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    Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend
    Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend
    Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend
    Audiobook12 hours

    Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend

    Written by Susan Orlean

    Narrated by Susan Orlean

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    From Susan Orlean—acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book—Rin Tin Tin is “an unforgettable book about the mutual devotion between one man and one dog” (The Wall Street Journal).

    He believed the dog was immortal.

    So begins Susan Orlean’s sweeping, powerfully moving account of Rin Tin Tin’s journey from abandoned puppy to international movie-star dog who appeared in twenty-seven films throughout the 1920s. Spanning almost one hundred years of history, from the dog’s improbable discovery on a battlefield in 1918 by an American soldier to his tumultuous rise through Hollywood and beyond, Rin Tin Tin is a love story and "a masterpiece" (Chicago Tribune) that is also a quintessentially American story of reinvention, a captivating exploration of our spiritual bond with animals, and a stirring meditation on mortality and immortality.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateSep 27, 2011
    ISBN9781442344976
    Author

    Susan Orlean

    Susan Orlean has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992. She is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including The Library Book, Rin Tin Tin, Saturday Night, and The Orchid Thief, which was made into the Academy Award–winning film Adaptation. She lives with her family and her animals in Los Angeles and may be reached at SusanOrlean.com and on Twitter @SusanOrlean.

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    Reviews for Rin Tin Tin

    3.5/5

    154 ratings22 reviews

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    • 5/5
      "There Will Always Be A Rin Tin Tin" (Lee Duncan)From a pup who miraculously survived a French battlefield in 1918 to movie star and international icon.I not only found the Rinti legacy (with ups and downs and legal squabbles)but a mini anthology of the inception of animal presence in movie and TV and some of the programs I watched as a child on our "first" TV.There was talk of the tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers and Naked City and I almost could hear the Lassie's theme song...and see both Jeff and then Timmy.Coincidentally, the day I finished the story, our 16 yr old pet dog died.So......there was solace in stepping back into childhood.---------This book is for the animal lover and also has that pleasant review of movies (silent and talkies) and the beginnings of notable television.
    • 5/5
      Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean

      ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ heart

      Wow. I don't even know what to say about this book that would even begin to do it justice. I watched Rin Tin Tin, the TV show, as a kid (in re-run form of course, as I was born about 30 years too late to see the original). But I was unaware of the full history of the dog. He was more than just a character – he was a real dog whose legacy would live on well past the first Rin Tin Tin. And this book isn't just about the dog and his decedents, it's about the making and changing of movies and shows through a century, about the owner who loved him, the fans that adored him, life, love, and heroism. The author did an extraordinary amount of research and took nearly a decade to finish to book. She delves into so many aspects and the people that made the legend of Rin Tin Tin possible, from the owner, to trainers, to producers, fans, and many other people. She even delves into her own story and how she feels she connects to it all. I like how the author doesn't detach herself from the story but includes her narration and journey through it all. This book is definitely well written. If I could have just kept reading this book without pause, I would have. Very well done. If you ever grew up a fan of Rin Tin Tin or just love dogs in general, this is a great read. Recommended for many.
    • 5/5
      In movies and on television, the German shepherd known as Rin Tin Tin seemed almost human. As Susan Orlean reports in her excellent book "Rin Tin Tin," the dog often seemed almost human in real life, too. Consider:- The dog's name and number were once listed in the Los Angeles telephone directory.- He earned more for his movies than human actors did, once making $1,000 a week for a silent picture when the lead human actor made only $150.- Rin Tin Tin was named a co-respondent in a divorce case, a position normally taken by the other woman.- In Academy Awards voting one year, Rin Tin Tin got the most votes in the Best Actor category, although Emil Jannings was eventually given the Oscar.Rin Tin Tin's entire story is an amazing one, starting with his discovery, along with other puppies, on a French battlefield at the close of World War I by Lee Duncan, an American soldier. Duncan brought the dog home with him at the end of the war, trained him and eventually turned him into one of the biggest stars of the silent era in Hollywood. Decades later, one of his descendants using the same name became a huge star in a popular television series (although other dogs actually appeared on the screen).Yet Orlean's book is not just the story of a famous dog. It is also the story of the less famous people behind the dog, including Duncan, who made Rin Tin Tin the center of his life; Bert Leonard, a colorful Hollywood producer responsible for "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin" on television in the 1950s (he also produced "Route 66" and "Naked City"); and Janniettia Brodsgaard and Daphne Hereford, two Texas women responsible for keeping Rin Tin Tin's breeding line alive.Of course, to that list must now be added the name of Susan Orlean, whose long research and excellent story-telling ability have brought Rin Tin Tin back into the public eye.
    • 4/5
      I didn't know that RIn Tin Tin was a real dog that just happened to be an actor. I didn't know that Rinty was rescued from a WWI battlefield by the man who became his trainer, his advocate and his person, Lee Duncan. This is a many layered story, all revolving around the dog, the entity and the legend. The people who were passionate about the dog and his offspring as well as those who were interested in keeping the concept of the wonder dog alive are all in the story. Orlean does a great job researching all who came into contact with Rinty, whether it be as a lover of the shepherd breed, a fan of the character he played or those wanting to keep the idea alive and make their fortunes. Good book. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      An interesting look at movie and TV history and the multiple dogs and personalities behind the scenes. The author did a splendid job narrating her own book.
    • 3/5
      While serving during World War I serviceman Lee Duncan came across a little of new born German Shepherd puppies. He took two for himself and gave the others to other soldiers. The two he kept he named Nannette and Rintintin. Unfortunately the little female Nannette died, but Rintintin grew up to be a star.

