TITLES AND
CREDITS
GUIDE
INDEX OF
TITLES
SEASON 01
SEASON 02
SEASON 03
SEASON 04
SEASON 05
SEASON 06
SEASON 07
SEASON 08
SEASON 09
SEASON 10
SEASON 11
SEASON 12
SEASON 13
SEASON 14
SEASON 15
SEASON 16
SEASON 17
SEASON 18
SEASON 19
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Episode Guide:
Season 11
1964-1965 |
| Please note that I have seen every episode of Lassie as listed in this guide. Therefore, although the titles and dates of these episodes have been gleaned from other sources (as cited on the contents page to this episode guide), any description and comments are mine. |
Regular Cast:
Corey Stuart: Robert Bray
Semi-Regular Cast:
Hank Whitfield: Clyde Howdy
The ratings for "The Disappearance" proved high enough that, after
season ten, Lassie left the farm forever and joined the U.S. Forest
Service.
At first, the show's writers were stymied on how to make the change,
knowing Timmy would not willingly leave Lassie. At one point they considered
having Paul join the Peace Corps, but apparently discovered that there was
no rule at the time against Peace Corps volunteers having pets with them.
They finally chose the out of having the Martins move to Australia. At that
time, British quarantine laws for the prevention of rabies stated that any
dog being brought into Australia had to be quarantined for six monthsin
England. (The law has since changed and the quarantine location is Australia;
it is further being revised to be shortened or eliminated.) Knowing that being
locked up for that length of time would break Lassie's heart, the Martins
leave her with Cully Wilson in part one of a three-part story. By the end of
the story, ownership has been transferred to Corey Stuart and Lassie's new
life has begun.
- "The Wayfarers" part 1 (09/06/64):
- Excited when his parents break the news that the family is moving to Australia,
Timmy changes his mind when he finds out Lassie would be quarantined for six
months and cannot come with them. Cully: Andy Clyde.
- "The Wayfarers" part 2 (09/13/64):
- Lassie has settled in living with Cullyand mostly occupied keeping
Cully's mischievous Yorkshire terrier Silky in linewhen the elderly man
suffers another heart attack. Lassie fetches Doc Weaver, but in the process of
his getting Cully to the hospital, Silky escapes. Cully: Andy Clyde.
Doc Weaver: Arthur Space.
- "The Wayfarers" part 3 (09/20/64):
- While Lassie and Silky wander Blue Canyon, where Silky is in danger from a
marauding hawk, an old friend of the collie's shows up, Corey Stuart, who immediately
heads out to find his missing friend. Cully: Andy Clyde. Doc Weaver: Arthur Space.
Trivia: Corey's father was a ranger, too. This is
mentioned again in "Cradle of the Deep."
Note: This is the last appearance for Space on the series,
although Clyde later returns in another role. It's very sad when Corey drives up to
the deserted farm with its "For Sale" sign posted prominently at the gate. We are all
leaving a place we loved for years.
- "Incident of the Eagle" (09/27/64):
- After Corey's survey plane strikes and injures a female eagle, Lassie tends her
two helpless eaglets by feeding them and fending off a hungry bobcat. Game Warden
Conway: Gregg Barton. Dave: Robert Kenneally.
Note: I hadn't seen this episode in years, but I
recalled a brief scene where Corey tells Lassie he has a letter from Timmy. I
didn't see this scene in a recent broadcast; it was possibly edited out, or might
be in another early episodeor very likely, was the wishful thinking of an
8-year-old who really missed Timmy! The eagle later returns to do Lassie a good
turn (see "Look Homeward, Lassie" below).
- "Climb the Mountain Slowly" (10/04/64):
- Thirteen-year-old Ricky Sutton foregoes childhood amusements, even baseball,
to help his logger father meet an important lumber contract, but is hurt and angry
when co-workers tease him. His effort to drive a bulldozer to prove he's an adult
spells danger for both him and Lassie. Ricky: Billy Hughes. Vince Sutton:
Bill Williams. Grady: Med Flory.
