personality: wow.
sagal: it doesn't talk to you. it doesn't like run errands for you, bring you - it doesn't even bring my slippers. it just kind of panted and ran around and occasionally would poop outside. that was it.

sagal: well, it's great to have you, susan, it's great to have you.

sagal: i can imagine. i mean, i often fantasize about being played by meryl streep, but it seems unlikely.
orlean: and that is exactly what drew me into the story. because having grown up at the very tail end of "rin tin tin" having been a tv star and knowing him just as a character in television, it completely astonished me to learn that he was a real dog, born in 1918.

sagal: yeah. i love the fact that, as you write, like the gossip magazines used to write about him like a movie star.
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sagal: b: a sleeping bag that looks like a taun taun; you unzip and get to keep yourself warm by climbing in.

orlean: whoa.
sagal: that's good.
(soundbite of laughter)
(soundbite of laughter)


sagal: or c: a loaf shaped to look like a taun taun, to be enjoyed on a star wars nerd holiday called life day.
(soundbite of laughter)
(soundbite of applause)

sagal: can i say, by the way, and i say this to you as someone who's written a book about a famous performing dog, that i did not get a dog until i was a freshman in high school. i was 14 years old.

sagal: you're right.
sagal: susan orlean is one of the most successful nonfiction authors in america. her books and new yorker articles were turned into the movies "blue crush" and "adaptation," in which she, herself, was played by a naked meryl streep. her latest book, titled, "rin tin tin" is about - well, i don't want to spoil the surprise.

(soundbite of laughter)

sagal: hey, i understand that you're quite an animal person at home. you wrote about this, raising chickens, in the new yorker, you have this sort of farm in upstate new york.
sagal: really, why?

wait wait...don't tell me!
(soundbite of laughter)
(soundbite of bell)
orlean: it was, i would say, probably as close to an out of body experience as anyone could ever imagine.

sagal: very good.

(soundbite of laughter)


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(soundbite of laughter)

listen to the story
sagal: but if you answer two out of these three questions correctly, you'll win a prize for one of our listeners. carl, who is author susan orlean playing for?



orlean: yeah, well don't give up.

orlean: right. actually, my favorite report was where they presumably interviewed his wife nanette.
orlean: right.
(soundbite of laughter)
sagal: the idea, captain haddock is a sailor and the author wants him to swear like a sailor but not actually swear. so that's good. so that was tin tin. next up, taun taun. as all "star wars" fans know, they are the beasts on the ice planet hoth, famous for that bit where hans solo cuts one open to make a nice warm hot pocket for the injured luke skywalker.

roxanne roberts: for the newcomer to this, what are the essential differences between rin tin tin and lassie?
susan orlean, a staff writer for the new yorker, has just written a book about the life and legend of america's beloved canine icon, rin tin tin. so we've invited her to play a game called "rin tin tin is just the be gin gin ginning." rin tin tin made us think of the tintin comics ... and that sounds like tauntaun from star wars ... which is sort of like tomtom, the gps system. so,nike shox tilbud, we came up with a quiz based on three things that sound like things that sound like the title of orlean's book.

orlean: he was the big deal.
sagal: yes.
sagal: or c: cormac mccarthy saying "the road is long, hungry, cold, find food or die. yes, that is the way of it"?
orlean: yeah, in the 1920s, he was probably the top box office earner for many years. he was known all over the world. i mean, in the 20s, when rin tin tin was in a movie, he was the name above the title.


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orlean: yep.
(soundbite of laughter)

sagal: so summarize very briefly, rin tin tin was found in a battlefield in world war i by a soldier named lee duncan, who brought him home to america and got into the movies and he became one of the biggest movie stars in the world.
personality: thank you.





what is the latest taun taun themed star wars merchandise? a: the craftsman star wars edition chainsaw, which is quote, "tough enough to open a taun taun."

orlean: who said she was putting aside her career for the time being because of the demands of motherhood.


(soundbite of laughter)


susan orlean: oh, it's great to be here. thanks.
(soundbite of laughter)
sagal: right.
(soundbite of laughter)


(soundbite of applause)
sagal: you're going to go for b, the sleeping bag?



orlean: right.
orlean: yeah.

sagal: here is a sample of snoop dogg helping you find your way.



