Strongheart -- February 16, 2018

Motion Picture News, 26-August-1922

In honor of the beginning of Chinese New Year, the Year of the Dog, here is Strongheart, the Wonder-Dog. Strongheart was born in Germany and trained to work for the police and the Red Cross during World War One.  After the war, the dog's owner could not afford to keep him, so he placed him with a kennel in the United States.  Director Lawrence Trimble saw Strongheart and persuaded screenwriter Jane Murfin to purchase him.   Trimble trained Strongheart and directed him in four movies.  Strongheart got burned by a studio light in 1929 and died from a tumor caused by the burn.  Strongheart was one of the first dogs to star in a movie.

Trimble and Murfin co-directed Brawn of the North.

If you were born in 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994 or 2006, then it is your year.  Or if you're a dog.