The little vagabond

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Television broadcast
German title The little vagabond; The Vagabond - The Adventures of a German Shepherd
Original title The Littlest Hobo
The Littlest Hobo The Complete First Season DVD cover.jpg
Country of production Canada
original language English
Year (s) 1963–1965 (original), 1979–1985 (reboot)
length 30 minutes minutes
Episodes 175 (61; 114) in 2 (original); 6 (reboot) seasons
genre Drama , action series
idea Dorrell McGowan
production Charles R. Rondeau
music Road without End (Randy Sparks); Maybe Tomorrow (Terry Bush)
First broadcast September 24, 1963 (original); October 11, 1979 (reboot) on CTV
German-language
first broadcast		 March 14, 1967 (original); January 2, 1984 (reboot) on ARD (original); ZDF (reboot)
occupation

London the dog

The Little Vagabond (English: The Littlest Hobo ) is a Canadian television series with a total of 61 episodes, which was produced from 1963 to 1965. The reboot was broadcast from 1979 to 1985 with 114 episodes. To this day, the reruns of the series are shown internationally in some of the over 80 countries in which it was screened.

content

The series is about a nameless German shepherd dog who wanders through the country in the typical hobo style , getting to know different people, making new friends and experiencing numerous adventures . Injustice is happening to many people and occasionally animals that he meets in the process. The vagabond uncompromisingly supports the weak and unselfishly protects them . His skill and ingenuity are helpful here. Afterwards, the new friends would usually like to keep him with them, but he loves his freedom and always travels to make new friends and to help people and animals in trouble.

The real name, origin and motivation, or ultimate destination, of the wandering dog are never really explained in the series. Many of the new friends conclude from the fact that he does not wear a collar that he must be ownerless and therefore give him his own name, such as Smoke, Einstein, Scout, Mr. Magic, Lucky, Shadow, Buddy, Slapshot, Roamer, Crusoe , Ulysses, Hercules, Sinbad and Gulliver. As a rule, the respective name has a reference to the story that takes place in the respective episode. With the exception of a few double episodes, the episodes always represent a completed plot. When the series was reissued, three old episodes ("Double Trouble", "Little Girl Lost", and "Silent Witness") were remade.

The series Boomer, der Streuner (USA 1980–1982), which was made into a film a few years later, had parallels to The Little Vagabond. Again, there is a stray dog ​​at work and there are no continuous human protagonists. These always only took on guest roles. In other series with partially comparable plot patterns, such as Run, Joe, Run (USA, 1974-1975), Lassie , or Rin Tin Tin , there were also human lead roles.

production

The Littlest Hobo (1958)

The forerunner of the two Canadian television series was an American feature film from 1958, which was produced by H and R Productions and Allied Artists Pictures . In the family film , a stray German shepherd helps a lamb escape from the slaughterhouse . The real name of the lamb was Fleecie, the role of the dog was given by London. This also starred in the film My Dog, Buddy (1960), as well as in the series from 1963-1965. In the later television series, London was also named as the main actor in the opening and closing credits, although the dogs were called differently. However, all the shepherds that participated in the series were direct descendants of the male.

The shooting took place in the Kling Studios in Los Angeles , as well as in the city center of the film metropolis, as well as in Toledo .

The Little Vagabond (The Littlest Hobo, 1963–1965)

Nefertiti Productions for Storer Programs and Canadian Film and Television Producer's Association for Canamac Pictures were involved in creating the original series. Stuart E. McGowan (7 episodes, 1963–1964), Jack Shea (2 episodes, 1963), George Blair (1 episode, 1963), Oliver Drake (1 episode, 1963), Dorrell McGowan (1 episode, 1963), Dick Darley, (1 episode, 1964), and Leslie Goodwins (1 episode, 1964) directed. The first three episodes were filmed in Ontario , broadcast in color , before the team moved to Vancouver and henceforth broadcast in black and white .

The film was filmed in Vancouver (Hollyburn Film Studios), Burleigh Falls and Toronto ( Toronto International Studios ).

The Vagabond - The Adventures of a Shepherd (The Littlest Hobo, 1979–1985)

The television series was remade by Glen Warren Productions and Canadian Television (CTV). Allan Eastman (42 episodes, 1979–1985), Mario Azzopardi (20 episodes, 1981–1984), Joseph L. Scanlan (15 episodes, 1980–1982), Alan Simmonds (11 episodes, 1982–1985), Jan Darnley-Smith (7 episodes, 1979–1980), Jack Nixon-Browne (4 episodes, 1983–1985), Stan Olsen (3 episodes, 1979–1980), Al Waxman (3 episodes, 1984), Richard Gilbert (2 episodes, 1979) , Peter Pearson (2 episodes, 1980–1981), Ken Girotti (2 episodes, 1984), Anthony Perris (1 episode, 1979), George McCowan (1 episode, 1980), Alan Erlich (1 episode, 1984), and Eleanore Lindo (1 episode, 1985) directed.