(soundbite of laughter)

(soundbite of laughter)



orlean: thank you, peter. thanks everyone.
rin tin tin is just the be gin gin ginning.
sagal: since researching rin tin tin for ten years, are you terribly disappointed in your dog?
(soundbite of laughter)
orlean: uh-oh.

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sagal: bye-bye. susan.

(soundbite of laughter)

orlean: yeah.

(soundbite of laughter)
sagal: and it happened to you. all right, thank you.
sagal: well done.


orlean: oh my god, i was hoping you wouldn't ask me that.
sagal: they'd say he lived in a hotel suite with his wife nanette, right?
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orlean: they're living outside. but, you know...

(soundbite of laughter)
sagal: you should be.




and by that time, i was so ruined by fictional dogs, ranging from all the movie dogs to the tv dogs to snoopy. and then you get a real, finally after a lifetime, a kid's lifetime of wanting one, you get a dog and it's just a dog.



sagal: all right, we've had tin tin, taun taun, how about tom tom, the gps system that uses celebrity voices to give directions. which of these is a real celebrity instruction you can get on your tom tom gps? is it a: snoop dogg saying "jeeza freeza put your keeza in the ignition"?


orlean: yeah, they're - i mean they're not house pets.



sagal: so let's talk about "rin tin tin" a little. i want to say that i picked up your book with a sense of heavy obligation. in that i wanted to read the book because you were going to be our guest, but i totally uninterested in dogs, only had the vaguest idea who rin tin tin was, and ended up just loving it. so, i mean, it's a book for everybody who thinks they hate dogs.
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orlean: definitely not.
orlean: you know, and then she wouldn't come by. and then another week would roll around and i'd again say to people, you know, could you kind of clean up in here, guys, i mean i think meryl streep's probably going to come and, you know, study me. well then, at one point, i said to the producer, so look, i mean is meryl streep going to come? and they said, oh, we already shot her scene.

peter sagal, host:
sagal: well, susan orlean, we have invited you here to play a game we're calling?
sagal: ready to play?
sagal: you're right.

orlean: he really enjoyed his celebrity.

what is this?
sagal: before i get any further, how was that for you?

orlean: wow.


kasell: susan, you had a great game. three correct answers, so you win for david gayes.



orlean: oh my god. oh, god, well i know which one i would buy, but my guess is that it's number one.


sagal: the tauntaun sleeping bag.
orlean: well, you know, it's very funny because the rivalry, it's sort of a rolling stones/beatles rivalry.
sagal: what's great is that this, the tauntaun shaped sleeping, which you could cut open and then crawl inside yourself, was actually an april fool's joke on a website called think geek. but the response to it was so overwhelming that they just actually started manufacturing them.


orlean: well, pretty kooky, as you can imagine.
(soundbite of laughter)
sagal: all right. tin tin is, of course, a famous belgian comic book hero, and he's the basis for the new stephen spielberg movie. his bff captain haddock is known for his elaborate curses. which of these is a genuine captain haddock expletive?
orlean: where you poop outside?


sagal: ready to go. carl, how did susan orlean do on our quiz?
sagal: blue-blistering bell-bottomed balderdash?
(soundbite of laughter)




sagal: susan, thank you so much.
orlean: well, this is terribly embarrassing, but i will tell you what happened. i was very excited when i heard that meryl streep was going to play me. so i would come into my office at the new yorker and i would just very casually say to my colleagues, "oh,ugg 店舗, could you guys tidy up? i think meryl streep might be coming by today just to study me"


(soundbite of laughter)

sagal: right.




sagal: yeah.

burbank: you know what, susan, you get a bacon treat.
orlean: i'm very sensitive on the subject.
(soundbite of laughter)

orlean: oh good. i'm probably guaranteed to flunk all of these.
sagal: wait a minute, you have cattle?
sagal: that's the question.






december 3, 2011


orlean: i am.



mo rocca television personality: i have a question. when meryl streep plays you in a movie, does she, like, come over to your house and follow you around the kitchen, like, to try to, like, act like you?
(soundbite of applause)

orlean: oh my god.
sagal: right.
(soundbite of gps)

sagal: dog haters, exactly. there's so much in that book i did not know. for example, that rin tin tin was not a character but a real dog.
(soundbite of applause)
orlean: she really just wanted to create the character kind of on her own and didn't want to study you. and then, so i was eating a lot of humble pie at the office.

