Timmy Martin (television character)

Timmy Martin is a fictional dramatic character in the long running television series Lassie (1954 – 1973). Timmy debuts in the opening episode of the fourth season, "The Runaway" (1957) and his last appearance in "The Wayfarers" (1964). Timmy is the human companion of Lassie and the adopted son of Paul and Ruth Martin. The character is portrayed by Jon Provost.

Overview

In the opening episode of season four (1957), "The Runaway", Ellen Miller, her son Jeff, and her father in law, "Gramps" discover a tattered runaway named Timmy hiding in their barn. Timmy has fled his aged and ill aunt and uncle Jed and Abby Clausen of Olive Bridge because he believes he is a burden on their slim resources. Ellen contacts his relatives and a social worker, and all agree Timmy would benefit from a summer on the farm.

Timmy is blissfully happy on the Miller farm until Gramps dies in the middle of the fourth season. Gramps' death leaves Ellen and Jeff without help on the farm. In the episode "Transition" (1957), Ellen sells the farm to a young couple, Ruth and Paul Martin (Cloris Leachman and Jon Shepodd). The Martins adopt Timmy. When Ellen and Jeff depart for a new life in Capitol City, Jeff leaves Lassie on the farm with Timmy, knowing the dog could never adjust to life in a busy city.

Shortly after his adoption, Timmy's new mother phones her husband's uncle, Petrie Martin (George Chandler) of Millvale, Pennsylvania and invites him to join them on the farm. Timmy takes a dislike to Uncle Petrie when his mother tells him the man has discovered the Fountain of Youth. Ruth means, of course, that Petrie is young at heart but Timmy learns from a schoolmate that Ponce de Leon discovered the Fountain of Youth and Timmy believes Uncle Petrie is a liar. Petrie is hurt but he fashions a ring with Lassie's image upon it and Timmy is won over. He apologizes for his rudeness. Timmy and Petrie become fast friends.

The introduction of Petrie brings an interesting element to the drama. Petrie is a fanciful man. He plays the guitar and fiddle, calls square dances, and invents fantastic stories. He encourages Timmy to have an imaginative life which excites Paul's disapprobation. Paul wants Timmy to be a practical boy. Ruth however points out to her husband that Timmy is a very little boy and needs an imaginative life.

Petrie remained on the show very briefly. At the start of the fifth season (1958), June Lockhart and Hugh Reilly replaced Leachman and Shepodd as Ruth and Paul Martin. Producers felt Timmy needed to spend more time with his father, Paul. Petrie became superfluous and was cut at the end of the fifth season.

Timmy's friends

Timmy had many friends on the series both juvenile and adult. Some of his friends were simply "one shots", that is, they appeared in only one episode and were never referenced again. Timmy's friends who were recurring characters included Scott Richards (Kelly Junge, Jr., fourth season), and Boomer Bates (Todd Ferrell, fifth season), a chubby boy who may have been hired to recreate the popular Jeff and Porky relationship of the early seasons. Neither Scott nor Boomer were audience favorites and both were cut at the end of their seasons.

One of Timmy's more enduring friends was neighbor and classmate Wilhelmina "Willy" Brewster. Willy was portrayed by Linda Wrather, daughter of the show's producers Jack Wrather and Bonita Granville Wrather. In one episode about Mother's Day ("The Wrong Gift", 1959), both Linda and her mother appear as Willy and Mrs. Brewster.

Timmy is nonprejudicial and makes friends with a Mexican boy who crosses the border illegally, a French boy who needs a dog of his own, a visiting English boy, a blind boy, and a gypsy pony trainer called Everyman. In one episode, Timmy runs away with a Japanese American boy when the two believe they're responsible for [...] a playmate.

