September 12, 1954…’Lassie’ Debuts On CBS

The video clips here are part one and two of the first ever episode of ‘Lassie’ which debuted Sunday, September 12, 1954, at 7:00 p.m. EST…a time slot the show would call home on CBS for the next seventeen years.

Between 1943 and 1951, Lassie, was the inspiration for seven MGM feature films. With completion of the seventh film in 1951, the studio planned no further films for the Lassie character or Pal, the dog actor who portrayed the fictional canine. In lieu of $40,000 back pay owed him by MGM, Pal’s owner and trainer Rudd Weatherwax took all rights to the Lassie trademark and name, and hit the road with Pal to perform at fairs, rodeos, and other venues.

Needing material for the relatively new medium of television, producer Robert Maxwell sold Weatherwax on the concept of a Lassie television series with a boy and his dog theme. The two men developed a scenario about a struggling war widow, her young son, and her father-in-law set on a weather-beaten American farm.

Two pilots were filmed with the first telling the story of the bond forged between boy and dog, and the second filmed to give potential sponsors and network buyers an idea of a typical episode. After viewing the pilots, CBS put the show on its fall 1954 schedule.

Campbell’s Soup Company signed on early as the show’s sole sponsor and remained so for the show’s entire run. Enjoy and share!
-Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf49nG11S2M Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXquPCNsPzM Part 1

Lassie – Episode 1 – “Inheritance” – Part 1 – (Originally broadcast 09/12/1954)

Part 1 of 2. The complete first Lassie TV episode. In this episode Jeff Miller inherits a young collie named Lassie after the death of her owner, an old neig…

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