my dog tulip
all imagery courtesy of my dog tulip company. my dog tulip is scheduled for theatrical release in fall 2010 .
j. r. ackerley, voiced by christopher plummer, and tulip in the animated film “my dog tulip. ”
we’d love your help. let us know what’s wrong with this preview of my dog tulip by j. r. ackerley .
my dog tulip will be released september 1, 2010 at new york' s film forum with a limited release to follow .
to dog lovers, by the way, i recommend my dog tulip by j. r. ackerley—by far the best
animal book
i' ve ever read. — julia glass
with its meticulously detailed observations of tulip’s excretory rituals and anatomical changes when in heat, “my dog tulip” might almost be called a dirty movie. it unblinkingly observes the messes tulip makes and shows her being mounted while in heat .
paul and sandra fierlinger’s animated feature film of my dog tulip, starring christopher plummer, lynn redgrave, and isabella rossellini, was released in 2010 .
my dog tulip
is as disconcerting and unusual a piece of animation as the 1956 memoir that inspired it, and that is saying a lot .
“my dog tulip
has no stupid plot, no contrived suspense. tulip grows old and dies, as must we all. j. r. ackerley misses her and writes a book about his loss. through this dog, he knew love. and through j. r. , so did tulip .
my dog tulip' captures that far off britain of the 1950s, using a subdued palette and gentle line that draws on the british artists of the period' .
to celebrate the release, picturehouse central will also host dog gone crazy! - a whole season of iconic films that focus on man' s best friend. the season will include films like best in show, my dog tulip and white god for the dog lovers out there .
copyright © 1997 - 2018 the bark, inc. dog is my co - pilot® is a registered trademark of the bark, inc
animated dog movie: those three little words are enough to make many parents shudder in expectation of having to accompany their kindergarten - age children to a sentimental, anthropomorphic contrivance. now read the following quotation from “my dog tulip, ” an animated dog movie like no other, and reconsider your qualms .
this book is the greatest of dog books, and now this film is the greatest of dog films – to invent two unnecessary genres – but before the unprepared reader imagines an account of cuteness, it' s necessary to state an opposite truth: the basic subjects of my dog tulip are pissing, shitting and fucking .
no one’s four - legged friends were harmed during the making of “my dog tulip, ” but the roar of paul and sandra fierlinger’s untethered jack russell suggests that two - legged strangers might not fare so well .
that narrator, voiced by christopher plummer, is j. r. ackerley (1896 - 1967), the british man of letters whose 1956 memoir, “my dog tulip, ” chronicles his 15 - year - relationship with queenie, a german shepherd renamed tulip for the book .
the film’s hand - drawn animation by the directors paul and sandra fierlinger (they are married) and mr. plummer’s understated conversational voice combine to make “my dog tulip, ” which opens on wednesday at film forum in the south village, one of the most sophisticated dog movies ever created .
what makes
my dog tulip
such a disorienting experience on the screen and the page is that ackerley is so completely devoted to tulip (a german shepherd he refers to as an alsatian) that he rhapsodizes at unexpected length about the different ways and circumstances in which she urinates and defecates .
a scene from “my dog tulip, ” coming to film forum on sept. 1. the film is based on a 1956 memoir by j. r. ackerley (1896 - 1967), the writer and bbc radio host .
strikingly animated and featuring the voices of christopher plummer, the late lynn redgrave and isabella rossellini, my dog tulip is a bittersweet retrospective account of author j. r. ackerley' s 16 - year relationship with his beautiful yet intolerable german shepherd, tulip. to ackerley' s surpris ...
in truth, the bulb predates any thought about an official canadian sesquicentennial tulip. the variety is known to tulip enthusiasts as the carnaval de rio, and was first registered with dutch tulip authorities in 1999 .
while home hardware is the official supplier of the canada 150 tulip, other tulip distributors have jumped on the bandwagon by offering the similar “canadian celebration” — a rebranded name for the dutch “happy generation” tulip variety .
