Toto wizard of oz1/5/2024 ![]() Finally Terry rolled over, was sniffed and both dogs began running around Shirleys dressing room. Terry stood there for a moment, while Ching-Ching looked at her. Terry was placed next to a Pomeranian named Ching-Ching, who wasnt part of the film but was Shirleys own dog. Spitz put her through her pacesplaying dead, leaping over a leash, barking on commandfor the executives and was then presented to Shirley for the final say. That day Terry made himself known to the Hollywood people and Carl took note and the next day took her to Fox Studios to audition for a part in the new Shirley Temple film, Bright Eyes (1934). Bernard, had a large role in the film and Hedda wanted some photos of him with Gable. Terry sort of became the family pet until one day Clark Gable and Hedda Hopper stopped by the kennel for some publicity on Gables new film, Call of the Wild. With nothing else to do, Carls wife suggested that they keep her. Spitz attempted to contact them but their telephone had been disconnected. However, by the time her training was completed, Terrys owners were late on the kennel board. Spitz put her through the usual training and in a few weeks she was no longer watering the carpet. It wasnt long before they sought the services of Carl Spitzs dog training school in the nearby San Fernando Valley. It soon became apparent that Terry had a problem with wetting the rug, and her new owners had very little patience with her. She soon was taken in by a married couple without children in nearby Pasadenathey named her Terry. Toto, a purebred Cairn Terrier, was born in 1933 in Alta Dena, California. However, probably the best known dog star to emerge from the Spitz kennel that is known today is arguably Toto from The Wizard of Oz (1939). Binkie (The Lights that Failed) and Promise (The Biscuit Eater). ![]() Others included Musty (Swiss Family Robinson), Mr. The first big dog star to appear from Spitzs stable was Buck the Saint Bernard who co-starred with Clark Gable and Loretta Young in Call of the Wild (1935). It was too expensive for studios to create their own specially trained dogs so Spitz suddenly found himself in big demand.Ĭanine stars soon began to emerge such as Prince Carl, the Great Dane appearing in Wuthering Heights (1939). This one was followed by the John Barrymore classic, Moby Dick (1930). His first sound film was Big Boy (1930) starring Al Jolson in which he trained two Great Danes. The transition to sound films required Spitz to drop his verbal commands and develop a series of soundless visual hand signals. We have grammar school, high school and college.Īt first his services were for the public but soon the movies came calling. This is a school, where dogs go to classes just like children, Spitz said. Sometime around 1935 he moved the facilities one mile north to a ten-acre spot at 12350 Riverside Drive, where he remained for almost twenty years. Leaving Germany, Spitz arrived in New York in 1926, moved briefly to Chicago and soon found himself in Los Angeles, where, the following year he opened his first dog training school at 12239 Ventura Boulevard. He saw Red Cross dogs search for dying men in no mans landand he devoted his life to educating mans best friend. Spitz trained dogs for military and police service in World War days. The German-born Spitz first took up the work of schooling dogs in Heidelberg where his father and grandfather were dog trainers. The dogs, like all other actors, employed a managerthe amiable Carl Spitzwho drove as hard a bargain for his clients as any other agent in Hollywood. It featured southern exposure, long runs to each kennel, a large grass playground, showers in each section, and several porcelain bathtubs with hot and cold water, an electric drier and a special kitchen where, every day, a tempting cauldron full of vegetable and beef bone soup was cooked for dinners of the distinguished boarders. Three hundred feet back from the road stood a cream colored frame house and back of it were two kennels, each 150 feet long. The school was set on a pleasant ten-acre site, covered with oaks and willows, near Laurel Canyon Boulevard five miles north of Hollywood. They had their own hotelThe Hollywood Dog Training Schoolwhere at one time, seventy-five of the best known dogs of the screen lived in tranquil comfort. The most indulged of all the spoiled lovelies of Hollywood during the Golden Age were the canine actors who worked in films.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |