Rin Tin Tin

July 11, 2011
With this stirring biographical history, Orlean follows up her bestselling The Orchid Thief with another tale of passion and dedication overcoming adversity and even common senseâthis one centering on Rin Tin Tin, the German shepherd who founded a film and TV dynasty. After spending a lonely childhood in an orphanage, the young soldier Lee Duncan discovers on the battlefield of WWI France the puppy that will make a name for him as one of Hollywood's top dog trainers, and become his life's guiding purpose. The book follows Rin Tin Tin's trajectory from early Hollywood's "Poverty Row," where Duncan sought the dog's first film deal, to international celebrity in silent films, radio shows, and TV programs. Though Rin Tin Tin's contracts began to lapse in later years, Duncan never ceased grooming canine successors and shopping around scripts, and producer Bert Leonard lived on friends' couches as he poured money into colorizing old episodes of The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. Orlean directs a sympathetic gaze toward these men so haunted by their memories of the dog that swept them into stardom. Even readers coming to Rin Tin Tin for the first time will find it difficult to refrain from joining Duncan in his hope that Rin Tin Tin's legacy will "go on forever."

Starred review from August 1, 2011

In this exceptional book, Orlean (staff writer, The New Yorker; The Orchid Thief) portrays the magical bond, which led to lasting international fame, between a special puppy found on a World War I battlefield and Lee Duncan, the man who rescued him. She spent ten years researching and writing their story, a richly textured narrative filled with personal accounts, astute cultural and social backdrops, behind-the-scenes details on film and television, and an informed look at the historical roles of dogs in war, on-screen, and in the home. Orlean describes Rin Tin Tin's career from the early days in film through the popular 1950s television series. His heroic persona transformed into immortal legend, as subsequent dogs sustained both his name and the noble qualities he symbolized. Duncan and others who were a part of Rinty's story are honestly yet compassionately portrayed. Orlean also shares her own tales of epic research. VERDICT This is a thoroughly researched and masterfully written work that will please a wide audience, especially those who remember this noble canine hero. It is also an important addition to the literature of cultural, entertainment, and animal history. [See Prepub Alert, 4/25/11.]--Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, NJ

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2011
Rin Tin Tin, the smart, athletic German shepherd who became the archetypal dog hero, was born on a battlefield in France in 1918 and rescued by Lee Duncan, an American soldier. Duncan, whose love for animals was rooted in a childhood of abandonment, brought Rin Tin Tin to California, where diligent training, talent, and luck turned Rinty into a universally beloved movie star. The Rin Tin Tin character lived on after the original dog's death in 1932 (the world mourned) as Duncan, utterly devoted to his creation, worked with a series of German shepherds to keep Rin Tin Tin in the movies and on television for nearly four more decades. In her first from-scratch investigative book since The Orchid Thief (1999), New Yorker staff writer Orlean incisively chronicles every facet of the never-before-told, surprisingly consequential, and roller-coasterlike Rin Tin Tin saga, including the rapid evolution of the film and television industries, the rise of American pet culture, how Americans heeded the military's call and sent their dogs into combat during WWII, and even what the courageous canine meant to her own family. Orlean's engrossing, dynamic, and affecting biography of a dog who became an icon of loyalty and valor will reignite Rin Tin Tin fever in yet another time when heroes are in acute demand. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Move over Seabiscuit, Rin Tin Tin will be the most-talked-about animal hero of the year and beyond as best-selling Orlean presents a spectacularly compelling portrait.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

Starred review from July 1, 2011

New Yorker staff writer Orlean (My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhere, 2004, etc.) follows the long and curious trail of the celebrity dog born on a World War I battlefield.

The author, who has written a cookbook for dogs (Throw Me a Bone, 2007) and about obsessiveness (The Orchid Thief, 1999), combines all her skills and passions in this astonishing story of Lee Duncan (1893-1960), a young American soldier and dog-lover who found the German shepherd puppy that became Rin Tin Tin (Rinty) in France, got the dog home and spent the rest of his life training and promoting Rinty, breeding other German shepherds and living with the belief of Rinty's immortality. (Rinty XI now lives in Oklahoma.) Orlean--who belongs to the generation that remembers the cry "Yo ho, Rinty!" from the popular The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin, which premiered in 1954 and ran for 164 episodes--recalls that her grandfather kept on his desk a little Rinty figure. But the author is not interested only in the dog. She also provides the biography of Duncan, as well as Bert Leonard, writer and producer, and she includes interviews with Duncan's daughter, the current keeper of the latest Rinty and scores of others. The author tells the story of silent films (where Rinty began his career), the transition to talkies and to color, the rise of television, the popularity of dog ownership in America (especially of German shepherds and collies--because of Lassie) and the evolving tastes of American youth. For years, Orlean chased Rinty--even to his grave in Paris--and by the end, began to question her sanity.

Although occasionally excessive in its claims for the ultimate significance of it all, a terrific dog's tale that will make readers sit up and beg for more.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

June 1, 2011

In September 1918, Cpl. Lee Duncan rescued a five-day-old German Shepherd pup from a bombed-out war-dog kennel in France and named him Rin Tin Tin after the French puppets given to American soldiers for good luck. Back in America, the dog demonstrated some uncanny talents and became a major movie star. Thus began the story of a canine family stretching over 11 generations that has captured the imagination of the American public. Good news: the Rin Tin Tin saga is voiced by Orlean, an author drawn to unexpected stories just begging to be told. So many dog lovers, and everyone knows Rinty.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.