Recalling Frank Inn: ‘I Can Train Anything’

I was saddened when I read in The Times the obituary of Frank Inn, a gentle and remarkably expert animal trainer who died last Saturday. In 1955, I thought up a sitcom, “The People’s Choice,” and cast Jackie Cooper as the lead. Cooper was the memorable child star in the 1931 movie “The Champ.” In my show, he played Socrates Miller, an agent for the Bureau of Wildlife. Sock Miller lived in a trailer with his dog, a slow-moving, droopy-eared and sad-eyed basset hound named Cleo.

Frank Inn’s skill and patience as Cleo’s “acting coach”--he liked my calling him that, saying, “The dog respects me more”--had much to do with the success of “People’s Choice.” Cleo was a smash. She did her funny shtick on cue, but it was her one-liners that made her hilarious and unique. Unique in that we didn’t have Cleo talk. All other movie and TV animals were made to move their lips, via mechanical or chemical devices that were often cruelly painful.

Instead, I tried something different that, happily, paid off. Whenever Cleo saw or heard something to ridicule, we’d cut to a close-up of her, eyes into the camera. You heard her thought, usually some kind of stinging criticism, in a female voice with a Groucho Marx-style of delivery.

These throwaways, put-downs and off-the-wall comments were directed at Cooper and his girlfriend, Mandy Peoples, played by a lovely young actress named Patricia Breslin. This “thinking out loud for comic results” device was copied years later in a John Travolta movie, “Look Who’s Talking,” using a baby. I prefer my dog. Because I had written two movies for Groucho and his brothers, writing Cleo’s dialogue--her “strange interludes”--was second nature for me.

Show business is not necessarily recognized as famous for loyalty or gratitude. But Frank Inn was. Certainly by me. He started his own business in 1954, after working for Rudd Weatherwax, the owner-trainer of dogs that played Rin Tin Tin and Lassie (who was good-looking but dumb; never said a funny word--unlike Cleo). Cleo was Frank’s big break. He was a wizard. He showed incredible patience and never got angry at the animal. He brought her every day in his pickup to the studio on McCadden Place. I remember one time he trained her to walk up to a fishbowl and stick her face right into it, without harming the fish. (The goldfish was an actor too, working for scale.)

Despite the runaway popularity and appeal of Cleo, Frank never demanded that we tear up his contract and increase his fees. I liked that. I suggested he train the actors.

He Wanted a Beagle; He Got a Basset Hound

I lucked into Cleo in terms of casting. Before shooting the pilot, I had some trainers bring in animals. Frank came in from Sun Valley with five or six basset hounds on leashes. I said, “No basset hounds, Mr. Inn. They’re sad-looking, sweet animals, but very lethargic. I need a beagle.”

Frank didn’t have a beagle but urged me to give him a chance with one of his bassets. He needed the opportunity, and while they were milling around, one puppy slipped the leash and came running across my office right onto my chair. I was smitten.

I said, “Frank, do you think you can train this?” And with simple confidence he said, “I can train anything.”

I tried several actresses to find the right voice to convey Cleo’s thoughts to the TV audience. And finally I struck gold with Mary Jane Croft, whom I had used often on my radio show, “The Life of Riley.” Mary was a perfect Cleo. Her zingers never failed to get a laugh. Cleo made the cover of TV Guide three times. In fact, after she hit the air, more people began breeding basset hounds. You used to see quite a few of them around. The hound received fan mail from around the country. Even proposals for marriage, signed by Rover or Spot or Prince. I showed some of these to Frank. He sniffed the letters and quipped, “If you want my opinion, Irv, these were not written by animals.”

Jackie Cooper went on to star in “Hennesey” (1959-62), playing a Navy medical officer.

I went back to writing movies, and Frank Inn went on to help make famous other four-legged performers like Arnold the pig and Benji.

As I look back on my experiences working with some beautiful actresses like Carole Lombard, Lucille Ball, Betty Hutton, Judy Garland, Myrna Loy, Ann-Margret--all were wonderful to deal with and very appreciative of my efforts. But Cleo was the only one who ever licked my hand.

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Irving Brecher wrote the Marx Brothers’ “Go West” and “At the Circus,” and seven musicals at MGM, including “Meet Me in St. Louis.” Brecher created “The Life of Riley” and “The People’s Choice.”