A four-legged friend,
A four-legged friend,
He'll never let you down.
He's honest and faithful right up to the end,
That wonderful one, two, three, four-legged friend.
Trigger - the most famous and talented horse in the movies. Only, that isn't Trigger in the film Son of Paleface (1952). It's Little Trigger.
That's right. Apparently the original Trigger, the one who made his film debut as Maid Marion's horse in The Adventure's of Robin Hood (1938) before being adopted by Roy Rogers, had by the 1950s retired from films.
Bob Hope, Jane Russell, Little Trigger, & Roy Rogers
That's right. Apparently the original Trigger, the one who made his film debut as Maid Marion's horse in The Adventure's of Robin Hood (1938) before being adopted by Roy Rogers, had by the 1950s retired from films.
Little Trigger, a Morgan, was smaller than Trigger and a lighter honey color. He was exceptionally smart and learned cues for over 100 tricks. He was also a good dancer, as can be seen in the video at the top of the post. He was also housebroken, meaning he could accompany Roy Rogers on visits to children's hospitals.
Little Trigger's performance in Son of Paleface is amazing to watch. He does all kinds of tricks - untying knots, running up stairs, and even is able to steal a scene from Bob Hope. In the scene, Bob and Trigger are sharing a bed. Trigger keeps stealing the covers from off of Bob. Unfortunately it's not of YouTube.
Trigger turns comedian and is by all odds the handsomest as well as the funniest performer in the film.
~ Film Critic Catherine Edwards
Trigger even won the Patsy Award (an award like an Oscar from the American Humane Association) for his role.
This post is part of The Animals in Film Blogathon hosted by In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood (and my upcoming co-host to the Olivia de Havilland Centenary Blogathon). Check out my other post on The Film Career of Skippy aka "Asta" and be sure to read all of the other posts about Hollywood's most talented four-legged friends!
Sources:
Hollywood Hoofbeats: Trails Blazed Across the Silver Screen. Petrine Day Mitchum with Audrey Pavia.
Horses in the Movies. H.F. Hintz.
Roy had a way with those horses, and a great intuition about working with animals. Such a fun and funny movie. I didn't know Trigger was an award winner for the film. Cool.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to see them "work" together :) I didn't know animals could WIN awards!
DeleteI never realized this was Little Trigger and not the original Trigger. I always loved him in this one, though...and was impressed at how he stole the scene from Bob Hope...an impressive feat! Wonderful choice and post!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it messed up the way I had my post planned :/ Thanks!
DeleteI didn't know Trigger was Maid Marian's horse in Robin Hood! How cool is that? I'll have to watch for him next time we watch the movie!
ReplyDeleteYep! I learned it on the special features on the dvd. Which I need to watch again myself :)
DeleteJane Russell's black cowboy / outlaw outfit has the Hopalong Cassidy look to it because both cowboy outfits were designed by Edith Head.Jane's outfit was much tighter !
ReplyDelete