Dr. T. by Dr. S.

From the mind of Dr. Seuss, The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T. is one of those movies I’ve heard about for decades, but hadn’t gotten around to seeing. TCM has made it possible for me to correct this omission, and it’s a visual feast!

Hans Conried is perfect as the comically maniacal Dr. T. Tommy Rettig, who was Lassie’s pal on TV before Jon Provost, carries the narrative of the movie. It’s a musical, and I enjoyed the songs, but its fantastic cartoon-like images, beautifully restored in HD, are the big draw for me.

Pets in Petaluma

Snoopy at Petaluma

In 1968, Snoopy attempted to enter the World Wrist Wrestling Championship in Petaluma, CA, only to be disqualified for not having a thumb. This week in Petaluma, Jon Provost of “Timmy and Lassie” voted on the world’s ugliest dog, with a boxer named Pabst being awarded the distinction.

Jon Provost

Jon’s super-duper tell-all autobiography, written with his wife Laurie Jacobson, Timmy’s In the Well is a great read, with many Hollywood stories, concentrating on the staid Fifties into the Swinging Sixties. Timmy never did fall in a well on the TV show, but as I pointed out a couple of years ago, a cartoon version of Timmy did fall in a well, in a Kenner Give-a-Show slide, and today that slide was given the Give-A-Show Projector Blog treatment.

Jon Provost on CBS Early Show

Don’t miss Jon Provost tomorrow, on The Early Show. I’ll set my FiOS DVR for you, just in case. No need to guess when — 8:40 am ET on CBS.

If you want to get a real sense of what the social changes in America were like, going from the staid 50’s to the swinging 60’s, John’s fabulous autobiography, written with his wife Laurie Jacobson, Timmy’s In The Well, is the place to get it. You’ll also get to know a whole lot about Jon, including the good stuff about growing up in Hollywood.

Jon recently lent his name to the worthy cause called the New Child Actor’s Guild.

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On a personal note, Jon was very supportive and helpful not long ago with a difficult situation we were having next door. I’m happy to say we no longer have that problem. Thanks, Jon!

Jon Provost’s Graceful Movie Mom

Nobody ever says just the name “Lassie”, do they? Doesn’t everybody who’s old enough to know the TV show say “Timmy and Lassie”?

Jon Provost says he has no problem with the idea that he played second fiddle to a dog, but once he was on board the series he was the star. Tommy Rettig was great playing Jeff, Lassie’s previous owner, but the character Timmy has achieved the status of a pop culture icon.

I’ve featured Provost several times here, and I highly recommend his tell-all book, Timmy’s In The Well. The Daily Breeze, out in L.A., CA way, has a good, concise article about Jon that I’ll link to right here.

The article mentions that Provost is in The Country Girl with Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly. Of the movie, Jon says, “At ease with grown-ups, I struck up a conversation with Mr. Crosby while we waited for technicians to light the set. Whatever I said made him laugh. “Say, this kid ad libs better than Bob Hope!”” And here Jon is, in “The Country Girl.”

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Great death scene, Jon. Hey, I’ve met somebody who met Grace Kelly. And she was no dog!