Ready for your closeup, Sandy? ARF!

Rudd Weatherwax.

Now there's a name from my childhood. My childhood and that of every Baby Boomer who grew up watching Lassie on three-channel TV.

Weatherwax was Lassie's trainer, and his name appeared in the credits of each and every Lassie episode where the brave and brilliant pooch rescued Jeff or Timmy from some perilous situation or otherwise staved off doom in the mythic town of Calverton.

There were plenty of other animals - mostly dogs and horses - on the TV shows of my childhood. Rin-Tin-Tin starred in the eponymous series. (I liked Rinty just fine. I was amused by one of his co-stars who played the character Sargeant Biff O'Hara. I had a crush on the guy who played Lieutenant Rip Masters. But for some reason I was colossally creeped out by the kid who played "Corporal Rusty." I was generally enthralled by child actors, but for some reason, Lee Aaker was an exception. But. I. Digress.)

Roy Rogers had both horses (Trigger and Buttermilk), and a dog (Bullet). Gene Autry had his horse, Champion.

After Lassie, the most famous dog of my era had to be Old Yeller, another eponymous star - this time of a tear-jerking Disney film. 

Over the years, I've seen plenty of animals on the small and large screen, but none of them standout in my mind - other than the cutie-pie in Marley & Me.

And there are plenty of animal "stars" that I've never seen "act." The rats Willard, Ben top this list.

What I've never done, other than knowing the name of Rudd Weatherwax, is given a moment's thought to the human behind the animal. Until I read a recent New Yorker article featuring "Bill Berloni, who has been supplying, hiring, and coaching animals for stage and screen for nearly fifty years."

Berloni was recently brought in to manage Bing, the Great Dane who'll be co-starring with Naomi Watts in an upcoming film, The Friend. 

Berloni has had one hell of an interesting career. 

Berloni started out, nearly fifty years ago, wanting to be an actor. When he couldn't afford drama school, he got work at Connecticut's Goodspeed Opera House building scenery. In 1976, Goodspeed was premiering Annie, and they needed a dog to play Sandy. 

“There was a part for a dog, but they had no trainer,” Berloni said. “I was nineteen. I had no experience. They gave me thirty-five dollars to buy a dog and feed it all summer. I went down to the Connecticut Humane Society and found a dog that was going to be put to sleep the next day. They wanted seven dollars for the dog. That was the first Sandy.” Sandy had apparently suffered abuse and spooked easily, so Berloni kept the dog with him at all times, leashing him to the stage while he built sets.

That first attempt to musicalize the Little Orphan Annie comic strip flopped, but Sandy's performance wasn't panned, and the following year, when Annie was given another go, "Sandy and Berloni were asked to reprise their roles." 

This time, the show took off, and if it wasn't a matter of a star is born, it sure was a matter of a professional theatrical animal trainer is born.

And Bill Berloni's charter goes way beyond just the Sandies and Apollos (the dog Bing plays) of the world. While filming The Friend, here's what else he was up to:

“On Monday morning, I have a go-see in New Jersey,” he said one afternoon. “It’s a cow I’ve never met. A milking cow.” He had to drop off his bulldog Myrtle, who is a regular on “And Just Like That . . . ,” the sequel to “Sex and the City,” for an A.T. & T. commercial shoot in New Jersey. He was also rehearsing “an animal” (an N.D.A. prevented him from saying what kind) for “Only Murders in the Building” and arranging a falcon shoot for a show called “The Savant” (which he referred to as “the hawk job” when he mistakenly texted me about it).

He was consulting on a hit play from London, “The Hunt,” which was opening at St. Ann’s Warehouse. He showed me a photo of the setup on his phone. (As he did so, a text popped up on his screen, from Nguyen: “You texted the wrong thread.”) In the play, a hunting dog has to sit patiently inside a glass house, with a trapdoor underneath, without moving or turning his head, while men with deer heads run around the stage. 

When I was at the peak of my tech my freelance tech product marketing writing career, I sometimes found myself juggling a dozen projects from ten or twelve clients. It was hard enough shifting my mindset from one project to the other, let alone experiencing everything like this. And my work never involved cows, let alone men running around wearing deer heads. (Metaphorical chickens running around with their heads cut off, but sure. But never anything as intense as Berloni's work.)

Berloni is both an animal trainer/manager and an agent. His animal roster includes, but is not limited to:

Dogs and cats: most breeds or mutts, all sizes and colors.

Farm Animals: Horses, Donkeys, Cows, Pigs, Sheep, Goats, Llamas, Ducks ,Chickens

Small Animals: Rabbits, Hamsters, Guinea Pigs, Rats, Mice

Birds: Macaws, Parrots, Cockatoos, Parakeets, Finches, Canaries, Pigeons, Doves, Owls, Hawks, Falcons, Crows

Reptiles: Snakes, Lizards, Frogs, Turtles, Iquanas

Insects: Spiders, Butterflies, Cockroaches

Please Note: We do not handle big cats, bears or primates. (Source: Theatrical Animals) 

I have some questions. As in, how do you train a cockroach? But mostly, I'm pretty impressed. I'm also impressed that he's dedicated to rescues, "animals of all species and sizes, found in shelters, humane societies or rescue leagues, for Broadway, off-Broadway, national tours, regional theatres, special events, the New York City Ballet, motion pictures, television and commercials."

Then there's this:

"When their careers are over, the animals return to Bill’s Connecticut farm."

This is remarkable, admirable, fascinating. But I still have some questions. How do you return a cockroach to the farm?