Laurence Trimble and Jean
Laurence Trimble and his black and white border collie Jean were well-known actors in the early days of silent films. To be honest Jean was more of a star than her owner and she is said to have been the most beloved animal in the United States in the early 1900s. Jean was the first canine to star in the moving pictures. She was beloved by silent movie fans as far away as Australia. Both Jean and Laurence are locals-Laurence from Robbinston and Jean an Eastport native who came to live with the Trimble family on Trimble Mountain in Robbinston as a pup.
1881 Map of Trimble Mountain Robbinston
Laurence’s father John Charles Fremont Trimble was born in Robbinston on May 14, 1856, and married Maria Clark in Robbinston on July 22nd, 1882. According to the 1881 map of Robbinston John and Mary were then living on what is now known as Trimble Mountain. At the time there was a substantial settlement in the vicinity of Trimble Mountain including many Diffins, Campbells, Nashes, Haymans and Bucks. There were enough children to warrant a school just down the road from the Trimble residence. Almost certainly Laurence’s sister Mary born in 1883, Laurence born in 1885 and Harry born in 1888 attended the school. In their teenage years they were likely accompanied around town by the family pet and future movie star Jean, the border collie although no one could have foreseen her fame at the time.
Publicity Photo of Laurence
Laurence was educated first at the settlement school shown on the map and later at the village school. He showed an early talent as a writer, specializing in stories about animals, some of which he submitted for publication. His writing brought him to the attention of a director at Vitagraph Film Studios in New York, an early silent film studio and when told the studio was on the lookout for a dog who could act. Laurence knew just the dog and soon both Laurence and Jean were signed by Vitagraph to act in the 1910 film “Saved by the Flag”. The film was not a big hit, but the studio realized a star was born and it wasn’t Laurence.
1910 Jean’s first starring role
Jean in Matchmaker
Although Laurence continued to direct and act in dozens of silent movies, Jean the border collie became a star, far surpassing her master in fame. According to the National Film Preservation Foundation:
“Like so many early film celebrities “Jean The Vitagraph Dog, America’s first canine screen star broke into the movies by being in the right place at the right time. The black and white collie belonged to Lawrence Trimble, an aspiring writer who happened to be on the Vitagraph set one day when a dog was needed to play a scene. Gene performed perfectly and a star was born. Trimble joined the company and directed some 60 films before relocating to Britain in 1913. He directed his dog in more than a dozen.”
Jean, Vitagraph publicity photo
Jean became known as “Jean the Wonder Dog” and was the most popular dog in the country. She began getting fan mail from children all over the country, often containing photos of their own pets. By 1911 even newspapers such as the Kalgoorie Miner in Australia were promoting Jean in her new film “Jean and the Calico Doll”. Jean worked tirelessly at $25 a week for Vitagraph including a movie costarring the then 8-year-old actress Helen Hayes. Her work for Vitagraph was interrupted in 1913 when, perhaps succumbing to temptation while taking a walk in Central Park, she became pregnant. Her pregnancy was big news, and she was granted maternity leave. When she delivered six pups Motion Picture World reported “Jean, the Vitagraph Dog, is the happy mother of six little ones. Mother and children are all doing nicely, thank you.”
Jean and Laurence soon left for England where Jean made movies for “Turner Films” for a couple of years and she became a favorite of children in England and the Continent, but war intervened and the pair returned home. Returning home from England in 1916 Jean had reached the old age for a dog of 14 and in the summer of that year Jean died.
Laurence’s second dog made five movies
Laurence tried to work with other dogs for several years without success in Hollywood but not until the 1920s did he find one even close to Jean in talent and temperament. He made four films with Strongheart, but it wasn’t the same. As one writer put it” He could never find one with the right stuff”. Before his death in Hollywood in 1954 he described Jean as the best dog he ever had and the best he ever worked with.
After the First World War he moved to the West Coast where in addition to the Strongheart films he directed and acted in many movies, but he soon retired from the film business. He had married several times, first to Jane Murfin and later to Louise Trenton. Both marriages ended in divorce. At his death he was married to Marian Blackton. He had one daughter, Janet. Both his sister Mary and brother Harry had joined him on the West Coast. Mary was living in Los Angeles in 1930, and her husband was working as a carpenter at a film studio. Brother Harry died a year after Laurence in California, all three far from their childhood home on Trimble Mountain, Robbinston.
The Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills California continues to operate in Woodland Hills California.