1938- British author Eric Knight writes the short story "Lassie Come Home" that appears in the
Saturday Evening Post. Response is overwhelming and the short story is
expanded into a book
|
| January, 1943- Eric Knight is killed in a plane crash and does not live to see his story on the big screen |
| October, 1943- "LASSIE Come-Home" is released in theatres staring Elizabeth Taylor, Roddy McDowell and LASSIE |
| 1945- "Son of Lassie" Premieres |
| 1946- LASSIE Radio show began and runs until 1949 |
| 1946- "The Courage of LASSIE" premiered |
| 1948- "The Hills of Home" premiered |
| 1949- "The Sun Comes Up" premiered |
| 1950- "The Challenge to LASSIE" premiered |
| 1951- "The Painted Hills" premiered |
| 1954- "LASSIE", the TV show premiered |
| 1957- Timmy joins "LASSIE" TV Show |
| 1963- Five part "The Journey" premiered and was then edited to make the movie "LASSIE's Great Adventure" |
| 1964- Corey Stuart becomes LASSIE's new owner on "LASSIE" TV Show. Also the start of color episodes |
| 1964-Present "LASSIE" TV show runs in syndication |
| 1973- "Lassie's Rescue Rangers" cartoon premieres on CBS |
| 1975- "Lassie, Adventures of Neeka" released |
| 1979- "The Magic of LASSIE" premiered, co-starring Jimmy Stewart |
| 1985- Rudd Weatherwax dies at the age of 78 |
| 1989- "The New LASSIE" premiered in syndicated TV- first venture without Rudd Weatherwax. Lassie was trained by Rudd's son and co-trained by Rudd's grandson (who was later replaced by Carol Riggins) |
| 1993- Lassie appears in Rose Parade |
| 1994- "LASSIE, Best Friends are Forever" premiered |
| 1996- Filming begins in Canada for new Lassie series |
| 1997- New Lassie series produced by Canadian Cinar Films premieres |
| 1997- After 26 episodes, Cinar breaks from the Official Lassie to use cheaper non-line collies and a French trainer |
| 1997- www.lassie.net wages worldwide campaign to restore the Official Lassie and line dog to the series. The highly successful campaign is picked up by major media around the world and late 1997 an agreement is reached to restore a line dog to the series. |
| 1998- Weatherwax co-trainer Carol Riggins and her 9th generation direct descendant dog are selected to go to Canada to film remaining 13 episodes of series. This was the FIRST 9th generation dog to work on screen and followed the long tradition of passing the torch from father to son. |
| 2000- Weatherwax family begins sale of Lassie trademark to Classic Media |
| 2003- www.lassie.net arranges for Lassie to appear in the Rose Parade on the Pasadena Humane Society float to mark 60th anniverary. (Note: Lassie did not appear for the main judging event the previous day but did appear for the television broadcast) |
| 2003- Weatherwax family ends incredible long run of supplying line dogs to be Lassie |
| 2004- Lassie Celebrates 50 years on TV- HeyHey, the 9th generation direct descendant, who became Lassie in the late 1990's TV show, owned and trained by longtime Weatherwax associate Carol Riggins, goes on tour. |
| 2005- Carol Riggins becomes Official owner/trainer of Lassie and breeder for future generations of line dogs. |
| 2005- Variety named their top 100 Icons of all time. The ONLY animal to make the list was Lassie! |
| 2005- Remake of "Lassie Come Home" is released in the UK. This movie was shot in 2004 in the UK without a line dog because of quarantine restrictions. |
| 2006- "Lassie", the British remake of "Lassie Come Home', premieres in the US at the Tribeca Film Festival. After US release at Tribeca Film Festival, Carol Riggins and Lassie tour to promote the US release of the movie- often doing benefit premieres for animal rescue organizations and shelters.. |
| 2006- Lassie embarks on US Summer Tour with Natural Way Dog Food sponsor |
| 2007- Lassie Pet Vet show premieres on PBS |