Rusty's Birthday

Rusty's Birthday is a black-and-white American juvenile

Rusty's Birthday
drama, released by Columbia Pictures in November 1949.
Structured as an hour-long second feature, it is the final entry in Directed by Seymour
the eight-film low-budget series which centers on the bond Friedman
between the German Shepherd dog Rusty and the boy Danny Screenplay by Brenda Weisberg
Mitchell, portrayed by Ted Donaldson.[1] Rusty's Birthday was
directed by Seymour Friedman, and also stars John Litel (who Based on Based upon the
played Danny's father in five of the eight films) and Ann Doran characters
(who played Danny's mother in six films) as his parents, Hugh created by Al
and Ethel Mitchell.[2] Martin
Produced by Wallace
MacDonald
Contents Starring Ted Donaldson
John Litel
Plot
Ann Doran
Rusty is lost and injured after performing a good
deed Cinematography Henry Freulich,
Rusty returns with a new family A.S.C.
Danny regrets his uncharitable behavior Edited by James Sweeney
Rusty's offspring becomes the new "Gladly" Production Columbia Pictures
Cast company

Taglines Distributed by Columbia Pictures

Regular showings on Turner Classic Movies Release date November 3, 1949

References Running time 61 minutes

External links Country United States

Language English

Plot

Rusty is lost and injured after performing a good deed

Rusty pulls the mailbox string, clamps his jaws around the letter inside and brings it into the kitchen where
city legal official Hugh Mitchell is instructing his teenage son Danny on baking four rainbow trout. The
burned fish wind up being offered to Rusty who also turns away from such a meal. Mrs. Mitchell returns
from a trip to Chicago with a present for Rusty's upcoming birthday — a new collar. She also brings a pipe
for Hugh and a briefcase for Danny who is about to start his junior year in high school. She also gives him
a brochure for "Rowan - Lee Military Academy / a College Preparatory School for Young Men".
Meanwhile, Rusty takes his other present, a small ball and exits into the backyard where he confronts a
vagrant who then throws a wrench at him and runs to a gas station, just as a middle-aged woman drops her
purse before getting into a car with her husband. As she realizes that the purse which, she tells him,
contains her rings and nearly 200 dollars, is missing, Rusty is spotted running after the car to return it. As
the grateful woman kisses Rusty, the vagrant who was following Rusty and the purse, steps out to claim
that Rusty is his dog but, due to circumstances, would be willing to sell him. The woman gives him 25
dollars and asks the dog's name. The vagrant, already some distance away, shouts over his shoulder,
"Jackpot".

Attorney Mitchell telephones to place a newspaper ad regarding Rusty's disappearance, while Danny and
his four friends from the neighborhood return after an unsuccessful search. Meanwhile, as the couple who
"bought" Rusty stop their car, which is pulling a trailer, Rusty runs out of the trailer and starts for home.
While searching for food in the harsh countryside, he injures his paw and becomes trapped in coiled wire.
A young boy named Jeff Neeley, pulling a stuffed toy dog on a string, rescues Rusty, taking him to be the
personification of his imaginary dog friend "Gladly" and leads him to the campsite where his older brother
Bill and unemployed sharecropper father Virgil, sitting alongside a small dilapidated truck, are cooking
food from their meager supply. The Neeleys determine that because Rusty, who has no license, is limping,
with one paw held in the air, they will allow him to travel with them at least until he recovers.

