Rin Tin Tin (often billed as Rin-Tin-Tin in the 1920s and 1930s) was the name given to several German Shepherds of film and television. The first was a shell-shocked pup found by American serviceman Lee Duncan in a bombed-out dog kennel in Lorraine, France less than two months before the end of World War I. Named for a puppet called Rintintin that French children gave to the American soldiers for good luck, at war's end Duncan took the dog back to his home in Los Angeles, California. Following Rin Tin Tin's death in 1932 in Los Angeles (in the arms of actress Jean Harlow, according to Hollywood legend) his owner arranged to have the dog returned to his country of birth for burial in the Cimetière des Chiens, the renowned pet cemetery in the Parisian suburb of Asnières-sur-Seine. Vintage sepia matte-finish 10 x 8 photo, signed and inscribed in fountain pen “For Nancy Lee Smith, Most Faithfully, Rin Tin Tin , Nannette and Lee Duncan 1927.” In very good condition, with scattered light creasing, discooration in the borders, a couple of corner creases and silvering to the darker areas of the photo. R&R COA.