Note: Hughes previously played Billy Joe Slocum/Yochim
in two Timmy episodes, "Cracker Jack" and "Yochim's Christmas." By this episode his
voice had changed. It was nice to hear his real voice, without the cornball hillbilly
accent Billy Joe was given.
- "Leave It to Lassie and the Beavers" (10/11/64):
- New assistant district ranger Hank Whitfield has his baptism of fire after
cantankerous Maude Lester threatens harm to the beavers who have dammed up the source
of her stream. Maude: Jeanette Nolan.
Note: Hank's first episodewith a running gag with
Maude misprouncing his last name to boot. Nolan's son Tim McIntire appears in several
Lassie episodes, including "The Disappearance," and Nolan herself plays Ada
Stratton in the Lassie telefilm Lassie: a New Beginning.
Trivia: The episode title appears to be an even more
apppropriate pun on the series name Leave It to Beaver when you consider how
many Beaver cast members appeared on Lassie: Hugh Beaumont, Ken
Osmond, Richard Correll, and Stephen Talbot before this episode aired, Tony Dow and
Jerry Mathers afterward.
- "Lassie and the Shifting Sands" (10/18/64):
- While Corey acts as advisor on a beach recreation area project, Lassie befriends
a little girl who has no one to play with. Then Gayle loses her grandmother's beloved
bracelet, an anniversary gift from her late husband, on the beach. Gayle MacLeod: Katie
Sweet. Essie MacLeod: Sylvia Field. Ed Miller: Mark Tapscott.
- "Lassie and the Loner" (10/25/64):
- Corey offers to help Jim Shelley, who the crew boss of the Chalk Mountain Erosion
Control project considers useless and accident-prone, when he sees that the young
man loves the wilderness and has potential as a ranger, but Jim refuses the pamphlet
Corey gives himto accept it would reveal his secret: he's illiterate. Jim: David
Saber. Ranger: William Bramley.
- "Lassie and the Fugitive" part 1 (11/08/64):
- A farm dog left at a neighbor's home when his elderly owners move to town is shot
while helping defend a flock of sheep from killer dogs. Lassie befriends him, but while
tracking him down is set upon by the pack. Barney: Cal Bartlett. Dale Jensen:
Douglas Kennedy. Elderly Man: Frank Ferguson. With Rayford Barnes.
Note: "Spike" makes another guest appearance as the stray
dog.
- "Lassie and the Fugitive" part 2 (11/15/64):
- Lassie fights off the leader of the dog pack to save her new friend while Corey and
Barney search desperately for her, fearing the sheepmen hunting the pack will kill her.
She then leads the sheepmen astray in a dangerous game. Barney: Cal Bartlett. Dale Jensen:
Douglas Kennedy. With Rayford Barnes.
Note: Opening narration by Bonita Granville Wrather.
- "Nature's Way" (11/22/64):
- A rancher, knowing he will be accused of overgrazing his land, hides his cattle in
an area where there's quicksand, endangering his young son's life. Chuck Heinz: Kevin
Brodie. Roland Heinz: Steve Brodie.
- "Crossroad" (11/29/64):
- Corey thinks Jim McKinnon has the smarts to go on to college, but he'd prefer to
work so he can marry his girl Jody. Then, angered by an attack on his father, the
impulsive young man goes hunting a wounded cougarin the dark. Jim McKinnon: Doug
Lambert. Hannah McKinnon: Sheila Bromley. Ben McKinnon: Karl Swenson.
Note: Swenson later played series regular Karl Burkholm.
The McKinnons' little terrier looks like the same dog as in "Trouble Below Zero."
The shot of the horse in the barn is a cut from one of the Timmy episodes, possibly
"Gentle Savage." Noted in the scenes where Corey and Lassie follow Jim into the woods:
the collie is played by the same dog used primarily in "Mountain Mystery" (see next).
