Episode Guide: Season 7 1960-1961

"Blacktail" (09/11/60):

Jerry, the lame boy who adopted Lassie's son Blacktail, and his dog visit the farm, where the Martins find out Jerry can walk without his brace, but is afraid to try. Jerry: Charles Herbert. Edith: Mary Lawrence.
   • Note: This is a sequel to the season five episode "The Puppy Story."

"The Wallaby" (09/18/59):

Something's raided the family strawberry patch, but the large mysterious tracks puzzle everyone until Timmy catches a glimpse of the animal, describing it as a "giant rabbit." In reality it's a wallaby named Pancho—who poses a danger to Lassie! Flip: Flip Mark. Del Turner: Delbert Graham. Babs Turner: Barbara Graham.
   • Note: Del and Babs Graham were stars of "The Flying Viennas," aerialists for the Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey Circus for three years. The Grahams also appeared on a 1960 episode of Ozzie and Harriet. Although a few previous episodes have taken place in a rocky area, I believe this is either the first episode featuring Vasquez Rocks or at least the first episode where the area is definitely identifiable. That diagonal outcropping of layered rocks is very distinctive.

"Cully's New Pet" (09/25/60):

Cully tells Timmy no animal is all bad, so Timmy befriends a skunk, but no one, not even Lassie, will come near his new friend. Cully: Andy Clyde. Miss Hazlit: Sally Bliss. Hunter: Ray Montgomery.
   • Trivia: Cully's pet crow is named Blackie.
   • Note: Odd title although Cully does have a new pet at episode beginning, since the episode is actually about Timmy's new pet!

"The Rescue" (10/02/60):

Timmy is trapped on a ledge while chasing a strayed ewe that has just given birth and Ruth desperately tries to get the attention of a nearby helicopter pilot reseeding the hills. Chuck Martin: Kenneth Tobey.
   • Trivia: Timmy likes to build model airplanes; it looks a World War fighter. He also likes to read about famous aviators like Eddie Rickenbacker. Chuck Martin flew aircraft in the war.

"Feathered Menace" (10/09/60):

Ruth agrees to babysit Betty Wilder's infant twins, but the young mother arrives early and reluctantly leaves Timmy and Lassie to care for the babies until Ruth returns from an errand. Timmy thinks it will be a cinch—until a marauding hawk chases a frightened pigeon into the bedroom where the babies are sleeping. Betty: Nan Leslie.
   • Trivia: Timmy loves babies.

"The Gentle Tiger" (10/16/60):

Timmy, who has a job as water boy to the animals of a carnival, unknowingly frees Satan, a vicious tiger. But he's told that the freed animal is Rajah, a tame tiger raised from cubhood by a trainer, so he goes to search for the animal himself. Mark Ryan: James Flavin. Poletti: John Cliff.

"The Renegade" (10/23/60):

Timmy and Lassie nurse a wounded fawn that they find in the woods and Timmy, disappointed that Paul says he cannot keep it, secretly ties it in the woods in order to train it. Then a wounded bear begins stalking the animal. Jed Ransome: Phil Chambers.
   • Note: The scene where Lassie protects the fawn from a wolf is reused from "The Fog" in the previous season. Imagine allowing a child Timmy's age to spray and use pesticides today!

"The Blind Dog" (10/30/60):

Timmy finds out that Bob Alder's dog Butch is going blind from cataracts and that Bob's father wants to have him put to sleep, so Ruth hires Bob to help with gathering corn to help pay for Butch's surgery. But Butch wanders away from the field where they are working. Bob: Tommy Nolan. Mr. Alder: Jason Johnson. Trucker: Lee J. Roberts.
   • Note: Paul is away in this episode. Jason Johnson, after playing crabby Jud Perkins in the Jeff episodes, plays a strict but less crabby character here.

