The Littlest Hobo (1963)

“The Littlest Hobo” was produced in Canada and debuted on Canadian syndicated TV on 8 November 1963. The series was a direct result of the very popular Movie of the same name that was released in 1958. The original Movie although largely filmed in Canada was released as a U.S. made Movie. The Movie was 77 minutes in length and was made and released in the “Black & White” format. The Movie was a result of a brainstorming session between screenwriting brothers “Dorrell McGowan” and “Stuart McGowan” who also developed the hit western series “Death Valley Days” that aired from 1952 to 1975. The series also was recorded in and aired in “Black & White”. Most of the episodes were shot in Vancouver, British Columbia and a few episodes also shot in Toronto, Ontario.

The premise of “The Littlest Hobo” Film and TV series revolved around a homeless but very intelligent German Shepherd dog named “London” . The dog travels around the country trying to find his owner and every episode he stops somewhere during his long trek and his adventures during his stay there. He would always befriend someone who seemed to need his help out of some sticky situation. Almost every episode whoever he befriended decided to call him by whatever name they liked best. Some of the names he was called by were Buddy, Crusoe, Einstein, Gulliver, Hercules, Lucky, Mr. Magic, Roamer, Scout, Shadow, Sinbad, Slapshot, Smoke, Ulysses and many others.
Even though “London” was the only regular cast member each episode always had a big name guest star.

The show had a total of 65 episodes from 8 November 1963 until it went off the air on 30 December 1965. The series was also sold to some U.S. syndicated TV stations and aired episodes 1 or more weeks behind the originally aired episode in Canada. The show was repeated again in syndication in both Canada and the U.S. in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. The series was revived with all knew episodes and in Color with a new dog playing “London” but with the same owner/trainer. That series aired from 11 October 1979 for 6 seasons with the last episode airing on 7 March 1985. The series this time ran on Canada’s “CTV” network weekdays at 4:30 PM for a total of 114 episodes.