The Shaggy Dog

 

Move over Old Yeller, there's a new dog in town and he can drive a car. The Shaggy Dog launched a new style for Disney live-action films. While the past films had been mostly historically dramatic action films, Walt felt it was about time to add some comedy to the mix. The Shaggy Dog was the most profitable film at the box office beating out the likes of Some Like It Hot, North by Northwest and even Disney's Sleeping Beauty. Only Ben-Hur ruled over The Shaggy Dog at the box office in 1959. The crazy plot element combinations kept young audience entertained. What other film at the time could give you talks of the Cold War, plotting Russian spies, a hormonal rivalry over two different girls, and a horror fantasy about a teenage boy shapeshifting into a dog from a magical ring? Only Disney could pull this off and keep the insanity going with many more films that shared the common theme of " A story that treated the younger generation and it's problems in a light-hearted manner," as said by Walt Disney. 

Let's rewind the clock to 1930, where the

tale of the Shaggy Dog began. Well, technically it actually began in 1923 with its first publication written in German. In 1930 it was translated into English, releasing it to a wider audience. Felix Salten, an Austrian author penned, The Hound of Florence. If you know your authors his name may seem familiar. You may have even seen his name in a few Disney credits. Felix Salten created the tale of a little deer named Bambi. Walt Disney saw potential in Salten's writings and bought the film rights to five of his stories ( Bambi, Bambi's Children, Perri, City Jungle, and The Hound of Florence). Disney had no intention of actually using all five, but didn't want any other studios scooping them up. 

The Hound of Florence is a little different from The Shaggy Dog. Instead of a Leave it to Beaver mid-twentieth century American life, it takes place in 18th century Austria and Italy. The main character Lukas lost his parents and is living in poverty, longing to study art in Florence, Italy. Lukas sees the rich Archduke Ludwig and wishes he could be in the his company, deciding that even the Archduke's dog Kambyses has a better life than him. With a mysterious magic his wish is granted, but every other day he takes the form of Kambyses, the Archduke Ludwig's dog. The original story holds a sad ending for Lukas as he is in the form of Kambyses. Lukas comes to realize the Archduke is a cruel man. The dog is killed with a dagger. The English translation was tamed down to be like a Disney fairytale happily ever after with Lukas surviving the stabbing, receiving medication and reuniting with his love. The books main theme was focused on critiquing nobility, rich vs poor, but also be careful what you wish for.

Disney first took the idea of The Shaggy Dog to ABC, who was wanting a new TV series. 

"They turned me down flat," Disney recalls. "I was hopping mad when I went back to the studio, so I called in Bill Walsh and said, 'Let's make a feature of it." Without another studio footing the bill to make this feature, Walt needed to figure a way to save money just in case it was not a success. He came up with a brilliant plan. He would use TV actors who were on summer hiatus that were familiar to audiences, but not superstar actors that would demand over the top billing. The Shaggy Dog story follows the Daniels Family. Wilson Daniels, the dog-hating father was played by Fred MacMurray. MacMurray was popular in Noir films like Double Indemnity, but at this time in his career he wasn't getting too many offers. Appearing in The Shaggy Dog and joining the Disney Studio Family revived his career. MacMurray's next film, The Apartment would go on to win the Best Picture Academy Award. He tells a story about a trip to Disneyland with his daughters and how a woman approached him, " Oh Mr. MacMurray I've enjoyed your movies throughout the years. I saw The Apartment ( MacMurray played a philandering boss) last night. How could you? You spoiled the Disney image!" She whacked him over the head with her purse and stormed away. Fred became Walt Disney's favorite actor and appeared in seven Disney films. Tommy Kirk who played MacMurray's son Wilby had this to say about his co-star," He ranks up there with Cary Grant as one of the great light comics."  

Jean Hagen known for playing Lina Lamont in Singing in the Rain dropped her high pitched voice for a warm motherly one playing Freeda Daniels. Wilby and Moochie Daniels were played by Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran. Audiences were familiar with the boys from being brothers in Old 

Yeller and also in special appearances in the Mickey Mouse Club and The Hardy Boys. More recognizable faces joined the cast: Annette Funicello (Mickey Mouse Club) and Tim Considine (Spin and Marty).Though this was Annette's first film role, she received top billing even though her role was quite small compared to her other cast-mates. 