      Orlean’s traces Rin Tin Tin’s development from his first roles as a stand-in for a wolf in motion pictures to his staring role in blockbuster films, and then his decline in popularity as the years go by.

      Of course the film star of Rin Tin Tin was not just one dog. Or at least, not for long. At first Rinty was the star and did his own stunts and everything. Later he had stand-ins, and different dogs would play different versions of Rin Tin Tin, from playful to ferocious. And after the death of Rin Tin Tin a variety of his descendants took on his mantel, and even other dogs pretending to be Rinty while the “real” Rin Tin Tin descendant stayed at home playing the role of ranch dog.

      But it is more than simply a look at a dog family. It is, rather, an examination of the role these German shepherds played in the lives of the men and women they touched. Duncan seems to have focused all his attentions and passions on the dog and promoting Rinty as a premier example of dogness.

      She looks at how society changed over the years of Rin Tin Tin’s popularity and what he seemed to have represented to Americans, and other people whereever his films and later his television show played. But it isn’t a sociological examination either. Instead it is an examination of an obsession. Duncan’s obsession with his dog. America’s obsession with this canine hero. And all the others since then who have devoted their lives to keeping the memory of Rin Tin Tin alive.

      I’m not so sure his memory is alive any longer, not over here anyway, I’d say very few children today would recognise the name, although I might be wrong.

      All in all I found this a fairly entertaining book. I don’t think I’d be rushing out to buy it, or recommending that many people read it though. Solid would be an apt description, and that isn’t really a ringing endorsement, is it?
    • 3/5
      Orlean traces the history of the many Rin Tin Tins and his masters from WWI to the present. Interesting review for anyone who has lived through a bit of the Rin Tin Tin legend.
    • 4/5
      In the beginning, there was an orphaned German Shepherd puppy in the war-torn fields of World War One France, and a young American soldier who had spent a lot of his life lonely and isolated, and part of it in an orphanage. The young soldier was Lee Duncan; the orphan puppy became Rin Tin Tin, a leading canine actor of the silent movie period.

      It’s easy to misunderstand that last bit, today, when animals in movies almost always play a comic role and are foils for the human actors. During the silent era, animal actors were on a much more equal footing with human actors, because neither had the advantage of speech. Rin Tin Tin, along with other dog actors, played a range of dramatic roles comparable to a human actor, and Rinty, as Duncan called him, was a major movie star. He was smart, highly trainable, and learned to express a wide range of emotions. Duncan took him home from France (an adventure in itself), trained him, and eventually started making the rounds of the movie studios, campaigning for a “break” for his beloved dog.

