black cats, cat-eyed crooks and catty witch-wives are included in this collection - plus an extras folder with curious Cat Nursery Rhymes. It's the cat's pajamas. Before a cat can lick her ear, grab your catnip and fiddle plus your favorite purring puss in boots and listen to these purrfect shows. MEEE-OOOW!" --I have the Cat Collection. It's a good variety of shows.

[From the OTR Cat site Image from publicdomainpics]

 

Strongheart: The story of a wonder dog

Strongheart
1724 Vine StreetGerman shepherd, Strongheart was the screen name of Etzel von Oeringen, October 1, 1917-June 24, 1929.

After being trained in Germany as a police dog, he was brought to the United States by husband and wife filmmakers Laurence Trimble and Jane Murfin, who had previously worked successfully with Jean, the Vitagraph Dog.

He appeared in several movies, including a 1925 adaptation of White Fang. Some of these pictures were highly successful, and did much to encourage the popularity of the breed, but most have been lost.


In August of 1928, Etzel Von Oeringen, the canine who played Strongheart, was accused of murdering a young child by the name of Sofie Bedard. It reportedly "tried to eat her." Strongheart's name was later cleared and Sofie's family was prosecuted for wrongly testifying in a court of law.
 
A popular celebrity in his day, Strongheart paved the way for the much better remembered Rin Tin Tin. Strongheart and his mate, Lady Jule, had many offspring and their line survives to this day. In 1929, while being filmed for a movie, Strongheart accidentally made contact with a hot studio light and was burned. These burns caused a tumor to form and Strongheart died as a result of it.

Strongheart died the next year in peace. "God bless you Strongheart, God bless you", were the words of the eminent dog's Eulogist and former trainer, Henri Potts.


"Read in honor of the dear friends who walk patiently with us seeking no more than to be told Good Dog:"

Part of Letters To Strongheart by J. Allen Boone 1939. Timeless content not just about respect, living through bereavement and pet loss but about much more than that.

 
Filmography

* The Silent Call (1921)

* Brawn of the North (1922)

* The Love Master (1924)

* North Star (1925)

* White Fang (1925)

* The Return of Boston Blackie (1927); Thought to be the only Strongheart movie still in existence

Strongheart got his star on The Walk of Fame in Hollywood on February 8, 1960.

Strongheart appeared in popular winter silent movies with early movie snow He was owned by early female writer and producer Jane Murfin and trainer Larry Trimble.

The companion article to this one:
Animated Film Characters on The Hollywood Walk of Fame

Homemade Halloween Costumes, Last Minute 5 Moms Includes June Lockhart Lost in Space

**  This is part of a short series. Trivia, background, videos and costume ideas will be included.

Next Installments, Godzilla, Kermit the Frog, Big Bird and the Muppets for their group star. Links will be added & announced on Twitter.

Sources not cited above
The Hollywood Reporter