Rin Tin Tin – September 10, 1918

This morning I lay in the bathtub thinking how wonderful it would be if I had a dog like Rin Tin Tin. I’d call him Rin Tin Tin too, and I’d take him to school with me, where he could stay in the janitor’s room or by the bicycle racks when the weather was good. – Anne Frank in The Diary of a Young Girl

Famous People and Their First Census – Well, he’s not a “people” and his name doesn’t appear on a census, but he was famous, and I have a census of his home where he lived at age 2. Rin Tin Rin was born in the French Village of Flirey to a starving mother and unknown father. He was part of a litter of five. The family were the only dogs still alive in a kennel used to supply the Imperial German Army with German Shepard dogs. They were found by an American soldier, Lee Duncan, who rescued them and nursed them back to health. He gave the mother and 3 pups to other soldiers and kept a male and a female for himself. He called them Rin Tin Tin and Nanette after Rintintin and Nénette, good luck charms that were given to American soldiers by French children. He smuggled the dogs back to the U.S. on a troop ship and took Rinty (as he called Rin Tin Tin) and Nanette II, (a replacement for Nanette who died of pneumonia shortly after arriving in the U.S.), to his home in Los Angeles by rail.

In the 1920 Census for Los Angeles, Lee Duncan, and presumably his two dogs, were lodgers on South Hope Street, with Clara Boyd, a bookkeeper, and her brother George Graham, a florist. Lee was a salesman at a sporting goods store.

Occupationally, it was a mixed neighborhood with quite a few managers and some auto technicians. There were immigrants from England, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and Switzerland in the neighborhood. Most people were relocated from within the U.S. There were only two native Californians.

Later life

Duncan entered Rinty in some German Shepard dog shows. At one, Rinty was filmed in slow motion doing a jump. This gave Duncan the idea that his dog should be in movies. Duncan walked his dog past studios looking for a break. Rinty’s first part in a film was playing a wolf in The Man from Hell’s River with Wallace Beery. He played several wolf parts before being cast as a household dog.

His first starring role was in Where the North Begins, a film credited with saving Warner Brothers from bankruptcy. Another 24 films followed. He was called “the mortgage lifter” by studio insiders. He became very popular and even had endorsement deals with Ken-L Ration and Pup-E-Crumbles. Screenwriter Daryl F. Zanuck got his start writing Rin Tin Tin stories.

Rinty was popular worldwide, especially in Berlin, Germany. He and Nanette II had at least 48 puppies together. Duncan gave most away including to Greta Garbo, W.K. Kellogg, and Jean Harlow. Rinty made mostly silent movies but was in four talkies.

Rinty died on August 10, 1932. Duncan heard a peculiar bark and found the dog on the ground, near death. Radio programming was interrupted by news flashes to announce the news of his death.

His descendants stayed in the entertainment business. Rin Tin Tin XII is currently active.

Duncan died in 1960. He never copyrighted the Rin Tin Tin name. Rinty has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The film Won Ton Ton – The Dog Who Saved Hollywood was loosely based on him.

More on Rin Tin Tin

Other happenings on September 10, 1918:

• Battle of Saint-Mihiel – American and French troops under the command of John J. Pershing launched an attack on the German-held commune of Saint-Mihiel, France. Close to 1,500 American and French aircraft were mobilized to support the ground forces, the largest force of aircraft ever assembled for a single operation.
• Battle of Havrincourt – The British 62nd, 37th, and New Zealand Divisions captured the commune of Havrincourt, France, from the Germans, the first time the Allies pierced the Hindenburg Line.
• The Red Army crossed the Volga River as it pushed back the People’s Army of Komuch away from Simbirsk, Russia.
• Royal Navy steamer Sarnia was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off Egypt by German submarine SM U-65 with the loss of 55 crew.
• The Hamburg U-Bahn rail line opened stations in Berne, Farmsen, Ohlstedt, and Wandsbek-Gartenstadt, Hamburg, Germany.
• Born: Valerie Goulding, English-Irish activist and politician, campaigner for disability rights in Ireland and co-founder of the Central Remedial Clinic in Dublin, member of the Irish Senate from 1977 to 1981, in Ightham Mote, Kent, England (d. 2003).
• Died: David Endicott Putnam, American Air Force officer, member of the 139th Aero Squadron, recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, Croix de Guerre, and Legion of Honour (killed in action over Limey-Remenauville, France) (b. 1898).
• George Reid, Australian state leader, 4th Prime Minister of Australia, 12th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1845).

Tomorrow – A Fugitive Who Lost a Race

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Sources

• Wikipedia.org
• Ancestry.com
• Onthisday.com
• Picryl.com
• Youtube.com