10 September: Rin Tin Tin

Rin Tin Tin, a movie star dog was born on this date in 1918. 10 things you might not know about Rin Tin Tin:

1. Rin Tin Tin was a German Shepherd Dog who was born in France.
2. He was a rescued dog in quite a literal sense. The village he was born in was bombed by the Germans in 1918 when he was just a puppy. A soldier named Lee Duncan was surveying the ruined village when he came across a damaged dog kennel. Inside were a mother Alsatian and her puppies, one of which was Rin Tin Tin. He got the dogs out and cared for them until they were weaned, and then found homes for them. He kept two of the puppies for himself, Rin Tin Tin and a female called Nannette. Sadly Nannette didn't survive the trip to America. Duncan bought another female German Shepherd puppy which he named Nannette II.
3. Duncan used to enter Rin Tin Tin in dog shows. Rinty, as Duncan nicknamed him, didn't always do well at dog shows because he tended to behave quite aggressively. However, in one show he performed a leap of nearly 12 feet, which netted him the prize. As it happened, Duncan's friend Charley Jones was filming the event and when they watched he footage of the leap in slow motion, realised Duncan's dog had star quality.
4. Rinty suffered a broken leg when a bundle of Newspapers fell on him. However, he recovered from that and went on to perform the leap mentioned above.
5. Once he realised Rinty could be a star, Duncan did the rounds of small Hollywood studios, pitching his pet. Eventually his chance came when a wolf on the set of a film called The Man From Hell's River refused to perform as directed. The director realised a trained dog that looked a bit like a wolf would be easier to work with, so Rinty got his break.
6. His first starring role was in Where the North Begins in 1923. Rinty's popularity in this movie is credited with saving Warner Brothers from going bankrupt. He went on to make 24 more films. As well as films, he starred in adverts for dog food.
7. There is a Hollywood legend that says that at the first Academy Award contest, Rin Tin Tin was voted Best Actor by members of the Academy, but didn't get the award because the Academy didn't think the awards would be taken seriously if a dog won. Actually, that isn't true. The original votes are still kept in the Academy archives so the tale was easily debunked.
8. Rin Tin Tin and Nannette II had 48 or more puppies together. Duncan kept a couple of them and sold the rest or gave them away as gifts. Greta Garbo and Jean Harlow both owned dogs which were descended from Rin Tin Tin.
9. Rin Tin Tin died at Duncan's home in 1932. Rumours that he died on a film set or in Jean Harlow's arms were not true. Duncan buried his dog in his garden, although when the Great Depression forced him to sell his house he used some of the proceeds to have Rinty's remains moved to a pet cemetery in Paris.
10. On 8 February 1960, Rin Tin Tin was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Since Duncan never got around to patenting the name of Rin Tin Tin, Rinty's descendants continue to make films under the name. In 2011 he received a legacy award from the American Humane Association and a 12th generation descendant received the award on his behalf.

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