Trail of the Lonesome Pine

Although Tuffy's role in Trail of the Lonesome Pine was not his largest, the movie in many ways was the best credit on his resume.

Tuffy had "lucked" into the role. He was lucky to have befriended the actor Tully Marshall at a filling station. He was lucky that Marshall got him an audition at Paramount Studios. And he was lucky to be on location in the California mountains for the filming of some B-westerns when producer Walter Wanger and director Henry Hathaway arrived to film Trail of the Lonesome Pine. To be more precise, the film was shot at Cedar Lake, in the San Bernadino mountains.

Originally, there was no role in the Wanger-Hathaway script for a dog, but after watching Tuffy work, they held up production for a couple of days until the part was written. The movie was a large-budget effort that included technical innovations and three rising stars--Henry Fonda, Fred MacMurray, and George "Spanky" McFarland. (McFarland would not receive the nickname Spanky until a few years later, when he starred in the Little Rascals.)

Filmed in late 1935 and early 1936, the movie was released to theaters on February 19, 1936. It was the first outdoor film shot entirely in Technicolor. This full-color movie predated by three years The Wizard of Oz, only parts of which were shot in color. It received special recommendation for color film at the 1936 Venice Film Festival.

Trail of the Lonesome Pine also gained notoriety for its score. The cast included the well-known singer Fuzzy Knight, whose songs in the movie included "A Melody from the Sky." That tune netted 1937 Oscar nominations for Louis Alter (music) and Sidney D. Mitchell (lyrics).

Tuffy had difficulty performing in two scenes in particular. At one point, an actress is crossing a small stream on a fallen log, and the script called for Tuffy to knock her into the water. Tuffy had been trained since a pup not to be underfoot, so getting this scene right was a challenge. Later, the script called for Tuffy to chase a rabbit. Tuffy had received the greatest tongue-lashing of his life for doing that very thing; Ger wanted Tuffy under control all of the time, and a dog is not under control when chasing madly after game, kids, or cars. As you watch that scene, you will notice that Tuffy is hesitant and looking over his shoulder as if to say, "Are you sure you want me to do this?!" Training a dog is easy; untraining a dog is harder.

Owing to the film's better-than-usual script, the first-rate cast, and technical quality, Trail of the Lonesome Pine still appears on television from time to time.

Tuffy's role in this film was also beneficial from another career standpoint: Henry Fonda liked working with Tuffy. Fonda and Tuffy worked together later in 1936 in another Walter Wanger production: The Moon's Our Home. That film is notable for an outdoor scene in the snow, where Tuffy et al. go sledding down hillsides. Sled riding, and sled-dragging, are skills that Tuffy had learned as a young dog in South Dakota.