Book Board Chat

Rin Tin Tin … A New Biography

He was a silent film star who could leap 12-foot walls. He could charm Oscar voters and inspire devotion from obsessed humans, Rin Tin Tin "never died," says this new biography. "He was an idea, an ideal, a hero, a friend, a fighter, a caretaker, a mute genius, a companionable loner," Susan Orlean writes in Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend. [Hardbound ISBN - 1439190135} Maybe Lassie was prettier, but Rin Tin Tin was a real hero on a World War I battlefield in France. The German shepherd and his littermates were rescued in 1918 from a bombed-out kennel. The American who found him devoted his life to the dog.

Only six silent films survive of the 20-plus Rinty made, helping Warner Bros. prosper. In the 1920s, the dog earned almost eight times what Warner paid human actors. Orlean spent eight years researching Rinty and intertwines his story with American culture: the movies, TV, treatment of animals, favorite breeds, publicity stunts and lawsuits over rights to the Rinty's legacy. Orlean is on a book tour. Here is an edited version of an interview.

Q • What is the main reason for Rin Tin Tin's appeal?
A • I have a couple of answers for that. He had charisma. He also had the devotion of not just Lee Duncan (the soldier who found him), but Burt Leonard (the movie producer). These people were devoted to the idea of keeping his story alive. Lee Duncan felt this dog had a magic that was exceptional.

Q • Why didn't being a German shepherd, count against him during war years?
A • German Shepherds were the U.S. Army's official dog. Their identity canceled out the identity of them as "German." The Hollywood version of Rin Tin Tin's origins often skipped delicately over the fact that he was born as a German war dog. I think people understand that dogs have no real nationality.

Q • Do young kids know who Rin Tin Tin is?
A • Depends. A film came out a few years ago, and there was a TV show in the '80s called "Rin Tin Tin: K-9 Cop." Rin Tin Tin isn't well-known, but there is something interesting to say about him.

Q • Lassie, is better known than the action hero Rin Tin Tin. Did you watch "Lassie" as a child?
A • Oh, yes. I loved Lassie. My sister was a Lassie person, so I had to be a Rin Tin Tin person.

Q • Have the descendants of Rin Tin Tin escaped the health issues of the German shepherd breed?
A • They were carefully bred with consciousness of their value. The direct line of Rin Tin Tin dogs, as far as I know, was quite healthy. None of the descendants had quite as much charisma as the original. Also none had that “magic” connection with a human.

Q • Why do most recent dog books or movies seem goofy ("Snow Dogs," "Beethoven," "Marley & Me," etc.), not necessarily heroic?
A • That is a big change. You don't see that same figure of a heroic dog. Dogs are more comic, more playful and they're companions. And a lot of the dogs in pop culture now are naughty dogs, bad dogs. There is some enjoyment in the idea of the naughty dog. We find increasingly that the only heroes are cartoon characters. It's a different world. The other thing is that technology for film has made the sort of "feats" of a dog less amazing. ... You're sort of marveling more at the accomplishments of technology.

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/orlean-explains-rin-tin-tin-s-appeal-in-new-book/article_35cfe54e-2cc2-5f0b-a687-6a2e252aa27d.html

“Fascinating . . . The sweeping story of the soulful German shepherd who was born on the battlefields of World War I, immigrated to America, conquered Hollywood, struggled in the transition to the talkies, helped mobilize thousands of dog volunteers against Hitler and himself emerged victorious as the perfect family-friendly icon of cold war gunslinging, thanks to the new medium of television. . . . Do dogs deserve biographies? In Rin Tin Tin Susan Orlean answers that question resoundingly in the affirmative . . . By the end of this expertly told tale, she may persuade even the most hardened skeptic that Rin Tin Tin belongs on Mount Rushmore with George Washington and Teddy Roosevelt, or at least somewhere nearby with John Wayne and Seabiscuit.”

New York Times Book Review