dual personalities

Last weekend I watched the old Disney movie Greyfriars Bobby (1961).

I had not seen it in years and years and I was quite struck by what a really terrific movie it is. It packs quite a punch. Filmed in Scotland, it really tugged at my genetic heartstrings.

The actor who played “Auld Jock” reminded me a lot of Robin Williams, who was, after all, of Scottish derivation.

You remember the story: A wee Skye Terrier named Bobby is the pet of a Scottish farmer and his wife, but the dog loves an old shepherd hired on the farm called Auld Jock. When money grows scarce on the farm, Auld Jock is let go. He travels to Edinburgh, and Bobby follows him. Auld Jock dies in poverty in an inn and is buried in Greyfriar’s kirkyard. Bobby returns to Auld Jock’s grave every night to sleep. Two men (played by Laurence Naismith and Donald Crisp) vie for his affection, as do the street urchins of the town, but he will belong to no one but Auld Jock. In the meantime, no one has purchased a license for Bobby, and without a license and someone to take responsibility for Bobby, he may be destroyed. Bobby’s fate rests with the Lord Provost of Edinburgh. In a moving act of charity, the children of Edinburgh contribute their pennies for Bobby’s license. Bobby is declared a Freeman of the City and adopted by the populace of Edinburgh.

This is a true story and there is a statue commemorating the loyalty of the wee dog in Edinburgh. I have seen it.

Anyway, after viewing the movie (and weeping throughout) I thought I would like to read the book on which the Disney version is based. I found my grandfather Cameron’s copy, which he had received as a gift in 1912.

Bunker had written his name underneath and on the dedication page he had added his own notation:

(I can’t tell you how much I love that.)

I read the book and enjoyed it. The Disney screenplay follows it very closely–a good call on their part. Interestingly, Eleanor Atkinson was from Indiana and had never been to Scotland! She must have known some natives, because the dialect is excellent. The book is still in print (a Puffin Classic).

So I heartily recommend you watch this vintage Disney movie! And here is a fun fact to know and tell. I was struck by how excellent the children in this movie are. Some you may remember from other old Disney movies, but one girl stood out to me.

I looked on IMDB.com to see who played Ailie. It was Joan Juliet Buck, which sounded very familiar. Indeed, she grew up to be the editor of Paris Vogue (1994-2001). Greyfriars Bobby is the only movie she made as a child actress.

The world is more than we know.

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”

So far it was plain and comforting. “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters.”

Nae, the pastures were brown, or purple and yellow with heather and gorse. Rocks cropped out everywhere, and the peaty tarps were mostly bleak and frozen. The broad Firth was ever ebbing and flowing with the restless sea, and the burns bickering down the glens. The minister of the little hill kirk had said once that in England the pastures were green and the lakes still and bright; but that was a fey, foreign country to which Auld Jock had no desire to go. He wondered, wistfully, if he would feel at home in God’s heaven, and if there would be room in that lush silence for a noisy little dog, as there was on the rough Pentland braes.

–From Greyfriars Bobby by Eleanor Atkinson

Have a good Wednesday!