- "Mountain Mystery" (12/06/64):
- Corey is sickened while investigating reports of sickness in Echo Valley, and
closes the campground right before the opening of tourist season. To help the businessmen
of the area, he goes searching for the source of the problem, which he is sure is
in the water. George: Walter Reed. Mayor Fred Rankin: Bill Zuckert. Simpson: Charles Seel.
Note: The dog playing Lassie for the majority of this
episode is not "Baby." It is a collie with a wide blaze like "Spook," but the
blaze on the dog's right side goes around its mouth, and like "Spook" the blaze is
freckled. At other angles, the dog occasionally looks just like "Spook." It is
possible this episode, and the others noted, were filmed when "Baby" was first taken
ill ("Baby" was the only Lassie descendant appearing on the series to retire early;
he had cancer and died at the age of seven).
- "Realm of the Wild" (12/13/64):
- When a bear raids food from campers, Corey helps the local game warden relocate
the animal to an area away from tourists, not knowing the bear left a cub
behindluckily Lassie has found the little fellow and is leading him to safety.
Dick: Walter Stocker. Mr. Johnson: Glen Vernon.
Note: The collie with the wide blaze (see "Mountain
Mystery") plays Lassie in this episode. The mother bear is a black bear, but the
cub is not. It's a small species called a "sun bear," which is not indiginous to
the U.S.)
- "The Little Christmas Tree" (12/20/64):
- When Christmas trees being given away by the Pine Valley Community Church for
families who would otherwise not have them are stolen, Lassie finds them, including the
special tree picked out by young Billy for a secret project, in a lot run by two wayward
brothers. Billy: Teddy Eccles. Mrs. Davis: Joan Tompkins. Frank Daniels: Bob Random.
Rusty Daniels: Richard Correll. John: Allan Hunt. Joanne: Noanna Dix. Jimmy: Kerry
MacLane.
Note: Teddy Eccles, later billed as "Ted," was a
popular child actor of the late 1960s and early 1970s. His television credits included
the teen-age Franklin Roosevelt in the Emmy-award-winning miniseries Eleanor
and Franklin, he did many voiceovers for cartoons, and he starred in the critically
acclaimed family movie My Side of the Mountain.
- "Lassie Works a Miracle" (12/27/64):
- Lassie saves from death an unpredictable stallion who has injured one person and
almost hurt another, but in the process inadvertently frees the animal and sends
its owner and Corey hunting him in the hills. Undaunted, Lassie sets out on a rescue
mission of her own. Jetta: Mimsy Farmer. Bruce Henderson: Byron Morrow. Dekker: Hal
Jon Norman. Bill: Lenny Geer.
Note: The collie with the wide blaze (see "Mountain
Mystery") is in evidence in this episode as well.
- "It's an Ill Wind" (01/03/65):
- Since a logger's widow won't let her son keep Duchess, a stray cat, and her newborn
kittens, he hides them in a woodland cave that Corey and Lassie discover. When a angry
storm breaks out, both he and Lassie race to the cave to save them and are trapped by a
fallen power line. Gary Porter: Ronnie Dapo. Ann Porter: Frances Rafferty.
Note: The collie with the wide blaze (see "Mountain
Mystery") plays Lassie in this episode. Scenes from "The Phone Hog" where a storm knocks
wires down on a truck and breaks the phone lines are reused here. Ronnie Dapo was
also a guest in the Timmy episode "Swimmers."
- "Lassie and the Girl in the Canyon" (01/10/65):
- Hank's visiting sister, a schoolteacher, takes a bad tumble while exploring
Devil's Canyon with Lassie; Hank and Corey must find the quickest way to get her
to safety without aggravating a possible back injury. Julia Whitfield: Gloria Talbot.
Dr. Walker: John Zaremba.
Note: John Zaremba previously played Cully Wilson's
doctor. There's that building again, the one that was also a hospital in the Timmy
episode "Dognappers."
- "Stranger in the Woods" (01/24/65):
- Lassie, having inadvertently freed Louie, a mynah bird that the caretaker of the
Pine Valley Zoo taught to say her name, searches in the woods for the escaped pet.