"The Swallows of Los Pinos" (11/06/60):

The Chapel de Los Pinos, built in 1843 by Spanish friars, has been sleighted for demolition and the Martins try to prove that a flock of swallows return there every year on the same day and hour, which would save the structure. But they may not arrive after a hawk attacks and injures the scout swallow, a bird Timmy calls "Pretty Boy." Mayor Henry Enders: Eddy Waller. Joe White: Hal Baylor.
   • Note: In the continuing question of "where is Calverton?" this episode places the series somewhere in the western United States, since the Spanish missions were built in California and other western locations (except for St. Augustine in Florida, and Lassie definitely doesn't take place in Florida).

"Sea Serpent" (11/13/60):

While testing a new fishing rod, Timmy sees giant footprints he thinks are from a sea serpent. The tracks are really made by a neighbor skin-diving, but he perpetuates the monster story to keep people away from the freshwater pearls he found in the lake—a move that spells danger. Cully: Andy Clyde. Dave Taylor: Bill Henry. Nancy Taylor: Barbara Ann Knudson. Cully: Andy Clyde.

"Visiting Colt" (11/20/60):

Prince, Alice Walker's colt, who's boarding at the Martins', consumes Timmy's time, arousing Lassie's jealousy. Then Prince breaks his leg, and, although the vet figures a way to save the pony, Alice's dad returns unexpectedly and says he wants the animal destroyed to save it suffering. Doug Walker: Walter Reed. Doc Hayden: Russ Bender.
   • Note: Doc Hayden seems to be the Martins' vet for several episodes; it was probably because Arthur Space (Doc Weaver) was playing Herbert Brown on the series National Velvet, which lasted two seasons and starred Lori Brown in the title role. Unlike the original story, the television series was set on an American dairy farm and Velvet's horse was named "King," not "Pi." Space returned as the vet after the Velvet series ended.

"Little Cabbage" (11/27/60):

While her car is being fixed and she's in a neighboring town for a public appearance, flamboyant movie star Mimi Marlowe leaves her spoiled miniature poodle "Le Petit Chou" on the farm—where "Cabbage" runs afoul of Cranky the goose. Mimi: Marie Windsor.
   • Note: Some very humorous scenes with Paul taken in with Miss Marlowe's charms!

"The Big Race" (12/04/60):

When Timmy neglects his chores to work on the go-cart he and Willy are building for a big race, he is forbidden to ride in the time trials—but he can't stand Steve taunting him and breaks the rules after Willy comes in last at the time trials. Willy: Linda Wrather. Steve: Steven Talbot.

"Bows and Arrows" (12/18/60):

Timmy and Bob build bows and arrows to go hunting like Bill Reynolds, a bow hunter they met at the general store, but when Bob uses one of the hunter's arrows to stop Old Three-Toes, a lynx stalking the area, he hits an unexpected target. Bob: Tommy Nolan. Dan Porter: Byron Foulger. Reynolds: Harry Gautier.

"The Christmas Story" (12/25/60):

Timmy befriends a boy and girl who are running away to California with their father—who's one step ahead of the law. Sheriff Miller: Robert Foulk. Alice: Jennie Lynn. Bobby: Bob Folkerson. Mr. Dennis: James Lydon.
   • Note: Ah, those were the days!: Timmy's ten cents worth of candy is enough for him to have some, give Lassie a piece, and share with Bobby and Alice!

"The White-Faced Bull" (01/01/61):

Trespassing on Martin land, a neighbor's aggressive bull almost hurts Timmy, and Paul threatens to shoot it if it's ever on his property again; when the bull dies from poisoning, Paul is the first suspect. Dunlap: Robert Brubaker. Mac: Jack Searl. Dan Porter: Byron Foulger.

"Apron Strings" (01/08/61):

When Timmy and Lassie bring home a litter of starving orphaned puppies, rescued from a maurading bobcat, the family tries to save them although one has already died of starvation. Inadvertantly, the pups teach Timmy, who's been relying on Paul to help him with arithmetic homework, about self-sufficiency. Doc Spencer: Forrest Taylor.
   • Note: In the movie Lassie: Best Friends are Forever, Jennifer Turner is watching a clip of a black and white Lassie episode—it is from this episode, when Lassie runs into the barn to find Trixie, Jimmy Bender's dog who's just had puppies.