The star of the film was a long-haired Sheepdog named Sammy, actually Lillybrad's Sammy's Shadow, but that's a mouthful so we will stick with just Sammy. Twenty dogs auditioned for the role of Chiffon the Shaggy Dog, with three dogs to be casted, but most dogs were found emotionally unstable and Disney was impressed by Sammy's temperament and obedience. Sammy was pretty much top of his class in William Koehler's obedience school, passing with flying colors in just nine weeks. William Koehler trained dogs for the movie industry. His Allied Movie Dogs Association would provide lots more dogs for future projects for Disney productions like The Incredible Journey, Big Red, That Darn Cat,  and The Ugly Dachshund. Instead of the three dogs that were supposed to be hired, only Sammy was used, plus for certain scenes there was a sheep dog costume worn by several people including Tommy Kirks younger brother Johnny. There is one particular scene audiences would assume the costumed dog would of been used and that's the Shaggy Dog driving a car- nope that's actually Sammy behind the wheel. He did most of the stunts in the film. Koehler was able to get a wide range of expressions and attitudes from Sammy by doing simple tricks like ducking out of sight and emitting suspicious sounds and showing him dog toys or a crispy bone. Fred MacMurray had this to say about his costar, "Dogs can be the worst scene-stealers in the business, worse than kids. But this fellow is something I've never had to compete with before - a dog comedian. And lets face it he has the best part in the picture. A shaggy dog kept the whole cast and crew in stitches. He even broke me, that's no laughing matter. I knew I had to give everything I had to keep him from walking away with the picture. It wouldn't have been so bad if he'd been just a trick dog. I tell you he's an actor. I never saw any amateur catch on to the business so fast as this one did. He is a natural screen personality." On the first take Sam walked into a bedroom, closed the door, opened a dresser drawer, took out pajamas with his teeth and entered the bathroom and closed the door. The cast and crew were giddy with excitement. Roberta Shore who played Franceska said, " The dog, seriously was almost human." In order for a talking dog to look believable dialogue was written afterwards to match the mouth movements of the dog. Sammy received lots of treats- with the use of beef jerky to help aid in his mouth movements. But I know you don't really care about how they got Sammy to talk, you want to know how they taught a sheep dog to drive a car.

Driving lessons first started off in a wheel barrow and then onto a flat four wheel platform to get Sammy used to the motion. He then moved onto a specialty designed hot rod. Stuntman, Carey Loftin was the real driver of the hot rod hiding underneath. Metal was cut away under the dashboard and right through the hood on the right side so he would be able to see the road. For night shooting a series of lights on the right hand side of the road was used so Carey could follow the road. Loftin's steering wheel was synchronized with the steering wheel Sam used so it looked like Sam was driving. A special bucket seat was made for Sammy to sit in and hair covered mittens were laced to the steering wheel for Sam to slide in his paws. He also followed the rules of safety and wore a seat belt that was hidden under all his shaggy fur. Assistant Director Arthur Vitarelli, " The dog would look over the top of the windshield and out the side. It looked like he was really driving."

Filming first started on August 4,1958. The role of director went to Charles Barton, who had background included directing Spin and Marty, Zorro, and Abbott and Costello films. The film only cost one and quarter million dollars. Not only did Disney save on the cost from his cast hiring but with location shooting. Instead of building new sets he used the Universal back lot Cul-de-sac colonial neighborhood used for other TV shows and future films like The Munsters, The Burbs, Leave it to Beaver and even Desperate Housewives. The film was shot in black and white. There is some debate of why this was. Some say it was to not bring attention to primitive special effects, especially Wilby transforming into a sheep dog. I believe it was also nod to monster movies. Disney advertised it as a hip Teenage Monster Movie, making it the first comedy about a shapeshifting teenager. Released on March 19th, 1959 it grossed $9.6 million and then with all it's later releases and rentals it earned $12.3 million. With the films success, audiences were guaranteed to see more of Fred MacMurray who stared in seven Disney films, next up was The Absent-Minded Professor. He would also be rejoined with Tim Considine who would play one of his sons in the TV show, My Three Sons. Tommy Kirk, Kevin Cocoran, Fred MacMurray, and Annette Funicello would cross paths with each other through a few more Disney films, making them the go-to actors that Disney knew audiences loved to see. Several more Shaggy Dogs were made throughout the years, 1976's sequel The Shaggy D.A. , a 1987 tv sequel and a 1994 remake and then Tim Allen's 2006 version. But you maybe wondering whatever happened to Sammy?  He pretty much retired after the film only making a few TV appearances and gracing the cover of Life Magazine. His paw prints were immortalized in the court yard of the Burbank Animal Shelter in California and he won a 1960s Patsy- Picture Animal Top Star of the Year. Not such a bad life for a dog, especially one that can drive a car.