The Tattooed Police Horse

This slight but entertaining featurette, clocking in at just less than an hour, was originally produced by the Disney studios as the bottom half of the bill with the better-known family caper Emil and the Detectives (1964). It eventually made its way to television as an episode of "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" in 1967. Harness racing is a variation on horse racing in which the horses pull a driver (not technically a jockey) in a two-wheel cart known as a sulky. The sport has roots reaching back through the centuries: think of the chariot races depicted in the various versions of Ben-Hur. But unlike those dangerous breakneck contests, in modern-day harness racing, the horses move at specific limited gates, either a trot or the slightly faster pace. The sport has been around in the U.S. since the late 19th century, but only took off officially in the second half of the 20th century, reaching the peak of its popularity in the Northeast and Midwest in the 1950s and 60s. This story centers on a horse called Jolly Rogers, bred for trotting races but determined to gallop whenever he can. The inability of any of his string of owners and trainers to break him of the habit gets the horse banned from racing. He eventually lands with a captain of the Boston Mounted Police Force who finally disciplines him. After helping the captain come to the aid of a harness racing driver following an accident at a local track, Jolly Rogers becomes famous. He is recognized by his first owner and identified by a registration number tattooed on his lip. She purchases the horse and enters him in an important race. Thanks to the discipline instilled in him on the force, he becomes a champion. The only known actor involved in this production is never actually seen on film. Keith Andes, who narrates the story, never achieved major stardom but had a busy career, initially as a frequently shirtless beefcake player in such films as The Farmer's Daughter (1947), Clash by Night (1952), and Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952). He kept working, mostly in TV, until 1980, retiring more than two decades before his death at the age of 85 of suicide following years of debilitating health problems. Many of the other people we see in The Tattooed Police Horse were real-life well-known figures in the world of horseracing, including trainer-driver Ralph Baldwin, track manager Walter Gibbons, harness racing executive Stan Bergstein, trade paper editor Bob Hackett, and others. Their presence, along with some good actual racing footage, brought a lot of credibility and appeal to the story. The film was directed by Larry Lansburgh, an avid horseman himself who helmed several equine-focused pictures for Disney, as well as many of the studio's animal movies so popular at the time. Named a Disney Legend in 1999, Lansburgh reportedly directed the studio's Run, Appaloosa, Run (1966) on horseback. One viewer commenting on an online listing about this film said he grew up in California just a few blocks from Lansburgh and his wife Janet, who wrote the screenplay based on her husband's story. The viewer said he and other neighborhood children were allowed to play with the sulky Lansburgh had kept from The Tattooed Police Horse. Director: Larry Lansburgh Producer: Larry Lansburgh Screenplay: Janet Lansburgh, story by Larry Lansburgh Cinematography: Edward P. Hughes Editing: Herman Freedman Music: William Lava Cast: Keith Andes (Narrator), William Hilliard (Bill Churchill), Sandy Sanders (Captain Hanley), Shirley Skates (Pam Churchill) By Rob Nixon