Rusty returns with a new family

As Danny and the four boys walk through town, they run into Miss Simmons, who runs the local
employment agency and offers to add 5 dollars as her share of the reward offered for finding Rusty, just as
Virgil approaches to ask her about job availability for a day laborer. Moments later, Danny and the boys
spot Bill and Jeff who are sitting at the curb, next to the truck, examining Rusty's paw. During the
confrontation, Jeff calls Rusty "my dog" and Danny retorts, "in a pig's eye… stealing doesn't make him
yours". The next moment a motorcycle policeman arrives and takes the Neeleys, including Virgil, who has
just returned from his job search, into the city's holding pen to confirm Virgil's lost registration paper for his
truck. While his father and older brother are in brief detention, young Jeff is brought home for dinner by
attending attorney Mitchell and, as the little boy tearfully reunites with his beloved "Gladly", Danny
becomes jealous of the affection between Rusty and Jeff as well as the attention his own parents are
lavishing on the boy, especially upon hearing the lullaby his mother was singing while putting Jeff to bed.

The next morning, Virgil arrives to pick up Jeff and start off on a new job search. Attorney Mitchell invites
him for breakfast and presents the family an opportunity to farm a piece of property the Mitchells own
nearby, while also offering to let Jeff continue to live in the house and start school. Carrie Simmons also
arrives to tell Virgil that she found another job for him. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Danny tells his mother
that he has decided to attend the military academy, after all.

Later, as Bill is helping Virgil repair the cabin that will be their new living place, Miss Simmons arrives
with a freshly baked pie. Bill resents "all these women trying to run us", but Virgil explains that his late
mother said that "you've got to know how to receive as well as how to give". As Bill goes back to work,
Virgil worriedly touches his stomach. Shortly thereafter, Bill hurriedly drives to the Mitchells' house and,
with no one answering the front door, runs to the back, breaks a glass panel on the kitchen door and starts
to gather ice from the freezer. Just then, Danny and his friends return, with Danny, egged on by his friends,
accuses Bill of breaking in, and punches him, making Bill fall unconscious after hitting his head. As Mrs.
Mitchell arrives, Bill revives and explains that his father had an appendicitis attack and needs emergency
help. As calls are placed to the doctor and the hospital, everyone else leaves, but Danny remains in the
house and sees a police car arrive holding the same vagrant who was chased away from the house by
Rusty. Jack Wiggins, the gas station owner/attendant, explains to a gathering of locals that "…when I got
back, I found this character looting the cash register". The vagrant is brought into the Mitchell house where
a confrontation with Rusty makes him blurt out that he didn't steal the dog, but only sold him.[3]

Danny regrets his uncharitable behavior

Upon hearing the story, Danny goes with Rusty to the cabin and apologizes to Bill, explaining that it
should have been obvious that Rusty would have never befriended thieves and that he should have trusted
Rusty's instincts. He sits down and has a heart-to-heart talk with Bill about personal feelings and the
meaning of home. He invites Bill to live with the Mitchells, but Bill says that he has to go the hospital to
check on his father. They leave together with Rusty. Later, as the Mitchells discuss Danny's behavior, he
returns home and tells them that "Bill is a great guy" and "how wonderful it is to have a permanent
address". He goes upstairs and leaves Rusty in Jeff's room. Later that night, Bill arrives with the news that
his father's appendix had burst and that he is calling for Jeff to be at his bedside. Running upstairs, Danny
discovers that Jeff and Rusty are gone. The Mitchells leave for the hospital, while the two boys look for
Jeff. It turns out that Jeff and Rusty went to the cabin to spend the night. In the morning, Miss Simmons
arrives with warm cinnamon rolls. She tells Jeff that she also pretends, but in her case, that she has a little
boy, just like him. He tells her that he dreams of his real mother singing to him, because his pretend mother
can't sing. Miss Simmons then cuddles him in her lap and sings to him "Beautiful Dreamer". Danny and
Bill arrive at the cabin and tell Miss Simmons that Virgil is very ill. Jeff awakens and thinks that Danny
came to take "Gladly" away, but Danny tells him that "Gladly" is now Jeff's dog. Later, Bill returns with
the happy news that their father is better and Jeff, looking at Miss Simmons, tell him that "she can sing just
like everything".

