On the 98th anniversary of the release of A Dog's Life, here is a touching little story about Charlie and the dogs in the film. Evidently he wanted to adopt them all.
Well, Charlie apparently wasn't always quite so concerned with the dogs' welfare. From Rollie re. shooting A Dog's Life:
"We had the thing all fenced in with wire screen. And we got a bunch of dogs from the pound, and they were running' wild all over the place - running' up against the screen, and he was chosen' around after 'em and everything. We had to pan to keep 'im in, he said, 'Keep me in! Keep me in!' And Jeezus, pan over and we'd get - they'd be getting' into the wire, into the mesh. And I said, 'We can't use a thing like that. We have to keep 'em in the center or you'll see a wire fence all around the place, which isn't there.' 'Get me. Don't worry about wire or anything. Get me! Get me!' And then you'd start cranking' that, the dog would do somethin', you'd start crankin' and all at a sudden he'd say, 'Jeez, don't crank. You're wastin' a lot of film. For goodness sake's, wait til something starts.' You'd pause a minute and the dog would do something and that, and he'd say, 'Shoot it. Shoot it! Shoot it!' Jeez, you had to be on the... watchin' every move. We had the hand cranking at that time, it was no cinch. Dogs jumpin' here and there and all over the place. And he had a little dog tied to another dog that was, this dog was supposed to pick this dog up. He had him tied with some string or something, lined onto another dog, pulled away and we'd see the string and everything else."
First off...what is a "kiyi"? Secondly, I REALLY don't see Charlie bathing the dogs himself, especially after reading in Charlie Jr.'s book that he would wash his hands when a dog would even lick at them. LOL...this article reads like a publicity stunt!
Well, Charlie apparently wasn't always quite so concerned with the dogs' welfare. From Rollie re. shooting A Dog's Life:
ReplyDelete"We had the thing all fenced in with wire screen. And we got a bunch of dogs from the pound, and they were running' wild all over the place - running' up against the screen, and he was chosen' around after 'em and everything. We had to pan to keep 'im in, he said, 'Keep me in! Keep me in!' And Jeezus, pan over and we'd get - they'd be getting' into the wire, into the mesh. And I said, 'We can't use a thing like that. We have to keep 'em in the center or you'll see a wire fence all around the place, which isn't there.' 'Get me. Don't worry about wire or anything. Get me! Get me!' And then you'd start cranking' that, the dog would do somethin', you'd start crankin' and all at a sudden he'd say, 'Jeez, don't crank. You're wastin' a lot of film. For goodness sake's, wait til something starts.' You'd pause a minute and the dog would do something and that, and he'd say, 'Shoot it. Shoot it! Shoot it!' Jeez, you had to be on the... watchin' every move. We had the hand cranking at that time, it was no cinch. Dogs jumpin' here and there and all over the place. And he had a little dog tied to another dog that was, this dog was supposed to pick this dog up. He had him tied with some string or something, lined onto another dog, pulled away and we'd see the string and everything else."
Thanks for sharing that! I don't know how Charlie was able to keep track of those dogs without going crazy.
DeleteFirst off...what is a "kiyi"? Secondly, I REALLY don't see Charlie bathing the dogs himself, especially after reading in Charlie Jr.'s book that he would wash his hands when a dog would even lick at them. LOL...this article reads like a publicity stunt!
ReplyDeletePerhaps. Although he did keep dogs as pets at the studio for years, including ones that were in "A Dog's Life."
DeleteI have no idea what a kiyi is either!
I might be wrong but I think a "Kiyi" is a another word for Distressed
Deletedog or dogs.