"The Wild Horse" (01/15/61):

While collecting insects for a science project, Timmy and Lassie see a wild horse, but no one believes it happened until his discovery is confirmed by the sheriff, who orders the animal shot on sight. But Paul persuades two farmers to help him catch the creature. Sheriff Miller: Robert Foulk. With Henry Wills and Red Morgan.
   • Note: There is a very funny sequence with Paul fixing a lamp for Ruth that anticipates the "touch lamp" by 20 years.
   • Additional Note: The horse in this episode as well as in the later "Gentle Savage" looks like "Beaut," the horse that played the lead in the series Fury for so many years. Beaut also had a large role in the movie "Giant" and played the lead in Gypsy Colt, the 1953 film that was essentially a retelling of Lassie Come Home with a horse, instead of a dog, who is loved by an American girl in the West rather than an English boy in Yorkshire. I've tried for years to confirm that it really is "Beaut" in both these episodes but never have had a definitive answer. The closest clue I have comes from a 1950s Whitman book called More Than Courage by Patrick Lawson, which tells stories of dogs and horses and which has a chapter on performing animals including Lassie and "Fury." Lawson states that there had been talk of a team-up between Lassie and Fury, but it had not been done yet. With the Fury series over by the time this was filmed, perhaps Beaut was finally free to appear with Lassie. Fury and Lassie have other connections: both series were originally filmed on the Iverson Movie Ranch; Fury's star Bobby Diamond appeared three times on Lassie and co-star William Fawcett appeared once; James Seay, who played the sheriff on several episodes of Fury, also appeared on Lassie in several episodes.

"The Mad Dog" (01/22/61):

While Paul is away, Ruth and Timmy care for a stray dog that Timmy names Duke. But after being involved in a fight, Duke suddenly shows all the signs of rabies. Sheriff Miller: Robert Foulk. (The deputy is uncredited.)
   • Note: Hugh Reilly was absent from several episodes in this era; sometimes Paul is explained as being off in another part of the farm, sometimes he is said to be away doing business for the Grange. In this outing, Ruth talks about him being "at Uncle Petrie's," the first time and only time Petrie is mentioned since he left the show and appeared in "In Case of Emergency."

"The Trip" (01/29/61):

When the Martins travel by train to Chicago for an agricultural exhibition, as well as to visit Ruth's mother and family, Lassie is taken along, but her crate falls off the baggage car enroute and Tom and Jess, two friendly truckers, try to help her get back where she belongs. Conductor: James Burke. Hank Loomis: Woodrow Chambliss. Tom: H. Lloyd Nelson.
   • Trivia: The train from Capitol City to Chicago goes through Colesville and Burnham. Lassie's crate falls off at Dry Creek turn.
   • Note: Could this have been a "trial run" for "Lassie's Odyssey"? Tom and Jess are uncredited, but it's obvious that Tom is played by Lloyd Nelson; his voice is a dead giveaway.

"Shadrack" (02/05/61):

Cully plays host to his old regiment's Army mule, but he and Timmy must save the animal from being destroyed when it suddenly goes mad and begins rampaging all over the countryside. Cully: Andy Clyde. Sheriff: Robert Foulk. Dispatcher's Voice: Lloyd Nolan. Mr. Nolan: Gil Perkins.
   • Trivia: Other neighbors of the Martins are the Franklins and the Peabodys. Cully says Shadrack is 45 years old, which makes him born in 1915. He was probably two or three when he served with Cully. He won a medal for service in the Argonne Forest, for having served under fire without eating for two weeks. Shadrack also suffered a bout of lead poisoning during the war.
   • Note: One of the first things I remember on television about the dangers of ingesting lead paint. The animal's throes in his sickness are truly frightening.

"The Patriot" (02/12/61):

After finding out the local Army base needs dogs to guard their missiles, Timmy adopts Homer, a German Shepherd from the dog pound, to give to the Army, but the dog has become so cowed from abuse that the family wonders if he can ever be trained. Jim Simpson: Dan Sheridan. Sergeant Nolan: Paul Langton.
   • Note: Suddenly the Martin farm is near a big Nike missile base. Some nice clips of early Nike Hercules missiles are shown, along with guard dog training sequences. While training Homer, Timmy is shown in the "crash helmet" marked "T. Martin" that he wore in "The Big Race."