The filming locations were mostly in Ontario. It was filmed in Hawkesbury, Vaughan ( Canada's Wonderland , Maple [suburban community]), Markham , Pickering , Toronto , Uxbridge, Mono Center, Port Perry , Richmond Hill , Stouffville and Trenton , among others . The film was also shot in Vancouver, in the province of British Columbia .

Release dates

The little vagabond (1963–1965)
Canada September 24, 1963
Italy 3rd August 1964
West Germany March 14, 1967
The Vagabond - The Adventures of a Shepherd Dog (1979–1985)
Canada October 11, 1979
France December 21, 1981
United Kingdom 1st December 1984

other names

country Surname
Canada The Littlest Hobo
Italy L'amico Gipsy
West Germany (1963–1965) The little vagabond
West Germany (1979–1985) The Vagabond - The Adventures of a German Shepherd
France Le vagabond
Japan 名犬 ロ ン ド ン 物語
Soviet Union Маленький бродяга
Spain Hobo
Peru El perro vagabundo
Yugoslavia Pas lutalica
Mexico El pequeño vagabundo

The little vagabond in German-speaking countries

ARD only stole a few selected episodes on the regional programs Hesse, West and North, which was not unusual at the time (as was also the case with Gilligans Insel ) . Of the 61 episodes in the original series from the 1960s, 25 were dubbed and broadcast in 1967. The title song "Road without End", sung by Randy Sparks, has been replaced by a German one.

ZDF broadcast 114 episodes of the new edition of the 13 synchronized series in 1984 as part of the ZDF holiday program . In 1987 these were repeated in the afternoon program. In 1988, Sat.1 broadcast the episodes again. In 1990 and 1991 all episodes were shown twice on ProSieben . The Austrian viewers were able to follow the new edition of the series in 1984 and 1986 on ORF 1 . The synchronized episodes are all from the first two seasons and were not broadcast in the correct order. Since the stories each represent self-contained actions, this was not noticed.

  1. The Frisbee Contest (Boy On Wheels, Season 1, Episode 10)
  2. Where's Eileen? (Little Girl Lost, Season 1, Episode 9)
  3. Rescue in dire need (Double Trouble, Season 1, Episode 5)
  4. Willy and Kate, Part 1 (Willie And Kate, Season 1, Episode 23)
  5. Willy and Kate, Part 2 (The Further Adventures Of Willie And Kate, Season 1, Episode 24)
  6. Hocus pocus (Diamonds Are A Dog's Best Friend, Season 1, Episode 18)
  7. Miraculous Healing (The Pied Piper, Season 1, Episode 22)
  8. Das Schinkenbrot (The Trail Of No Return, Season 2, Episode 18)
  9. The Vanished Diamond Ring (Duddleman And The Diamond Ring, Season 2, Episode 2)
  10. The Balloonist (The Balloonist, Season 2, Episode 1)
  11. The Animal Thief (Mystery At The Zoo, Season 2, Episode 7)
  12. Sports Friends (East Side Angels, Season 2, Episode 16)
  13. The Runaway (Runaway, Season 2, Episode 15)

Theme music

description

The theme song Maybe Tomorrow for the new edition of the series was composed and sung by Terry Bush, as well as published on the album of the same name. The text of the popular song, which is often quoted in the Canadian media, was written by John Crossen. The work was later occasionally recycled or sampled, as exemplified in an advertisement for Dulux colors in 2011, or in 2017 in another advertisement for co-op stores in Canada. The song became very popular and also covered a few times, for example by the British pop group Scooch .

Lyrics

In the lyrics, the dog's travels are lively discussed. The singer sings about how the vagabond meets new people and describes the plot of the television series; the text mainly focuses on the end of the episodes in which the dog keeps moving away to save more people and is not yet ready to settle down. The theme music was picked up in several commercials.