Casey Howell: Dabbs Greer.
Note: Presumably this is the same Pine Valley as in
"Little Christmas Tree"? We must have missed the story of Lassie finding a fawn.
- "High Water" (01/31/65):
- Rancher Tom Wade tells Corey he can't afford to replant his land after a forest
fire, despite the risk of erosion and flooding, until his daughter and her collie
puppy Tina are trapped in rising water caused by a storm. Linda Banning: Suzanne
"Suzie" Somers. Wade Banning: Tom Drake. Flood Control Officer: Peter Hansen.
Note: Yes, Suzanne Somers from Three's Company.
Tom Drake appeared in the Lassie films Courage of Lassie and Hills of
Home. The collie puppy is a birthday present from Corey; there is no sign that
it might be an offspring of Lassie's. The collie with the wide blaze ("Mountain
Mystery") is in evidence in this episode as well.
- "The Loser" (02/07/65):
- Corey detours on the way to a new assignment to visit an area near an abandoned
mine where he and his dad used to camp. When he and Lassie give chase after Eddie,
a cynical escaped convict who was about to steal Corey's car, they are all trapped in
the mine after a cave-in. Eddie: Michael Pate.
Note: The collie with the wide blaze ("Mountain
Mystery") is in evidence in this episode as well.
- "The Old Man in the Forest" (02/14/65):
- Boone Sawyer, who lives in the midst of a National Forest in harmony with wild
animals, is in trouble for frightening hunters away from a deer he raised; having
befriended the recluse, Corey tries to help him before he gets arrested. Sheriff
Dan Holbrook: Stuart Randall. Sawyer: Lew Brown.
Note: The collie with the wide blaze ("Mountain
Mystery") plays Lassie in this episode. The character of Boone appears in the
following season, this time played by John Anderson.
- "Look Homeward, Lassie" part 1 (02/21/65):
- Corey and Lassie parachute from a damaged airplane, but collie and man are
separated; while Corey is in the hospital recovering from surgery, Lassie picks her
way across the desert, looking for a way home. David Kirkland: Douglas Henderson.
Doctor: Mark Tapscott.
- "Look Homeward, Lassie" part 2 (02/28/65):
- Lassie's foray into a ghost town leaves her the captive of a cantankerous
prospector. With the help of his burro, she gets away and then attempts to help
two runaway boys in a boxcar. Prospector: Chubby Johnson. Scotty: Donald Losby.
Steve: Rickey Kelman.
Note: The very last scene was originally used in
"Lassie's Odyssey."
- "Look Homeward, Lassie" part 3 (03/07/65):
- Lassie is injured while helping a cattleman avoid a stampede caused by a predatory
wolf. Meanwhile, Corey appeals to his superiors to let him search for Lassie.
Hank: Clyde Howdy. Morgan: Roy Roberts. With Richard Travis, Nelson Olmstead, and
Harry Lauter.
Trivia: Corey has a friend named Jim Cannon who
has a ham radio operation.
Note: You aren't hallucinatingthe scene on the
train tracks and the fight with the wolf are direct cuts from "Lassie's Odyssey."
(The original music for the train encounter was better...) Also, the business with
the eagle leading Lassie home is a bit inexplicable if you haven't seen "Incident
of the Eagle" earlier in the season. This episode was shown in black and white;
however, you can see color scenes from it in the View Master set "Lassie Look Homeward"
(with the title reversed for the View Master presentation).
- "Day of Devotion" (03/14/65):
- A gander waits patiently while Corey and Hank race to save the life of his
mate, the victim of metallic poisoningit's Lassie who must take the goose
lifesaving serum when Corey's truck breaks down. Hank: Clyde Howdy. Ray Proctor:
Walter Stocker.
- "Tinderbox" (03/21/65):
- The Austin Kennels becomes a fire camp after a careless motorist's cigarette
starts a raging forest fire during a dry spell. When young Doug Austin warns mountain
residents of the fire, he is caught in the path of the flames. Doug Austin: Bob Diamond.