(soundbite of laughter)
personality: but isn't that what marriage is like too?



(soundbite of bell)
orlean: i don't believe it.
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sagal: yeah, yeah, yeah, you're timmy, you're in a well, who do you call?


(soundbite of bell)
sagal: snoop dogg?
sagal: right.


sagal: so you wrote this book, "the orchid thief" that got made into a movie called "adaptation," which weirdly enough is not so much about the story of your book, although it includes it, it is about the writer trying to adapt your book "the orchid thief." and you are in it, or rather you are portrayed in it by meryl streep.
orlean: and a dog who had had a huge career and a sort of global acclaim in the 1920s.

personality: geez.


sagal: yes.
sagal: there you go.

sagal: susan orlean is the author of the new book, "rin tin tin: the life and the legend." it's out now.
(soundbite of laughter)



personality: was he fixed?
burbank: he could run for president now.


sagal: no, clearly not.

(soundbite of music)

kasell: susan is playing for david gayes of oak park, illinois.

(soundbite of applause)
sagal: and he doesn't, like, rescue you from indians or anything like that.
(soundbite of laughter)



orlean: oh.


and now, the game where we ask interesting people about things that do not interest them at all.
sagal: wow.
sagal: really?







sagal: so we were talking about rin tin tin and somebody said that sounds like the tintin comics and that sounded like taun tauns from "star wars" and we sort of got carried away. so, we're going to ask you three questions based on three things that sound like the title of your book.



sagal: that's the plan.




a: blue-blistering bell-bottomed balderdash? b: filibustering french fried frankincense? or c: hairy hedgehogs on a stick?
carl kasell, host:



hourly news summary
sagal: susan orlean, welcome to wait wait...don't tell me!
(soundbite of laughter)
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orlean: and he had 44 puppies.
(soundbite of laughter)



orlean: i have a dog.
(soundbite of laughter)

orlean: what have you done for me lately?


orlean: oh my god.
orlean: we have a lot of talks where i kind of say, look, you know, rin tin tin supported his master for years.
luke burbank: it's got to be cool.
(soundbite of applause)




(soundbite of laughter)

orlean: i'll say number one.
(soundbite of laughter)
orlean: if you see one of the silent films, you will know quite immediately that he was not fixed.
orlean: it just doesn't go away. i mean, seriously. the essential difference and it's a real difference, which is there's no story about lassie. lassie was a fictional character who became a television character, but there was no story behind it.
orlean: right. that's right. it's actually a book for dog haters.


(soundbite of laughter)
orlean: such a big star that when he died in 1932, the news interrupted broadcasting all over the country.
(soundbite of applause)



copyright © 2011 national public radio®. for personal, noncommercial use only. see terms of use. for other uses, prior permission required.

sagal: you're right.
(soundbite of laughter)



orlean: yeah,nike outlet, we have a lot of critters. we have chickens and turkeys and ducks and cattle and cats and...
orlean: i am so proud.
rin tin tin was a real dog with this amazing life story of having been found on a battlefield, brought back to the u.s., because through,ugg clearance, you know, kind of luck and chance, an actor, a star, and then became a character. so his story was much more complicated and...
sagal: i understand. do you have dogs?
(soundbite of laughter)


(soundbite of laughter)
orlean: no, but you know what, i will say, every time i've fallen in a well, he does pull me out.

orlean: i really am. i'm really proud.

(soundbite of laughter)

orlean: i'm going for b.

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orlean: yeah.
sagal: b: kim kardashian saying "if you turn left at the next light, i'll marry you"?


personality: okay, good, so he could enjoy his celebrity.


personality: brava.


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