      Orlean gives us the very human story of Duncan’s mostly isolated childhood, his pre-war happy employment in the gun department of a sporting goods store, and, after his return home from the war with the puppy Rin Tin Tin, his discovery that the experience of war had made him permanently uncomfortable around guns. He needed to find another way to support himself, and time spent with his dog was the surest way to ground himself and remain functional. (Many soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have had remarkably similar experiences, including the steadying benefits of a companion dog, whether brought home from the war zone or not.) Rinty gets his chance, becomes a big star, and he and Duncan are living the good life.

      Then Rinty gets older, less able to do his really athletic stunts, and the Depression hits. Lee Duncan was, as a businessman, honest and naive, and got hurt badly by the financial crash. But he never gave up, and he believed in the idea of Rin Tin Tin as much as in the specific dog he brought home from France. This is also the story of the descendants and maybe-descendants of the original Rin Tin Tin, and Duncan’s dedicated efforts to keep the idea and the ideal of Rin Tin Tin alive. This includes the incarnation of Rin Tin Tin that both Orlean and I knew as children: the tv show set in the American west, decades before the original Rin Tin Tin was born. That tv show was created by producer Bert Leonard, who became as dedicated a supporter of Rin Tin Tin as Duncan himself.
      Both Duncan and Leonard experienced success because of Rin Tin Tin, but also paid a real price for a dedication that went beyond the pragmatic and, in business terms, beyond the sensible. This is a fascinating look at not only the dogs who were Rin Tin Tin, but the people around them, and the impact this dog had on their professional, personal, and family lives.

      Recommended.

      I bought this book.
    • 3/5
      I liked Orchid Thief better. It was still interesting to read about the early days of Hollywood and the emergence of animals from working on the farm to pets.
    • 3/5
      If you are a dog lover, this book is for you! Fascinating tales of the dog called Rin Tin Tin, his descendants and the people around him.

      I found this book well written with many interesting factoids on the dog and the world around him. For my tastes, I would have liked to know more about the day to day of Rin Tin Tin. Susan Orlean focused more on the people around Rin Tin Tin and the external impacts that affected the dog. She focused a lot on Lee Duncan, owner and trainer. Later on the book other characters like Herbert Leonard and Daphne Brodsgaard came into play. For about the first 3rd of the book the focus was on "Rinty" as he was called. But then the focus became more on on Rin Tin Tin's legacy.