"The Eagle" (02/19/61):

Timmy and Lassie watch in horror as a man raids a golden eagle's nest and destroys her only egg, so Timmy gives the bereaved bird a goose egg to raise.
   • Note: "Mrs. Eagle" turns up in several sequels. "She" is actually a male named Solomon, who also appears in the Season 8 episode "Lassie and the Eagle," Season 9's "Eagle's Lair," and Season 10's "The Treasure," according to Ace Collins in the liner notes for the 50th anniversary DVD set. However, a correspondent tells me that in the book Gifts of the Eagle by Kent Durden, Mr. Durden says the eagle involved is a female named Lady.

"Cracker Jack" (02/26/61):

Enroute to the city to relocate after a drought, a backwoods family stops at the Martins after Timmy plays a trick on them. But when their son Billy Joe finds out his parents plan to give away his beloved dog Mitchell, he swears Timmy to secrecy, then he and the dog head for the woods—where deer season has just begun. Billy Joe: Billy Hughes. Pa: James Griffith. Pearlie Mae: Ellen Corby.
   • Note: Another synopsis for this episode states "Cracker Jack runs away when his parents plan to give away his dog." Billy Joe is never referred to as "Cracker Jack" anywhere in the episode, nor is the exclamation "it's cracker jack" or any permutation of such ever used. Theory: Copyright issues due to the trademarked popcorn snack got Hughes' name altered when the show was filmed, but some stations got the original synopsis. Another curiosity: The sequel to this episode is entitled "Yochim's Christmas," and both Timmy and Billy Joe pronounce the family name as "Yochim" in that story. However, the family is clearly referred to as "Slocum" in this episode.

"Cully's Hound Dog" (03/05/61):

When Paul offers to farm land Cully has allowed to lie fallow, the old man assumes Paul means he should retire. But after Timmy gives him a pep talk, Cully decides to fight back by hitching horse to plow and farming his land again. Cully: Andy Clyde.
   • Trivia: Cully's plowhorse is named Jupiter and his cow is named Arabella.

"The Fire Watchers" (03/12/61):

Ruth is on volunteer tower duty during a dry spell and must take action when a forest fire starts due to a careless smoker. Meanwhile Lassie helps Ranger Wade start a backfire after he's injured in the path of the fire in a fall from his horse. Ranger Wes Wade: Marshall Reed. Sheriff Miller: Robert Foulk. Dispatcher: Charles Tannen.

"Señor Coyote" (03/19/61):

Timmy befriends Josè, a new Spanish boy in school (the other boys keep calling him "Josie"), but doesn't know what to do when Josè's pet coyote Taquita is accused of killing Mr. Ransom's chickens. Josè: Eugene Martin. Sheriff Miller: Robert Foulk. Miss Hazlit: Sally Bliss. (Benny, Josè's mother, and Mr. Ransom are uncredited.)
   • Note: Paul is away in this episode.

"Bessie" (03/26/61):

When Ruth thinks their cow is going dry, she makes the difficult decision to sell Bessie to the slaughterhousea and purchase a new cow. What they don't realize is that a neighbor's boy has been taking some of her milk for his little sister since his family's own cow has died. Joey: Michael McGreevey. Barney Kent: Harry Carey Jr. Jenny: Florence Lake.
   • Note: Paul is away in this episode.

"The Pigeon" (04/02/61):

Lassie and Caesar, an Army homing pigeon that Timmy nurses back to health, become so attached to each other that when he is returned to the Army, she refuses to eat, and Caesar frees himself to return to his collie friend. So Timmy decides to see if the Army will allow him buy the bird. Sergeant Nolan: L.Q. Jones. General Steele: Raymond Bailey.
   • Note: "Spook" and "Baby" alternate in the role in this episode. In all of these early Army episodes there is a noncom named Nolan; half the time he isn't credited, so it's unsure if it's the same actor every time. However, I believe L.Q. Jones also played Nolan in "Timmy and the Martians"—if he did, he doesn't act like he has ever met Timmy. Very funny scene at the end: Nolan has inadvertantly referred to the General as "Ironpants" in front of Timmy, and later when Timmy pleads his case to the officer, he accidentally calls him "Ironpants," to Nolan's chagrin. Paul is away in this episode.

