Jeff Miller (Lassie)

In 1943, Eric Knight's fictional rough collie, Lassie, made her film debut in MGM's Lassie Come Home. Canine star Pal, a male dog, appeared in the titular role. The success of the film generated six more MGM Lassie films, and, with the seventh feature, The Painted Hills (1951), Lassie's MGM career came to an end. Pal's owner and trainer, Rudd Weatherwax, took all rights to the Lassie name and trademark in lieu of back pay owed him by MGM and toured America with Pal in an 18-minute program starring "Lassie".[2] Producer Robert Maxwell convinced Weatherwax that the dog's future lay in television. Together the men developed a scenario set on a weatherbeaten farm in Middle America about a struggling war widow, her son, her father-in-law, and their dog.[2]

Broadway star and television quiz show panelist Jan Clayton was cast as widowed, Ellen Miller, and septuagenarian film veteran George Cleveland cast as her father-in-law George Miller, but the boy in the scenario eluded producers until Rudd Weatherwax's brother Frank (who was working on the Dr. Seuss film, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.) apprised its young star, Tommy Rettig of the Lassie television series being readied for production.[2] Rettig later recalled,

"...I was called in for an interview. At that time I was screen-tested, I read for the part and evidently I impressed some people. A few weeks later, it came down to me and two other kids. One was Lee Aker, who would eventually star in Rin Tin Tin. They decided that all three of us could do the role. So the decision as to who got the role was essentially left up to Lassie...I spent a week with Rudd [Weatherwax] and Lassie out in North Hollywood at the Weatherwax's home. The other finalists did, too. The fact was that Lassie liked me better than he did the other two kids. I loved animals, and this seemed to be very important to Rudd, too."[2]

Shortly after the show debuted, producers and writers decided Jeff needed a male companion his own age. Auditions were held with young actor Donald Keeler (Joey D. Vieira) defeating hundreds of other applicants for the role of Jeff's pal, Sylvester "Porky" Brockway. In conjunction with the role, writers created Porky's father, Matt Brockway, Porky's mother Birdie Brockway, and Porky's basset hound, Pokey (who appeared so frequently he was considered a regular by crew). Porky debuted in the show's first-season episode, "The Lion" and saw his last appearance in the fourth-season episode, "Timmy's Family" (1957). He was scripted into many episodes with Jeff, but, unknown to the show's audience, neither boy liked the other and feuded constantly off-screen.[2]

Jeff makes his first appearance in the series premier, "The Inheritance" (1954). Shot in British Columbia, the episode was one of two pilots filmed for the show, the other being "The Well" which aired late in the first season.[2]

"The Inheritance" brings Lassie and Jeff together when the boy receives the dog as a bequest from neighbor Homer Carey. Lassie however will have nothing to do with Jeff, breaking his heart time and again when she flees nightly from his bedside to sleep on the cold hearth in the dark and empty Carey house. There she remains hour after hour until Jeff solves a mystery involving a cache of hidden money and a hired hand with theft on his mind. The climax pitches Lassie against the thief in a tense battle.

In the episode's emotional last moments, Jeff has returned to the Miller farmhouse and waits anxiously on the doorstep with his mother and grandfather for Lassie to join him. Lassie remains at the end of the driveway, gazing down the road as if contemplating a return to her old home. Then she turns and bounds happily to Jeff. "She's mine now, isn't she, Gramps?" Jeff cries joyously to his grandfather. "Yes, she's all yours," Gramps replies, "She done her deciding."

Pal, the star of the several MGM "Lassie" films of the 1940s, appeared in the two pilots, and his son, Lassie Junior (or, Junior) appeared thereafter. Lassie Junior was joined on the set by several other dogs: a stand-in for rehearsals, a stunt dog for long distance action shots, and a "fight" dog for battles with other animals.[2]

As the fourth season approached, Rettig was fifteen years old and had grown tired of playing the Jeff Miller role. He was dating, driving cars, making college plans, and wanted to leave the show to enjoy the life of a normal teenager.

Jeff's last appearance, 1957

Producer and show owner Jack Wrather realized Rettig couldn't play a boy forever and developed a new storyline with seven-year-old Jon Provost cast as Timmy, a foster child on the Miller farm. Timmy was teamed with Lassie for the sorts of adventures formerly assigned to Jeff. Rettig expected to be released any day but producers were happy with the status quo and made little effort to write Rettig out of the show.[2]

A crisis was reached when series star George Cleveland died suddenly on July 17, 1957. Producers and writers were forced to completely overhaul the show. An episode called "Transition" was quickly scripted with a simple but believable plot: Ellen Miller and Jeff decide to sell the farm to Paul and Ruth Martin, a young couple new to the area. The two adopt Timmy. Jeff gives Lassie to Timmy, and then leaves for the city. Rettig was dropped and the character of Jeff was never seen on the show again. The Miller years of the show were almost immediately sold into worldwide syndication as Jeff's Collie.[2]