Local canine stage star remembered as Orphan Annie’s Sandy
When writing last month about the new one-man play “Once Upon a Farm: A Story, a Family, a Tradition” I’m featured in at Theatre at the Center in Munster Sept. 14-18, I mentioned audiences will be transported to the 1930s farm kitchen where these columns are rooted.
A large vintage radio from the 1960s is still a focal point in our farm kitchen and continues to symbolize the countless hours of entertaining radio shows, starring everyone from Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello and Bob Hope to Fanny Brice, Burns and Allen, The Lone Ranger and Little Orphan Annie, all broadcast as a favorite family diversion from wartime worries and the long days of The Great Depression.
My stage play features a short radio segment salute as a nod to the lasting influence of the broadcast airwaves.
Little Orphan Annie is especially an iconic local claim-to-fame, and now familiar in popularity to new generations after it was featured in key plot point scenes in the 1983 holiday film classic “A Christmas Story” by local Hammond roots scribe
Jean Shepherd.
When Tribune Syndicate and flagship The Chicago Tribune decided to end their long-running distributed comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” in 2010, there were many unanswered questions. The cancellation came after the number of newspapers carrying the comic strips dwindled. When the 86-year run of the Annie comic strip ended, many story and plot lines were left unresolved. The final panels of the comic strip had Annie nearly eaten by a shark and being kidnapped at gunpoint by a terrorist!
Of course, the origin local connection to “Annie” and the Chicago area is the late Harold Gray, the artist who came up with the cartoon idea for the newspaper comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” in 1924, and he was from Kankakee, Illinois and worked as a cartoonist for The Chicago Tribune.
“Annie” later became the subject of a now legendary Broadway musical, with music by Charles Strouse and book by Thomas Meehan, and lyricist, Martin Charnin, the trio who brought the original production of “Annie” to Broadway in 1977, before it left for tour three years later.
A sequel followed titled “Annie Warbucks,” which was produced as a holiday show in 2016 by Theatre at the Center in Munster and starred young Emily Zimmerman in the title role. Her four-legged co-star cast as canine pal Sandy was played lovable fluffy Chicagoland dog named S’Wheats.
When photographer Guy Rhodes was shooting the advance publicity photos of Emily and S’Wheats on a very hot and humid day on Aug. 29, 2016, he wrote me a note the next day quoting W.C. Fields, the notorious bulb-nosed comedian who warned: “Never work with animals or children.” But Guy glowed about how “professional and cooperative Emily was to work with,” and further explained “S’Wheats had me at first lick!”
S’Wheats Playbill cast bio read: “He is grateful to have his stage debut at the Theatre at the Center. He is a two-year-old SoftCoated Wheaten Terrier. He has earned several awards; AKC STAR Puppy, Canine Good Citizen, and Community Canine. He is a Certified Therapy Dog with Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs, Inc. He trained for his certification at Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee, Illinois He is now an Animal Ambassador for the hospital. He loves to visit people of all ages at hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and retirement homes. S’Wheats loves to run agility courses, play hide and seek, and ball. Most of all he loves people and life and wants to bring happiness and laughter to all.”
Last week, S’Wheats owner Laurel Dell wrote me to inform me of S’Wheats’ passing.
“Hi Phil, I was wondering if you could share that S’Wheats passed away on Aug. 21. As you know, he played Sandy in ‘Annie Warbucks.’ We are heartbroken. He was our lil’ man. S’Wheats was my loving companion, loyal friend and partner. I was his Mama, who loved him and he loved me unconditionally. S’Wheats was my agility partner and a Certified Therapy Dog, who enjoyed visiting people as much as they loved the visits. He played the role of Annie’s Sandy in 30 performances in Munster and he rode on a float in Hammond’s Christmas parade that same holiday season. He loved walking in Manhattan’s Irish parade, since he WAS Irish, you know. He Hiked for Life through PASS. He did more things and had more fun in his eight years than most dogs who live longer. I wouldn’t change anything about him, except to have him in my life longer. He loved all and will be missed by many. S’Wheats taught me a lesson in his short life on earth; Dance when you can, run when you must, but always love unconditionally. S’Wheats loved all. He had Hemangiosarcoma, which is an incurable tumor of cells that line the blood vessels. It attacks all the vital organs until everything stops. And stop it did, along with our hearts, Sunday morning. There were no lumps or bumps anywhere, just cancer everywhere. Hug your loved ones, humans and pets, because in hours, life as you know it can change.”
Throughout the 1930s, the radio broadcasts of “Little Orphan Annie” were sponsored by the chocolate malted milk instant warm drink mix Ovaltine. A 1935 newspaper clipping in my kitchen file includes an easy recipe for a steamed pudding flavored with Ovaltine, promising “extra energy” with every serving.