Lassie (season 1)

The first season of the television series Lassie premiered in the United States on CBS on September 12, 1954 and ran for 26 episodes until its conclusion on March 6, 1955.[1] Produced by Robert Maxwell, the episodes follows the adventures of a female rough collie named Lassie and her young owner Jeffrey Miller.[1] In 1958, the first through third seasons began syndication under the title "Jeff's Collie."[1]

Though the first season of Lassie has never been released completely to home video, some episodes from the first season have been released to DVD. On November 25, 2003, Classic Media released a three episode set, "Lassie: Best of Jeff's Collie," which included the series first episode, "Inheritance".[2] A second set, "Lassie: 50th Anniversary Collection", was released on September 14, 2004 and contained 24 episodes from across the entire series.[3] The set includes three episodes from the first season: "Inheritance" (episode 1), "The Lion" (episode 8), and "Lassie's Pups" (episode 10).

"Secret of the Silent Hills (Theme from the Lassie TV Series)", composed by William Lava, is used as the opening and ending theme for the entire season.[4]

Contents

Episode listing

# Title Director Writer Original airdate
1 "Inheritance" Leslie Goodwins Claire Kennedy September 12, 1954 (1954-09-12)
Widow Ellen Miller (Jan Clayton) and her 11 year old son Jeff (Tommy Rettig) attend the reading of the will of their late neighbor Homer Carey, while Ellen's father-in-law George "Gramps" Miller (George Cleveland) remains at their farm. In the will, Carey bequeathed his female rough collie, Lassie, to Jeff. Initially overjoyed, Jeff is heartbroken when the dog runs away from the Miller farm and returns to the Carey house. Jeff finds her lying on the hearth. When she does it again, Jeff begins carrying food and water to Lassie and trying to coax her back to the farm. He later discovers that Lassie is actually guarding a cache of money that Carey had hid under the hearth. Carey's former farm hand, Matt Willis (Jim Hayward), has been searching for the money and sees Jeff find it through the window. Willis steals the money after brushing Lassie aside and threatening Jeff. After he leaves, Lassie escapes from the house and takes off in pursuit, followed by Jeff and the mail carrier, whom Jeff flagged down. At the edge of a lake, Lassie catches Willis and attacks him, with the mail carrier arriving to help knock him out. With the money in safe hands, Lassie returns to the Miller farm. After a moment where it seems like she may run away again, Lassie returns to Jeff's arms, accepting her new family. 
2 "Arithmetic" Sheldon Leonard Claire Kennedy September 19, 1954 (1954-09-19)
 
3 "The Colt" Sheldon Leonard Claire Kennedy September 26, 1954 (1954-09-26)
 
4 "The Gun" Sidney Salkow Jackson Gillis October 3, 1954 (1954-10-03)
 
5 "Mr. Peabody" Sheldon Leonard David Chantler October 10, 1954 (1954-10-10)
 
6 "The Convict" Thomas Carr Claire Kennedy October 17, 1954 (1954-10-17)
 
7 "Feud" Sheldon Leonard Claire Kennedy October 24, 1954 (1954-10-24)
 
8 "The Lion" Sheldon Leonard Claire Kennedy October 31, 1954 (1954-10-31)
 
9 "Gramps" Sidney Salkow Claire Kennedy November 7, 1954 (1954-11-07)
 
10 "Lassie's Pups" Sheldon Leonard Claire Kennedy November 14, 1954 (1954-11-14)
 
11 "The Job" Sidney Salkow Claire Kennedy November 21, 1954 (1954-11-21)
 
12 "The Carnival" Sidney Salkow Claire Kennedy November 28, 1954 (1954-11-28)
 
13 "Sale of Lassie" Rod Amateau Claire Kennedy December 5, 1954 (1954-12-05)
 
14 "The Rustlers" Sidney Salkow Jackson Gillis December 12, 1954 (1954-12-12)
 
15 "The Fighter" Sidney Salkow Claire Kennedy December 19, 1954 (1954-12-19)
 
16 "The Contest" December 26, 1954 (1954-12-26)
 
17 "Runaways" Sidney Salkow David Chantler January 2, 1955 (1955-01-02)
 
18 "The Brat" Lesley Selander Claire Kennedy January 9, 1955 (1955-01-09)
 
19 "Father" Sidney Salkow Claire Kennedy January 16, 1955 (1955-01-16)
 
20 "The Fawn" Lesley Selander Claire Kennedy January 23, 1955 (1955-01-23)
 
21 "Blind Soldier" Lesley Selander Claire Kennedy, Milton Geiger January 30, 1955 (1955-01-30)
 
22 "The Cave" Thomas Carr Claire Kennedy, Inez Asher February 6, 1955 (1955-02-06)
 
23 "The Injury" Lesley Selander Claire Kennedy February 13, 1955 (1955-02-13)
 
24 "The Well" Leslie Goodwins Claire Kennedy February 20, 1955 (1955-02-20)
 
25 "The Snake" Sidney Salkow Claire Kennedy February 27, 1955 (1955-02-27)
 
26 "The Bear" Thomas Carr Claire Kennedy March 6, 1955 (1955-03-06)
 

References

General
Specific
  1. ^ a b c Collins, Ace (1993-10-01). Lassie: A Dog's Life. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0140231830. OCLC 29878000. 
  2. ^ "Lassie: Best of Jeff's Collie". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KJTG88/. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
  3. ^ "Lassie - 50th Anniversary TV Collection (1954)". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002VEYV8/. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
  4. ^ "Lassie /Jeffs Collie /Timmy and Lassie". ClassicThemes.com. The Media Management Group. http://www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/themePages/lassie.html. Retrieved 2008-02-16. 
Miller Years: 1954-1957
Martin Years: 1957–1964
Ranger Years: 1964–1970
Lassie Alone: 1970–1971
Holden Ranch Years: 1971–1973