Rin-Tin-Tin: The Movie Star

Rin-Tin-Tin, a German Shepherd, an icon of the 1920s and early 1930s, was as famous a movie hero as Rudolph Valentino or Douglas Fairbanks. His athletic feats astonished audiences – he could scale an eleven-foot fence, leap over chasms, and climb trees. His acting brought tears, laughter, and amazement. At train stops, when he was on tour, crowds gathered to give him ice cream. Thousands of children wrote him fan letters, and he answered with a paw-autographed photograph. This book is a biography of both Rin-Tin-Tin and Lee Duncan, his owner and trainer. It places their lives in the context of their times, especially France, where they met, and Hollywood, where Rin-Tin-Tin became a star. At the heart of the book are the questions: “Why did a dog, at that particular time, become so famous?” and “How much of the legend of Rin-Tin-Tin is really true?”