Rusty's offspring becomes the new "Gladly"

As the Mitchells came home from the hospital with the news that Virgil Neeley is out of danger, Danny
offers to give up Rusty so that Jeff can have his "Gladly" and live with the Mitchells while he is at military
school, his parents tell him that there is no need for any of that, since Jeff will be happy with his father and
Miss Simmons, to whom "he's transferred his heart… lock, stock and barrel". Also, news from the local
farm is that Rusty is a father again and one of his pups will make a perfect new "Gladly" for Jeff. It all ends
with a birthday party for Rusty as Jeff hugs his new little Gladly and Mrs. Mitchell cuts Rusty's birthday
cake.[4]

Cast
Ted Donaldson as Danny, son of Hugh Unbilled (in order of appearance)
and Ethel Mitchell
John Litel as attorney Hugh Mitchell Robert B. Williams (vagrant who
Ann Doran as Ethel Mitchell, his wife "sells" Rusty)
Jimmy Hunt as Jeff Neeley, younger son of Myron Healey (Jack Wiggins, gas
Virgil Neeley station attendant)
Mark Dennis as Bill Neeley, older son of Teddy Infuhr (Squeaky Foley,
Virgil Neeley Danny's smart-aleck friend)
Ray Teal as Virgil Neeley, unemployed Dwayne Hickman (Nip Worden,
farmworker another of Danny's four friends)
Lillian Bronson as Carrie Simmons, David Ackles (Ticky Worden, also
employment agency proprietress one of Danny's four friends)
and Flame as Rusty Fred Sears (policeman who checks
the Neeleys' registration)
Dorothy Vernon (townswoman)

Taglines
 "RUSTY TAKES THE CAKE for his most heart-warming adventure!"[5]
"More troubles than even a dog can solve!"[6]

Regular showings on Turner Classic Movies

After premiering Rusty's Birthday on June 30, 2007, Turner Classic Movies has continued to present it,
along with the other films in the series, at least once a year, as part of its Saturday morning schedule of
series films as well as serials.

References
1. " "Rusty's Birthday" Is Next in Boy-Dog Series" (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4872606/
cumberland_sunday_times/). Cumberland Sunday Times. February 20, 1949. p. 22.
Retrieved April 9, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "Current Attractions / RITZ" (https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=1949112
7&id=1cchAAAAIBAJ&pg=4157,2863640&hl=en). Reading Eagle. November 27, 1949.
Retrieved April 7, 2016.
3. "Ted Donaldson holds Rusty in check in this scene from Columbia's new action film "Rusty's
Birthday". Now showing at Uniontown's Penn theater" (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48
72697/the_morning_herald/). The Morning Herald. November 21, 1949. p. 15. Retrieved
April 9, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Majestic / 'Sheriff of Wichita' and 'Rusty's Birthday' Will Open Showing Tomorrow" (https://w
ww.newspapers.com/clip/4888393/shamokin_newsdispatch/). Shamokin News-Dispatch.
January 19, 1950. p. 6. Retrieved April 9, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "RUSTY TAKES THE CAKE for his most heart-warming adventure!" (https://www.newspape
rs.com/clip/4893167/dunkirk_evening_observer/). Dunkirk Evening Observer. February 23,
1950. p. 20. Retrieved April 10, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "More troubles than even a dog can solve!" (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4893203/pott
stown_mercury/). Pottstown Mercury. December 2, 1950. p. 8. Retrieved April 10, 2016 – via
Newspapers.com.

External links
Rusty's Birthday (https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/26089) at the American Film
Institute Catalog
Rusty's Birthday (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041834/) at IMDb
Rusty's Birthday (https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/88815/enwp) at the TCM Movie Database
Rusty's Birthday (https://www.allmovie.com/movie/v108570) at AllMovie
Rusty's Birthday (https://www.tvguide.com/movies/-/2030118892/) at TV Guide
Rusty's Birthday (http://popcorn-time-free.com/movies/movies/111898-rusty's-birthday) at
Popcorn Time

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