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Jean the Vitagraph Dog was owned and trained by Larry Trimble. Jean started in films in 1910 and was the first US canine movie star. From what I can find, Trimble started at Vitagraph as a trainer, writer, actor, director and worked often with Florence Turner.Jean started in films the summer of 1910 when Trimble took his Vitagraph company to Maine. The oldest surviving film from this summer appears to be Jean the Match-Maker. Trimble, Turner and Jean made 6 or 7 films that summer. Several survive.

Anyway..... Another film from 1910 titled A Frontier Hero was produced by Edison and released that July. It also features a collie and the dog looks very similar to Jean. Maybe all collies look alike, but what a coincidence. The first Jean film wasn't released til August of 1910. Here are caps of each dog:

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Did Trimble and Jean work for Edison that same year? Or is this a totally bizarre coincidence with two different dogs? The dog act is even the same (pretty much).

I'd say it was just a coincidence - in reviews, the dog in the Edison film was called 'Shep'. Funnily enough I've seen several articles about Jean recently, probably because of a screening of Jean The Matchmaker that was planned for Maine's bicentennial celebrations and was due to take place a few days ago.

This one was particularly informative: http://quoddytides.com/first-movie-star ... -2020.html. It suggests that Trimble's first encounter with the film industry was visiting the Vitagraph studio in 1909 - although if he was indeed 'researching a series of articles about how movies were made', it seems unfathomable that he would not also have visited Edison's studio. On the other hand, if Jean had appeared in an Edison film, it would be very surprising if Trimble had never mentioned it.

I think it's likely two different dogs too, Brooksie, but bear in mind that in that era stars were a new and different matter in the movies. The dog best remembered from Our Gang was Pete, Tige or Pal, depending on whether he was at Roach, Century, or home. Unless someone feel confident enough to say they are definitely two different dogs and offer a reason, we'll have to agree it's likely, but unproven.

Bob

I wrote about Trimble here, before I'd heard about the planned Maine program:

https://silentroomdotblog.wordpress.com ... -his-dogs/

But this sure seems like one helluva coincidence.

For anyone who hasn't seen it, Jean the Matchmaker can be viewed online:

https://www.filmpreservation.org/preser ... maker-1910