Pete the Pup

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For the Don Marquis character, see Pete the Pup (archy and mehitabel).
Pete The Pup

Pete the Pup, center, with Matthew "Stymie" Beard and Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins in the Our Gang comedy School's Out (1930)
Born (1929-01-22)January 22, 1929
Los Angeles, California, USA
Died January 28, 1946(1946-01-28) (aged 17)
Los Angeles, California, USA
Cause of death
 Natural Causes
Years active 1929-1944

Pete the Pup (January 22, 1929 – January 28, 1946) was an American Staffordshire Terrier character in Hal Roach's Our Gang comedies (later known as The Little Rascals) during the 1930s. Otherwise known as "Pete, the Dog With the Ring Around His Eye", or simply "Petey", he was well known for having a circled eye that was added on by Hollywood make-up artist Max Factor[1] and credited as an oddity in Ripley's Believe It or Not. The original Pete (sired by "Black Jack") was an American Pit Bull Terrier named "Pal the Wonder Dog", and had a natural ring almost completely around his eye; dye was used to finish it off.

History

When he was about six months old, Pal the Wonder Dog made a cameo appearance in the Harold Lloyd film The Freshman, in 1925.[2]

Pal first started out as "Tige" in the Buster Brown series in the 1920s. It was during this time that he acquired the circled eye, and when he was recruited to appear in the Our Gang comedies later that year, Hal Roach simply left it on, creating one of the most recognized dogs in film history. In the 1994 remake of The Little Rascals, the new Pete is an American Pit Bull Terrier.

Trainer and owner Lt. Harry Lucenay used one of Pal's offspring as Pete in the series after Pal was poisoned and died in 1930.[3] This dog, named "Lucenay's Peter", was registered as a UKC American Pit Bull Terrier.[3] Lucenay's Peter was bred by A. A. Keller. The dog was UKC registered under the name Purple Ribbon Peter (22558). A few other dogs played Petey, but Lucenay's Peter was the best known. After being fired from the Our Gang series in 1932, Harry Lucenay retired Peter to Atlantic City, where he was photographed with children at the Steel Pier.

Death

Roach used a number of unrelated pit bulls to portray Pete in Our Gang until 1938.[3] Lucenay's Peter continued on and died of old age on January 28, 1946 in Los Angeles, California at age 17, two years after the Our Gang series ended.[4] Pete is buried at a Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park at Calabasas Los Angeles County California, USA.

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Martin, Rick (2007). Circus Tricks for Your Dog: 25 Crowd-Pleasers That Will Make Your Dog a Star. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-57990-816-4. 
  2. ↑ Commentary by Leonard Maltin, Richard Correll, and Richard W. Bann, from The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection Giftset, Volume 2 - disc one
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Maltin, Leonard and Bann, Richard W. (1977, rev. 1992). The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang, p. 281-283. New York: Crown Publishing/Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-517-58325-9
  4. ↑ Pete the Pup

External links

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