What's new in the Poodle History Project

Added to the list of PHP volunteers who have contributed large and small items: Karin Taylhardat; Farley Ziegler.

Added the following items:

Thanks to Jaci Bowman, we have added, as follows, a YouTube link to Poodle films: Berserk! (1968; USA). Directed by Jim O'Connolly; starring Joan Crawford. "This murder mystery features a travelling circus, aging Joan and (best of all) a group of performing poodles!" (TG, 12/'02) As of July 2008, go to YouTube and paste v=fBHYH02rzmQ into the search box to see a clip of this movie-- several minutes of brilliant performance by all sizes of Poodles. "This is SOOO poodle! I loved it!!!!!!!!!! Tails up, having the times of their lives doing complicated behaviorsÊwith unnoticeable cues in front of a live audience (andÊwe thought agility training was challenging!)Êfrom small to tall dogs and lots of different colors, all definitely POODLES! Date is 1967...have we "improved" the breed...if so how?" (JB, 4/09)

Thanks to Farley Ziegler, we have added the following item to Poodle films: Heidi 4 Paws (2008; USA, 4 PAWS ENTERTAINMENT, LLC). Directed by Holly Goldberg Sloan. DVD available 2009. Re-tells Johanna Spyri's Heidi with an all-dog cast and human actors' voice-overs. The butler is played by apricot Standard Poodle Sebastian (aka Robin Leash), who, according to his press-release, "studied Shakespeare as well as dentistry before settling down into his life as a major Superstar. Having headlined eight movies that grossed over a million dollars apiece at the box office, the name Robin Leash is known around the world for comedy and entertainment. A former contestant on Dancing with the StarDogs, Leash is as comfortable on television as he is on on stage in London. Not content to appear only in front of the camera, Leash has also directed, most notably, the indie favorite P.S. Your Cat is Dead. A known hit with the opposite sex, Leash is today a spokesperson for The Perfect Sleeper Dog Bed." As of 6/5/2009, we await more dog-owner-specific information!

Thanks to Melissa Charron, we've added the following to Poodle films: Rachel Getting Married (USA; 2008). Directed by Jonathan Demme. "There's a tall black SP named Olive (playing herself) in this movie. She's seen several times throughout the movie: in the background in scenes inside the family home, playing ball with a child (who isn't a member of the family-not sure where he came from) in the backyard, leading the short wedding procession and later in the closing credits, playing/barking/interacting with the groom the day after the wedding while he sits outside listening to his friends play music." M.C. 3/09

Thanks to Charlene Dunlap, we've added the following to Poodle films: Hansel and Gretel (2009). Charlene Dunlap: writer, director, editor, starring her two Standard Poodles. A Canine Horizons Production. 10 minutes; to download in .wmv format (might not run on your Mac), go to Canine Horizons. See also Fuzzy Fairy Incident: a furry tale, Sweet Dreams of Bleu and Wizard, The.

Thanks to Jerry Chapple, we've added a reference to Sartre's Les Mots to the reference to Malot's Sans Famille in Poodle Lit. pre-1929 and this entry now reads as follows:

Malot, Hector (1830-1907). Sans Famille (1878). The publication of this beloved book set off bibliographical fireworks. The first edition was shortly followed by a second, and a third (in two hefty volumes and frequently republished), and translations into the main European languages. Illustrators include Emile Bayard (1837-1891). As a small boy, Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) found this story enthralling when read aloud to him; and, having memorized it, taught himself to read by poring over it phrase by phrase--see Les Mots (Paris: Gallimard, 1964), p. 36; he recollected this in his Nobel response (Henry, pp. 78-9; however, since Sartre declined the 1964 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Henry may be referring to Les Mots).

Thanks to Karin Taylhardat, who is (2/'09) finishing a research project on the silent film, and who has sent from Spain a list of 59 silent films starring Poodles, 1895-1930. We have attached this to Poodle films, as follows: We are indebted to Karin Taylhardat, who contributed (2/'09) the attached list of 59 silent films (1895-1930) starring Poodles. This will provide a fabulous resource to anyone studying the history of Poodle conformation during the first several decades of the breed-standards era (see Breed standards), and will complement the various entries in our art history section After 1880 or so and, in relation to social context, in Poodle Lit. pre-1929. NB: Two additional silent films, both starring Barnum, are Ah! Quel Plaisir d'avoir un chien, Romeo Bosetti (1911), and Le Chien Viellait (1912).... The headpiece for this section is a publicity photo for Dandy (1919) directed by Georges Rémond (France).