Timmy's adult friends include Ed Washburne, a hardware store owner and Calverton's fire chief, Doc Weaver, the local veterinarian, Jenny, the Calverton telephone operator, and Sheriff H. Miller. Timmy's most notable adult friend however is Cully Wilson, an eccentric farmer, nature lover, and neighbor of the Martin family. Cully was portrayed by comic actor Andy Clyde, a veteran of silent films and early talkies. Clyde was famous for playing the hero's sidekick in B westerns through the thirties and forties. Clyde apparently was hired on Lassie to fill the grandfatherly role once occupied by George Cleveland (Gramps) and George Chandler (Uncle Petrie). Clyde was a skillful scene stealer and his appearances in the series are dramatic and comic high points.

Timmy's community life

Timmy is a Christian; he attends church, prays at his bedside, and, in one episode, sings Silent Night as a solo in church on Christmas Eve.

In a 1957 episode titled "The Cub Scout", Timmy joins the cub scouts while Ruth becomes a den mother. The episode guest stars Ken Osmond, who, the same year, was portraying Eddie Haskell, on the CBS television program, Leave It to Beaver. In "The Cub Scout", Osmond plays a wisecracking smart aleck very much in the vein of his Eddie Haskell character. (Some viewers have noted the patch on the scout uniforms reads in this episode, "California" and the flag in the scout ceremony is the California state flag – giving viewers a clue to Calverton's location.)

Timmy bicycles mornings to a one room schoolhouse near Calverton and is instructed by Amy Hazlit (Sally Bliss). Lassie accompanies Timmy to school and waits for dismissal on the school's porch to see Timmy home. She sometimes pokes her head through the open window to watch the proceedings. Timmy is a good student but not a teacher's pet. He enjoys school, often volunteering for assignments and projects. In many episodes, Timmy is seen studiously doing his homework evenings in the parlor while keeping company with his parents.

Timmy is a 4-H member. His bedroom is decorated with 4-H camp pennants and other memorabilia. In some episodes, he is involved in 4-H projects.

As the series progressed and environmental issues became a real life concern across America, producers introduced the subject into the show. Timmy spearheads a classroom tree planting project called Operation Woodland, he traps and relocates, (rather than [...]) the beavers wreaking havoc with a local waterway, and feeds and protects wildlife during severe winter weather. In one episode, Timmy and his friend Cully Wilson oppose the construction of a roadway through a pristine forest.

Closure

As Lassie entered the mid-sixties, it was obvious that Jon Provost, now a teenager, was outgrowing the role of Timmy Martin. The producers felt he was too old for a dog as a nursemaid and decided the show should strike a different course. In "The Wayfarers", the opening three part episode of the tenth season (1964), the producers sent the Martins to Australia, where Paul would teach agriculture. Lassie remained in the States due to Australia's strict quarantine regulations, and became Cully Wilson's companion animal. When Cully suffered a disabling heart attack, Lassie found a home with United States Forestry Service worker, Corey Stuart (Robert Bray). Lassie would see several seasons of wilderness adventures with Corey Stuart and his co-worker friends, Scott Turner (Jed Allan} and Bob Erikson (Jack De Mave). The Martin family would never be seen or heard again.

Key episodes

• "The Runaway" (1957), Timmy's debut
• "Transition" (1957), Timmy is adopted by Paul and Ruth Martin
• "A Christmas Story", (1958) the first of several annual Lassie Christmas episodes
• "The Odyssey" (1962), the television series' version of Lassie Come Home
• "The Wayfarers" (1964), Timmy's last appearance on the series

Miscellanea

• Timmy was named for producer Bonita Granville Wrather's mother, "Timmie".

See also

• Child actors
• Paul Martin (television character)
• Ruth Martin (television character)
• The Runaway (1957 Lassie TV series episode)
• Transition (1957 Lassie TV series episode)‎

References

• Collins, Ace. Lassie: a dog's life. Penguin Books, 1993.
• Lassie Web
• Provost, Jon. Timmy's in the Well: the Jon Provost Story. Cumberland House, 2007. (ISBN 9781581826197).

External links

• Lassie Web