"Long Chase" (04/09/61):

When carnival performer Mr. Conte's trained dog Terry is injured, Lassie substitutes for her—so well that he wants to buy her. When Timmy won't sell, the man steals her. Mr. Conte: Chick Chandler. Doc Hayden: Russ Bender.
   • Trivia: Beaumont is another town near Calverton.
   • Note: Paul is away in this episode. This episode is a reworking of the Jeff episode "The Carnival."

"The Ostrich" (04/16/61):

Timmy and Lassie make the acquaintance of Captain Gene Holter, a man who makes his living racing his two ostriches Romeo and Juliet against horses at county fairs. But when Ruth finds out Juliet, defending a egg she just laid, chased Timmy, she forbids the boy to return to the fairgrounds. Holter: J. Pat O'Malley (a second appearance for this Lassie Come-Home alumnus). Judge Baxter: Nolan Leary.
   • Note: Paul is away in this episode.

"Fools Gold" (04/23/61):

When Lassie brings home Beauty, a burro who once belonged to deceased prospector Dry Creek John, Timmy and Cully think the creature knows where the old man found gold. But when they do find the mine, the timbers collapse around them. Cully: Andy Clyde.
   • Note: Paul is away in this episode.

"The Greyhound" (04/30/61):

Timmy bets Lassie's new jeweled collar that she can beat a friend's new greyhound, Pat, in a race, and is dismayed and eager for a rematch when the collie loses. Steve Johnson: Richard Correll. Mrs. Johnson: Peggy Stewart.
   • Note: Steve turns up again in later episodes, but you never see Pat again. Paul is away in this episode.

"Rodeo" (05/14/61):

While chasing a strayed steer, Timmy befriends Charlie Gaynor (don't call her "Charlotte"!), a tomboyish girl whose rodeo rider father fears competing again after a bad accident the previous year. When the horse he draws to ride is injured, Charlie's pet horse Nightmare, an animal who hasn't bucked in years, is substituted. Charlie: Patty Ann Garrity. Lucky Gaynor: Chris Warfield.
   • Note: This story is very similiar to "The Sulky Race," in which Lassie persuades a disinterested horse to compete. Paul's away in this episode buying livestock.

"The Search" (05/21/61):

While playing on her own, Lassie brings home the talking doll belonging to a lost city child, who is trapped in a concrete irrigation ditch that's slowly filling with water. Jenny: Florence Lake. Girl: Cynthia Lane. Deputy: uncredited.
   • Note: Really cute opening scene: Timmy is cleaning his closet, trying to ditch Lassie's old toys, but saves even his broken ones! As in "The Pigeon," we could subtitle this "The Case of the Rapidly Switching Lassies": "Spook" opens the story, but it's a collie with no blaze at all who attacks Ruth's mop. "Spook" then sticks his nose in the window, and only for the window scene becomes "Baby"! "Spook" then trots into the woods and reused is a cut of "Lassie Jr." The blaze-less collie is back when Ruth is hanging clothes, and you see "Lassie Jr" swimming later on. Meanwhile Paul's away again, this time at the opening of the new acqueduct.

"Timmy and the Martians" (05/28/61):

Timmy believes that the "Martian communicator" he and his friends Steve and Bobby built out of old radio and electronic parts caused an Army plane crash. Major Thornton: John Archer. Colonel Compton: Roy Barcroft. Steve: Richard Correll. Bobby: Gil Rogers.
   • Note: Nolan and Professor Stoddard go uncredited. Paul's away on a trip again! And Timmy should definitely choose his friends more carefully. The moment trouble comes, they ditch him!

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