Thanks to Wendy Preston, we have added the following image to this entry in After 1880 or so: Wardle, Arthur (English, 1864-1949). Poodles. A black Standard Poodle, a white Standard Poodle, and a white Toy stand beside a large drum upon which someone has cast a cloak; a circus-whip lies on the ground.

Thanks to Wendy Preston, we have added the following to Charlemagne until 1890 (or so) and to Rare books: Lizars, William Home (1788-1859). Plate #20 in Charles Hamilton Smith's two volume Dogs (Edinburgh: Lizars, 1839; 1840), volumes 9 and 10 in William Jardine's series The Naturalist's Library (Mammalia). Bichon-esque curly small white dog stands beside a dog house in front of which sits a bulldog.

Thanks to Nancy Clifton, we've added the following reference to Poodle Lit. pre-1929: Gatty, Margaret (aka Mrs. Alfred Gatty; 1809-1873). "A Legend of Sologne," pp. 1-89 in Legendary Tales, illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne (London: Bell & Daldy, 1858), 297 pp. and accessible on line at Google Books Legendary Tales by Alfred (sic) Gatty.. "Fine white and brown German poodle..." features in a nightmare which leads to matrimony.

We've upgraded information about the following:

Thanks to Nancy Clifton, we've added a Google Books link to the following reference in Poodle Lit. pre-1929: Anstey, F. pseud. [i.e. Thomas Anstey Guthrie] The Black Poodle, and other tales (London: Longmans & Co., 1884; NY: D. Appleton, 1884), b/w illus. (very fine black Poodle initial letter illustration by "F.A."). 269 pp. To read this story on Google Books, go to: The Black Poodle...

Thanks to Sally Eller, we have upgraded the following item in Charlemagne until 1890 (or so): Davis, William Henry (1783-1864). Poodle and Maltese in a Landscape (1813). Oil on canvas, 22.5 x 30 inches. William Secord Gallery, as of January '09. Black Moyen-sized, quite fine-boned Poodle wearing a working-length Continental, stands in front of the base of a column. See: "Elegance Meets Intelligence" by Stephanie Horan, Dog World, March 2009, vol. 94, #3, sidebar p. 34: "The painting is especially important as an historic depiction of how the standard Poodle looked almost 200 years ago....Both the Poodle and Maltese are carefully posed in profile." This painting is re-sized and re-dated since publication (2000) of the following reference: Canine Companions (1820). Oil on canvas, 22.5 x 29 inches/ 57 x 75 cm., William Secord, Dog Painting: the European Breeds (Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Antique Collectors' Club, 2000), plate 332, p. 227. The editor of the Poodle History Project speculates (1/09) that the Poodle's fine bone may be a stylistic phenomenon. See Davis's portrait of a prize cow: William Henry Davis - Farm Animals - A Prize Cow 1838.

We've corrected:

We've corrected the link for the following item in Charlemagne until 1890 (or so): Johnson, Eastman (American, 1824-1906). Negro Life at the South (1859). Oil on linen, 36 x 45 1/4 in. The New-York Historical Society on permanent loan from The New York Public Library, S-225. In the foreground, moyen-sized parti-coloured (brown and white) Poodle in a play-bow. In the close background a two-and-a-half story frame house in poor repair directly adjacent to (at right) a masonry or stucco mansion in excellent condition. In the dooryard of the frame house, gathered near a seated black man playing a banjo, several groups of black/mulatto people; entering from far right wearing an expression of relaxed interest, and followed by a black attendant, is a beautifully-dressed white woman. It's unclear to whom the dog belongs. 29 October 1999 - 6 February 2000 exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art; catalogue by Teresa A. Carbone and Patricia Hills, Eastman Johnson Painting America (NY: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1999), see pp. 120-131. This Poodle is particularly interesting because among the earliest evidence of Poodles in North America; and because perhaps linked to the breed's traditional role in entertainment. This painting is popularly known as Old Kentucky Home; the artist painted his father's back yard in Washington, D.C.

We note:

The Poodle History Project is an ongoing project. If you've an eagle's eye, and spot errors, please let us know!

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