Old Yeller is a 1956 children's novel written by Fred Gipson [1] and illustrated by Carl Burger. [2] It received a Newbery Honor in 1957. [3] In 1957, Walt Disney released a film adaptation starring Tommy Kirk, Fess Parker, Dorothy McGuire, Kevin Corcoran, Jeff York, Chuck Connors, and Beverly Washburn.
Travis Coates has been working to take care of his family ranch in the late 1860s in the fictional town of Salt Licks, Texas, with his mother and younger brother Arliss, while his father goes off on a cattle drive. A "dingy yellow" dog comes to the family and Travis reluctantly takes it in; they name him Old Yeller. The name has a double meaning: the fur color yellow pronounced as "yeller", and the fact that its bark sounds more like a human yell.
Travis initially loathes the "rascal" and at first tries to get rid of it, but the dog eventually proves his worth, saving the family on several occasions: rescuing Arliss from a bear, Travis from a bunch of wild hogs, and Mama and their friend Lisbeth from a wolf. Travis grows to love Old Yeller, and they become great friends. The rightful owner of Yeller shows up looking for his dog. He recognizes that the family has become attached to Yeller, so he trades the dog to Arliss for a horned toad and a home-cooked meal prepared by Travis' mother.
Old Yeller is bitten while saving his family from a rabid wolf. Travis cannot risk Old Yeller becoming rabid and turning on the family, and has to kill the dog. Old Yeller had puppies, and one of them helps Travis get over Old Yeller's death. They take in the new dog and try to make a fresh start.
Old Yeller in the novel is described as being a "yellow cur". [4] [5] It has been claimed that the dog was actually modeled after the Yellow or Southern Black Mouth Cur or a Blue Lacy, the state dog of Texas. [6] In the Disney film adaptation Yeller was portrayed by a yellow Labrador Retriever/Mastiff mix. [7]
The new puppy becomes the title character of the follow-up book Savage Sam (1962) [8] and 1963 film adaptation. A third book, Little Arliss (1978), is set after the first two and features Travis' younger brother. [9]
Elizabeth George Speare was an American writer of children's historical fiction, including two Newbery Medal winners, recognizing the year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children". In 1989 she received the Children's Literature Legacy Award for her contributions to American children's literature and one of the Educational Paperback Association's top 100 authors.
Thomas Lee Kirk was an American actor, best known for his performances in films made by Walt Disney Studios such as Old Yeller, The Shaggy Dog, Swiss Family Robinson, The Absent-Minded Professor, and The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, as well as the beach party films of the mid-1960s. He frequently appeared as a love interest for Annette Funicello or as part of a family with Kevin Corcoran as his younger brother and Fred MacMurray as his father.
Kate Seredy was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. She won the Newbery Medal once, the Newbery Honor twice, the Caldecott Honor once, and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. Most of her books were written in English, which was not her first language. Seredy seems to be unknown in her native Hungary, despite the fact that her story of the Good Master, and the sequel set in World War I are intensely about Hungary.
Jennifer L. Holm is an American children's writer, and recipient of three Newbery Honors and the Eisner Award.
Meindert De Jong, sometimes spelled de Jong, DeJong or Dejong was a Dutch-born American writer of children's books. He won the international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1962 for his contributions as a children's writer.
Old Yeller is a 1957 American Western drama film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney. It stars Dorothy McGuire and Fess Parker, with Tommy Kirk, Kevin Corcoran, and Chuck Connors. It is about a boy and a stray dog in post-Civil War Texas. The film is based upon the 1956 novel of the same name by Fred Gipson. Gipson also co-wrote the screenplay along with William Tunberg.
Frederick Benjamin Gipson was an American writer and screenwriter. He is best known for writing the 1956 novel Old Yeller, which became a popular 1957 Walt Disney film. Gipson was born on a farm near Mason in the Texas Hill Country, the son of Beck Gipson and Emma Deishler. After working at a variety of farming and ranching jobs, he enrolled in 1933 at the University of Texas at Austin. There he wrote for the Daily Texan and The Ranger, but he left school before graduating to become a newspaper journalist.
Savage Sam is a 1963 American Western film sequel to Old Yeller based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Fred Gipson. Norman Tokar directed the live-action film, which was released by Walt Disney Productions on June 1, 1963. It did not enjoy the success of the original.
Kevin Anthony "Moochie" Corcoran was an American child actor, director and producer. He appeared in numerous Disney projects between 1957 and 1963, leading him to be honored as a Disney Legend in 2006. His nickname, Moochie, established him as an irrepressible character in film.
Marc Simont was a Paris-born American artist, political cartoonist, and illustrator of more than a hundred children's books. Inspired by his father, Spanish painter Joseph Simont, he began drawing at an early age. Simont settled in New York City in 1935 after encouragement from his father, attended the National Academy of Design with Robert McCloskey, and served three years in the military.
A Dog's Life: The Autobiography of a Stray is a children's novel written in 2005 by Ann M. Martin and is published by Scholastic Books. The target audience for this book is grades 4–7. It is written from the first-person perspective of a female stray dog named Squirrel. Ann M. Martin bases her books on personal experiences and contemporary problems or events.
The Black Mouth Cur, also known as the Southern Cur, Southern Black Mouth Cur and the Yellow Black Mouth Cur, is a medium to large sized breed of cur-type dog from the United States. Originating in the south of the country, the breed is a popular hunting companion used to hunt a large variety of game.
Bob Smiley is an American TV/film writer-producer and partner in the Humble Picture Company. He is a Writers Guild of America-award winner for his work in kids' TV and the author of two books, the 2008 memoir Follow the Roar and the 2012 novel Don't Mess with Travis. He has also been a contributing writer to espn.com.
Spike (1955–1971) was a lop-eared yellow Mastador and a dog actor best known for his performance as the title character in the 1957 film Old Yeller, in which he co-starred with Tommy Kirk, Beverly Washburn, Dorothy McGuire, Fess Parker, and Kevin Corcoran. Spike was rescued as a pup from a shelter in Van Nuys, California, and became the pet and pupil of animal trainer Frank Weatherwax.
Hound-Dog Man is a 1959 American musical comedy drama film directed by Don Siegel, based on the 1947 novel by Fred Gipson, and starring Fabian, Carol Lynley, and Stuart Whitman.
Rabies has been the main plot device or a significant theme in many fictional works. Due to the long history of the virus as well as its neurotropic nature, rabies has been a potent symbol of madness, irrationalism, or an unstoppable plague in numerous fictional works, in many genres. Many notable examples are listed below.
Carl V. Burger was an American "artist and writer of children's books about animals and natural history." He is known for his children's and youth literature illustrations of The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford and the Newbery Medal honor novels Old Yeller by Fred Gipson and Little Rascal by Sterling North.
Rutherford George Montgomery was an American writer of children's books. In addition to his given name, he used the pseudonyms A.A. Avery, Al Avery, Art Elder, E.P. Marshall, and Everitt Proctor.
Little Arliss (1978) is the third book centered on the Coates family of frontier Texas by Fred Gipson. It follows Old Yeller (1956) and Savage Sam (1962), and focuses on Little Arliss, the youngest member of the family. Like the first two novels, it is told in the first person, this time by Arliss, instead of Travis.
Savage Sam is a 1962 children's novel written by Fred Gipson, his second book concerning the Coates family of frontier Texas in the late 1860s. It is a sequel to 1956's Old Yeller. It was inspired by the story of former Apache captive Herman Lehmann, whom Gipson had seen give an exhibition when he was a child. It was adapted into a motion picture of the same name.