The dogs

The dog trainer and breeder Charles Paul “Chuck” Eisenmann, a former baseball player who also made a cameo in several episodes of the series , used several dogs for the role of “London” because he had chosen the dogs based on their appearance. He determined which dogs should be used for which scenes by using their individual skills, such as when one dog was good at retrieving objects , or considering whether another was small enough to safely jump through a car window and navigate through Maneuver seats. The males were called London, Toro, Thorn, Lance, Bo and Litlon, as well as two bitches, Venus and Roura. The first dog was called London, because Eisenmann had done his military service in the British capital . In addition to the works mentioned above, this had previously been seen in smaller roles. Also the LIFE magazine had in a three-page report says about the sire. Bo starred in the 1977 comedy The Billion Dollar Hobo . There, like all other dogs, it was listed as London.

“A dog thinks just as a human does, and if you treat him as a stupid animal eventually he will act that way. That's why I act positive around my dogs and treat them as friends. "

“A dog thinks the same as a human, and if you treat him as a stupid animal, he will eventually act like that. That's why I treat my dogs positively and treat them as friends. "

- Charles Paul “Chuck” Eisenmann : Original sound

Five dogs were always present during filming. Eisenmann's training method was based on teaching skills using verbal commands. According to him, he was able to train a dog at about the level of understanding of an eight-year-old child. So he taught the animals by basically talking to them. They mastered a vocabulary of 1500 to 5000 words in 3 languages ​​(English, French and German). Chuck Eisenmann published several books on his training methodology and his basic work with dogs .

The appearance of the dogs was very distinctive. On the one hand, they all had an unusual coat color for German Shepherds and a "reverse mask", a special coat pattern that made them look like huskies or husky mixes , which they weren't. Eisenmann's dogs were full-blooded, registered German Shepherds with a pedigree and were the forerunners of the Shiloh Shepherd.

Celebrities

The series featured numerous famous Canadians and Hollywood actors, including Leslie Nielsen , Mike Myers , Al Waxman , Gordon Thomson , Carol Lynley , John Ireland , Megan Follows , Rex Hagon, Alan Hale Jr. and Jack Gilford .

Pop Culture

The little vagabond enjoys cult status in Canada and is considered a national original.

Due to its high popularity, The Little Vagabond has been parodied or mentioned in numerous television shows and series . A 2005 episode of the CTV sitcom Corner Gas titled "The Littlest Yarbo" celebrates the series by convincing a character (Hank Yarbo) that a stray dog ​​visiting town is a hobo. The episode ends with a re-credits of Terry Bush's theme song "Maybe Tomorrow".

The hugely popular theme song and concept of the series have also been featured in many commercials, such as for Federated Co-operatives Limited , Natwest Bank , Greggs Bakery, Dulux and many others. The commercials are about a traveling dog with a relationship with the advertised brand.

DVD

VCI Entertainment has released 12 episodes from the original series on DVD. The publication contains the color versions of the first three episodes, with the exception of the opening and closing sequences, which have only survived in black and white. The last 9 episodes were published in black and white.

Medium-rare Entertainment has so far only released the first two seasons of the new edition on DVD.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Littlest Hobo. Retrieved April 4, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b The Littlest Hobo. Retrieved April 4, 2020 .
  3. ↑ CTVA Canada - "The Littlest Hobo" (1963-65) (original series) Family Adventure starring London. Retrieved April 4, 2020 .
  4. ^ Lyricist John Crossen wrote a beloved theme to The Littlest Hobo . ( Online [accessed April 4, 2020]).
  5. ↑ Unlocking the mystery of The Littlest Hobo theme song. September 8, 2015, Retrieved April 4, 2020 (American English).
  6. ↑ Baseball in Wartime - Chuck Eisenmann, accessed April 29, 2020.
  7. ↑ London - Biography - IMDb (Kenneth Kwilinski) accessed on April 28, 2020 (English).
  8. ↑ The Millionaire Tramp Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  9. ↑ Is Canada Even Real ?: How a Nation Built on Hobos, Beavers, Weirdos, and Hip Hop Convinced the World to Beliebe (English Edition) (JC Villamere) Quote from book, accessed on April 27, 2020 (English).
  10. ↑ Elianna Lev: An Oral History of The Littlest Hobo, Canada's Greatest TV Show. In: Vice. April 24, 2015, accessed April 4, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Ken Beck, Jim Clark: Encyclopedia of TV Pets: A Complete History of Television's Greatest Animal Stars. In: Rutledge Hill Pr. April 1, 2002, accessed April 29, 2020 .
  12. ↑ the littlest hobo bloodlines ?? - Page 1. Accessed April 4, 2020 .
  13. ↑ The Littlest Yarbo. Retrieved April 4, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Canada 150 with Co-op. In: Federated Co-operatives Limited. Federated Co-operatives Limited, June 29, 2017, accessed March 30, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Terry Bush is under construction. Retrieved April 4, 2020 .