      Although interesting, I felt that the book didn't really center on the impact Rin Tin Tin had as much as the soap opera dealings after the original Rin Tin Tin died. The idea of "There will always be a Rin Tin Tin" was far greater than the accomplishments of the original Rin Tin Tin. This is why I thought the book was good, but not great. About mid book, the story became tedious with the legalities of copyright ownership, people being greedy over the legacy of the dog. In the end, as with all things, the legend of Rin Tin Tin faded from memory, leaving only this tome behind to remember him by.
    • 4/5
      Orlean's such a wonderfully solid nonfiction writer, and always a pleasure to read. This is a great story, and she brings in just the right elements of 20th- (and some 21st-) century cultural mores, a bit about what makes biographers tick, and a lot about the people drawn into the orbit of Rin Tin Tin—all of them (and there were many, over many generations). Good reading, and I know something more about American life than when I went in.
    • 4/5
      I loved this book! I watched Rin Tin Tin on television back in the 50's and I think that made this book even better. Not sure if my grown children would be able to appreciate it as much as I did. Susan Orlean certainly did her homework on this book. It took her 10 years to complete and it covers 100 years. I found it fascinating and kept reading it out loud to my very patient husband! The fact that the original Rin Tin Tin was in silent movies, and made much more money than the actors was unknown to me. There is so much more here about World War I, movies and early television and the animals belonging to them that kept me reading into the night. This is a book that I have a hard time not talking about to everyone. Highly recommended!
    • 4/5
      I wanted to read RIN TIN TIN when it was new, but didn't. Found it at a local thrift shop a couple weeks ago, which maybe should have been a clue that it wasn't a keeper. Because it's really not, and was in fact a disappointment. But to be fair, I'm not really sure exactly what I expected. And author Susan Orlean certainly did her homework on this iconic if now nearly forgotten canine star of movies and television. And yes, Rin Tin Tin is pretty much a forgotten footnote of silent films and early TV by now. I told my daughter (who is 36) I was reading RIN TIN TIN, and she had no idea who/what it was.But I'm seventy, so of course I remember Rinty from the TV show I watched religiously 50-60 years ago, and it was enjoyable escape fare, as were a lot of other now nearly forgotten kids' shows, like Fury, Buffalo Bill, Jr., Wild Bill Hickock and Annie Oakley. What set Rin Tin Tin apart from those shows was the dog's history - a real flesh-and-blood puppy rescued from the wreckage of the First World War by a young man who was kind of an orphan himself. Lee Duncan was a loner and a lover of animals, particularly dogs, and, for most of his life, he tried to recapture the importance of that one dog found on a battlefield in war-torn France. Through a series of serendipitous circumstances, Duncan was able to get his dog into the movies, a brand new entertainment medium at the time, and Rin Tin Tin was indeed an international superstar in the 1920s, and in the 1950s his star (a different dog by this time, of course) was polished up again for TV in "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin," with co-stars Rusty, Rip and Biff. But let's face it: it has been over fifty years since the end of all that, so ... Well, it's a story that might appeal to the fifty and over crowd, but not so much anyone else. And quite frankly, despite Orlean's obvious enthusiasm for her subject and her dedicated research and travels over a several-year period, the story doesn't always hang together that well, and seems pieced and cobbled together in order to incorporate just about everything she discovered in those years. There's as much as she could find out about Lee Duncan, who was a very private man, and something of a dreamer. There's a lot more about the history of films, the beginning of television and especially about Bert Leonard, the ambitious and combative producer who brought Rinty back as a TV star, and a bunch more about some possibly near-demented woman in Texas who kept on breeding dogs from the Rin Tin Tin line for decades, and then all the numerous lawsuits over who 'owned' the rights to Rin Tin Tin and his name for decades after. Orlean admits that in her own obsession to get all of Rin Tin Tin's story, she might have gotten a little crazy herself. Well, yeah, maybe, Susan.Towards the end of this long and twisted narrative, the author asks: "What is it about Rin Tin Tin that was so compelling?" Well, sadly, maybe nothing. It seems to me, despite all the information about Rinty and his various connections that Orlean digs up and lays out here - and there's a lot - that Rin Tin Tin is, ultimately, not much more than a small footnote in the history of the entertainment industry. He was fun while he was with us, and yeah, I readily admit to many hours of enjoyment at ten or twelve years old sprawled in front of our first black and white TV following the adventures of Rusty and Rinty and the Ft Apache troops. All a loooong time ago. So - while I didn't dislike the book, I have to wonder if it was really worthy of years of travel and research and over three hundred pages. I will let other readers make up their own minds. Guardedly recommended, but probably only if you were a kid in the fifties.
    • 5/5
      The history of Rin Tin Tin which started in 1918 France towards the end of WWI. I found the story interesting of how he was found and brought to the US from France then the knocking on doors to get into the movies in 1920's Hollywood. There was a rough period when the talkies come to Hollywood but WWII gives Rinty new life as does the advent of television. I liked learning of how Rin Tin Tin fit into the history of the past 20 years. It is sad that he is now tied up in lawsuits of ownership of the dog and the name.