Kip Austin: Richard Crane. Bill: Robert Patten. With Robert Chadwick and Garrison
True.
Note: Check out the "careless motorist": jail this
guy posthaste. He's the same clueless idiot who started the blaze in "The Fire
Watchers" in the Timmy era. The fire-resistant tents that Corey and Doug use show
up again in "A Time for Courage." Alas, after working well in two episodes, they
can't save Corey from burns in "The Holocaust." First of three Lassie episodes
featuring Bobby Diamond, who used to play Joey on Fury. Notice the Assistant
Director in this pisode; it's Robert Justman, who went on to "fame and fortune" in
Star Trek. Possible inside joke?: The area Doug is warning is called Bonita
Canyona tip of the hat to producer Bonita Granville Wrather, perhaps?
- "Lassie and the Swamp Girl" (03/28/65):
- When Corey consults with old Hubert Dawes about access to his swamp property,
his lonely granddaughter Mattie falls in love with Lassie and takes a dangerous
night journey throught the swamp to lure the collie home with her. Mattie: Suzanne
Cupito. Hubert Dawes: George Mitchell. Don Robertson: John Alvin.
Note: Does Mattie look familiar? Suzanne Cupito
changed her name and is now more familiarly known to audiences as model/actress
Morgan Brittany.
- "Trouble Below Zero" (04/04/65):
- Lassie's troubles are just beginning after she follows a refrigerated delivery
truck in which her buddy, a terrier named Binks, has been trapped: she's chased
away from the meat market, captured by the dog catcher, and finally must confront
the market's guard dog, Duke. Joe Dawson: James Flavin. Danny: Lee Farr. With Bill
Henry, Robert B. Williams, and Lloyd Nelson.
Note: The German Shepherd who plays Duke looks like the
same one who played the dog Timmy gives to Miss Hazlit's uncle in "The Unwanted."
- "Runaround" (04/11/65):
- An escaped chimpanzee makes a shambles of the ranger station just as Corey and Hank
prepare for inspection by a notoriously strict district ranger. Sheriff Jim Simmons:
House Peters Jr. Hank: Clyde Howdy. Bill: John McKee. With Ollie O'Toole and Dorothy
Lovett.
Note: There was just something in the fifties and sixties
that made nearly every series feature an episode about a mischievous chimpanzee that
wrecks something. Lassie had already unfortunately done many of these ("The Chimp,"
"Happy," "The Watch Dog," "Casey," "The Man from Mars," etc.) and now chimp mania
skipped into another era...
- "Long Ears" (04/28/65):
- Lassie and Corey pursue Dusty, a runaway mule who has decided he doesn't want to be
retired from his pack-mule train job. Jake Palmer: Paul Fix. Jim Morse: James Beck.
Note: Fix previously appeared on Lassie in
"The Sulky Race."
- "Lassie's Teamwork" (05/09/65):
- Karen, Ann and Mike all joyously participate in a tree replanting project as
therapy, but Corey and teacher Nancy Hoyt worry about her fourth disabled charge, a
despondent boy named Jimmy, who cannot see beyond his limitations. Then the trees
are burned by lightning-ignited fire. Nancy Hoyt: Bonita Granville Wrather. Jimmy:
Robert Fuss. Karen: Robin Fuchs.
Note: The collie with the wide blaze ("Mountain Mystery")
plays Lassie in this episode. Several reused scenes from older episodes appear,
including Lassie racing across hayfields, and Corey sighting the smoke ("The Black
Woods" and others). The story was made in cooperation with the Crippled Children
Society of L.A. County, California.
- "Honor Bright" (05/16/65):
- A young French boy follows Corey, Lassie, and a Boy Scout troop going on a two-day
campout, but is reluctant to join them because he doesn't know much about camping. Andre
Gervais: Peter Soli. With Ricky Kelman.
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