Old Yeller

Everyone has at least one movie that has pulled on their heart strings and made tears well up in their eyes. Old Yeller was this movie for me, the first of many. I know the death of Old Yeller wasn't Mr. Disney's fault. Yes, the dog dies! Shot by its owner, a teenage boy forced to be a man while his father is away on a cattle drive. I put the blame on Fred Gipson. There is a great difference between reading a tragic moment and hearing the gun shot and seeing the heart breaking emotions played on screen.

Teachers always instruct students to "write what you know." Fred Gipson did exactly this. Growing up in Texas Hill Country exploring the rugged terrain, hunting it's dangerous wildlife, and listening to hand-me-down tales on the front porch of his family tree ,inspiration came to him. " My grandfather owned a big yellow stray dog ("Rattlers"- named from killing rattlesnakes) who could throw wild range cattle and who once rescued him from a meat-eating hog. Out of these and other true incidents I wrote the story of Old Yeller," said Gipson.

It was 1955 and Gipson thought children books at the time were too sweet and needed a dose of realism. He wrote feverishly, completing the story in just three months with Big Yeller Dog as the original title. You may be wondering where the name Old Yeller came from. Gipson explains that its a dialect pronunciation of yellow and the fact his bark sounds more like a human yell. The tale was serialized in Collier Magazine and appeared also in Saturday Evening Post where the right eyes were looking at it. Even before the novel hit the bookshelves Walt Disney bought the movie rights. Gipson's book became an instant hit, winning the 1957 Newbery Honor. With the popularity of Old Yeller, Fred Gipson went on to write two more novels based on the Coates Family, Savage Sam( 1962) and Little Arliss ( 1978- published after his death) .

Disney worked fast hiring Fred Gipson to write the screenplay alongside William Tunberg. Most of the story stayed the same. Fred Gipson added a runaway mule scene to replace the books bullfighting scene, which would be too difficult to film. Some thought the ending was too harsh and should be change to be the typical Disney happy ending. Walt demanded the tale stay the same, guaranteeing our emotions be played with. He used director Robert Stevenson, who had just done Johnny Tremain for Disney. Stevenson would go on to be one of Disney's most prolific and successful directors, with hits such as Mary Poppins, The Absent-Minded Professor, The Love Bug, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

Securing the father role of Jim Coates was Disney's go-to lead actor at the time, Fess Parker. This role was perfect for Fess since his family grew up around the same area of Texas as Fred Gipson's family. Their fathers actually knew each other. Cementing the role of Jim's wife Katie was Dorothy McGuire, a newcomer to the Disney Family. She would stay on with the family playing many more mother roles, including the one in Swiss Family Robinsons. For the Coates two sons, Walt turned to the Mickey Mouse Club where Tommy Kirk (Travis) and Kevin Corcoran (Arliss) were becoming more standout stars. The two would star in many films together, so much so that one might think they were actual brothers. Even Tommy Kirk said so in an interview, "We were like brothers. He ( Kevin) was a natural. Hard-working professional, very bright, missed nothing, and only 10 years old."

The only character left to cast was the star of the film, Old Yeller. Four years earlier a shabby golden lab named Spike sat in a dog shelter in Van Nuys, California not aware soon he would be made a star. Frank Weatherwax, famous dog trainer of Lassie, received a phone call from a friend who thought Spike could have potential in films. "He was all head and feet, but he looked smart," recalled Weatherwax. Spike's freedom from the shelter came at the cost of just three dollars. That may seem like a deal but then he went onto spend four years and twenty-thousand dollars worth of training before his big break in Old Yeller. Frank's wife came across a serialized story of Old Yeller in the Saturday Evening Post. She loved the story and the description of Old Yeller made her think of Spike. Soon Spike was auditioning for Disney and landed the part.

Production began in mid-winter and Texas was under six feet of snow at the time, so the 1860's Texas Hills were created in California. Disney spent a huge chunk of change to make the whole homestead look authentic. Forty men spent three weeks hauling oak logs from a forest 200 miles away, splitting the shakes by hand to create the Coates Family cabin. This task alone cost $30,000. Corn was out of season so they used a hothouse and planted 5,000 corn stalks in flower pots and then transplanted them outdoors to make a corn field (this cost production another $5,000). I guess fake corn stalks weren't good enough. No homestead farm would be complete without farm animals and other wildlife, but of course the task of collecting them would require shipping animals from other states. Buzzards were brought in from Florida, reptiles from Texas and Arizona, squirrels from Kentucky even arrived, though they were supposed to be hibernating. Jackrabbits and wild hogs were wrangled up, and expecting mother cows had the Disney crew working around their schedule to make sure they catch the birthing. Craziness. But wait, we are not done! With all these animals come the need for handlers, trainers, veterinarians, and the American Humane Association, all observing to make sure the animals are treated right ($40,000 for the bunch).

Watching Old Yeller, one may think otherwise

that the animals are safe. Old Yeller fights wild hogs, a wolf and a bear and they all look pretty realistic. But that's the beauty of movie magic. There were months of advance training for these scenes. The wolf was actually a German Shepard and was taught to play fight and was muzzled so no real damage could be done. For the bear scene, a nine year old movie bear named Doug was brought in. Both Spike and Doug were kept on leashes and had lots of training time to become acquainted with each other, learning each other's advantages and playing off those. Spike was very agile and Doug had his strength. "Both Spike and Doug knew exactly what to do," said Buster Matlock, an American Humane Association representative. "Also they were protected. They kicked up a lot of commotion and made it look good for the cameras, but when the dust cleared neither one had even a scratch."

Post-war production came in handy adding the different sound effects like a growling bear using a lamp chimney. Recycled sound of dogs from Lady and the Tramp were used to save time and money. Movies always use little tricks here and there to catch a shot. Beverly Washburn who plays Lisbeth Searcy ( the young girl who comes to help out the Coates family) revealed Gerber Chicken baby food was blended on her face to get the small puppy to lick her face. So if you really want doggy kisses go grab yourself some baby food.

Old Yeller had several premieres starting in late November 1957 and a few around Christmas time before being released to more theaters in January. The box office totaled $21.9 million ($6,250,000 US/Canadian rentals). The early premieres were something special. Walt Disney was a smart guy and created special events to spread interest in the film and even help out charities like the March of Dimes. Fess Parker paid admission for seventy- five underprivileged boys to watch the film at the Fox Wilshire Theatre premiere in Beverly Hills.

The most unique premieres were at the New York Coliseum and Metropolitan Theatre in Houston, Texas where dog owners could bring their dogs to watch the film together. What a sight to see! Theater-goers and critics loved the film. Grown men were left blubbering in their seats. The critics consensus claimed that, " Old Yeller is an exemplary coming of age tale, packing an emotional wallop through smart pacing and a keen understanding of the elemental bonding between humanity and their first best friends." Disney discovered the gold of "a boy and his dog" stories and would go onto make several more doggy films including Fred Gipson's follow up Savage Sam. Old Yeller has become such a Disney classic that I hope future generations can treasure it too.

"Here, Yeller! Come back, Yeller! Best doggone dog in the West!"