    • 2/5
      I've liked other books by Orlean much better. There wasn't so much meat here as I expected, somehow. The official story of Rin Tin Tin is odd, full of half-truths and outright lies, strange characters and broken hearts. There's nothing cheerful anywhere- not the dogs, not the owners, not the companies promoting same. I liked the original story of how the original puppy was found, but the rest was pretty grim reading.
    • 4/5
      I can't recall ever seeing a Rin Tin Tin film or television episode but I was somehow aware of the phenomenon like Lassie, Benji and other famous pooches. Orlean's offers a fascinating and engrossing story about how Rin Tin Tin went from being an actual dog by that name to a legend embodying the personality and virtues any german shephard with the right look, training and talent could portray.
    • 3/5
      Interesting look at the Rin Tin Tin phenomenon from the silent film to talkies to the tv show. The book explores Rin Tin Tin’s original owner, Lee Duncan’s life, from at one point being abandoned by his mother in an orphanage to finding the German Shepherd puppies in a bombed out kennel in WWI Germany. Duncan’s attachment to the dog is extraordinary, so much so that at one point his first wife named the dog as correspondent in their divorce. Duncan’s determination to tell the story of the dog by knocking on doors in Hollywood and finally getting picked up by Warner Brothers is the typical Hollywood star discovery story but in this case, it was true. However, after the success of the films, the stories did not transition as well to the sound era but Duncan never seemed to give up. He continued breeding the dogs, looking for another that had the personality of the first, but never seeming to find it, and eventually died broke. He always wanted to tell the original story of the finding of Rin Tin Tin in that bombed out kennel and Rin Tin Tin's rise to fame but never got to. The story transitions to Herbert Leonard who produced the Rin Tin Tin tv series and always wanted to produce another tv series once the original one was cancelled. Then there is Daphne Hereford, who started with 4 puppies who were descendents of the original Rin Tin Tin and who is continuing the blood line with Rin Tin Tin XII. It is a fascinating story as the author visited many of the locations where Rin Tin Tin and/or Duncan were connected to the small town in France where Duncan found the puppy to the Corriganville ranch where the tv series was shot to the Riverside library where all of Duncan's papers from his "Memory Room" are stored. Interviews with Duncan’s daughter and those involved in the tv series as well as Daphne Hereford gives the book a well-rounded look at the story of Rin Tin Tin from WWI to the present day. I found the initial part on the original Rin Tin Tin the most interesting as well as Duncan’s persistent in keeping the legend of Rin Tin Tin alive. Once the book got into the television series, it seemed the people involved were more concerned about making money than preserving the Rin Tin Tin legacy. Additionally the book did wander off into the history of dogs in American homes in the 20th century, some of which had no relation to the Rin Tin Tin story at all and could have been covered in another book. Additionally, I would have liked lots more photographs as they were barely existent in the book. A complete filmography, tv list of all the appearances Rin Tin Tin or dogs called Rin Tin Tin would have also made the book more complete.
    • 3/5
      An interesting story. Rin Tin Tin was a Hollywood wonder, a happily ever after fairy tale, for a while. A good story, interesting people, the kind of thing that supposedly can't happen anymore. You certainly wouldn't get the feel-good, stories with morals that you got back then. Fairly well written, but especially toward the end, the author can't help inserting herself into the story. She should have stepped back a little.
    • 3/5
      What baby boomer doesn't remember Rin Tin Tin from the early days of television? That & the fact that I really liked Orlean's book, The Orchid Thief drew me to this book. The story of the original Rin Tin Tin being found in war-torn France during World War I is interesting, but even more interesting is the affect of the dog (and his subsequent incarnations) on his owner and others who were involved in advancing the dog's legend.The book falls apart at the end as the author tried to ferret out all of today's connections to "Rinty," but the first two-thirds of the book are fascinating.
    • 5/5
      Rin Tin Tin as "dog" is a minor part of the story. The people who loved him, his story, and what they felt he stood for are at the center of the marvelously researched tale. It begins with the adoption of a war dog puppy in World War I and ends in obsession and, in the American Way, in litigation. Orlean includes herself in those obsessed by the Rin Tin Tin phenomenon, and it has led to a true treat of a book for all of us.
    • 3/5
      I so wanted to love this book because I'm a big fan of Susan Orlean's work and I love dogs. But there was too much Susan and not enough Rin Tin Tin.
    • 4/5
      This book is a fascinating account of the real life Rin Tin Tin and his owner Lee Duncan, as well as the early days of the entertainment industry from silent film and vaudeville reaching all the way to television. We also learn of the immense contributions of animals to the war effort of WWI and WWII, with the United States finally bringing in the use of trained dogs in WWII. Susan Orlean has done an amazing job of research for this book and has tied it all together in a compelling narrative. Certainly the bond that Lee Duncan had with Rinty is the stuff legends are made of. Long live Rin Tin Tin!