In doggy heaven I bet these two hang out:
Thats Laika on the right, the first animal to ever go into orbit and on the left? Thats Nipper, famous as an advertising icon associated first with ‘His Master’s Voice’ & later for RCA. Nipper was an internet meme back when the internet really was a series of pipes, steam filled pipes at that!
Nipper was born in Bristol, England in 1884 & was owned by struggling painter Francis Barraud who noticed how the dog often sat by his phonograph & listened, apparently puzzled as to where the voices & music were coming from. But it wasn’t until three years after Nippers death that Barraud painted Nippers iconic portrait, appropriately creating the artwork from memory…
Barraud attempted to have the painting exhibited but there were no takers, it seemed Nipper was ahead of his time, but when someone suggested the painting be updated with the more modern brass horn found on phonographs by then, he finally found success. As soon as the local manager of Berliner Gramophone saw the painting he offered to buy the updated version. When Emile Berliner, owner o the company, saw the painting he commissioned another copy & then proceeded to trademark it. Barraud received 100 pounds for the two copies while the copyright of the image eventually passed to EMI and continues to be used by the HMV chain stores…
Next time I see a dog shaped cloud…