in its companion piece, my dog tulip, published in 1956, queenie is called tulip (ackerley' s many gay friends thought the alsatian' s real name would raise titters) and it has been made into an exquisite animated film by the american husband and wife team of paul and sandra fierlinger .
first, there is no specially designed “canada 150” tulip; it’s just a trade name for an existing dutch tulip created nearly 20 years ago .
my dog tulip
is the story of a man who finds love only once in his life, for 15 perfect years. it is the love of a dog. it may be the only love he is capable of experiencing. as other men write books about a woman in their life, j. r. ackerley wrote a book about a german shepherd he rescued from a cruel home. my dog tulip has been a private discovery by many readers for years, and now it becomes an animated film that combines elating visuals with a virtuoso voice performance by christopher plummer .
the heart of “my dog tulip” is mr. ackerley’s story of his late - middle - age relationship with an alsatian named tulip. bittersweet, heartfelt and rendered in an eccentric, expressive style, the movie seems poised to draw dog - loving moviegoers like beagles to bacon. (new yorker films, the distributor, is doing grass - roots promotion to dog walkers, vets, pet food stores and bookstores; new york review of books classics is reissuing the ackerley book. )
besides ackerley, “my dog tulip” (whose title character is mercifully never given a human voice) is peopled with eccentrics, each given an astutely chosen actor and a sharply drawn personality by the animators. lynn redgrave, who died in may and to whom the movie is dedicated, plays ackerley’s sister nancy, who moves in to be tulip’s daytime caretaker while ackerley is working and competes with her brother for tulip’s affection .
in a sense, “my dog tulip
is a natural history. ackerley is educated by tulip in the needs and ways of domesticated dogs. he attends to the feeding of tulip, the training, the grooming, the walking, the territorial marking behavior, the sexual needs, the illnesses, the personality, the life and death. no parents of a child have never been more observant or taken better care of their charge .
my dog tulip was shocking in 1956, primarily for its detailed descriptions of queenie’s bodily functions and sex life, ackerley’s frustrated efforts at mating her, and queenie’s unfortunate habit of pooping at times and in places that embarrassed her owner. “meaningless filth about a dog, ” dame edith sitwell called the book on its release. “disgusting, ” added harold nicholson .
bark: ackerley’s book, i would guess, has a resonance with dog people, which is an intensity that non - dog people don’t understand. were you able to appreciate ackerley’s obsession because you feel the same about dogs? paul: i chose my dog tulip to become our movie exactly for the book’s endearing (to me) quirkiness. when you look at urltoken under my dog tulip you’ll see that half the readers who wrote reviews hate it and half of them love it. i assume the same thing will happen to the film. in hindsight, i think it might have been a mistake. we got ourselves into dangerous waters: if i had picked another book we could’ve perhaps had an easier time finding theatrical distribution .
i remain an amused admirer of my dog tulip, partly because j. r. ackerley tried to deliver the thoroughly physical world that dogs inhabit. it' s anthropomorphism in reverse, albeit with a human (and very british) narrator. —gail caldwell, the new york times book review
ackerley, who worked for years as the literary editor of a magazine published by the bbc, the listener, wrote my dog tulip in 1956; it' s the story of the dog he lived with and loved for many years (in real life, her name was queenie), a loyal companion who loved him without reservation - - and yet who, he learned, had strong ideas about her own dog - identity that resisted being shaped or sentimentalized by humans .
i love her whole - heartedly - after a long day of work, to see that face, always excited, always happy to see me, and bury my face between her ears and smell her puppy scent, it takes my cares away .
it helped, of course, that the husband and wife team have been dog lovers and owners for decades (he draws and she paints), but paul admits that he had never had great success in drawing canines before .
i was never quite happy with my work. it was my plan to put myself through that challenge .
i think any writer who is in love with his dog wants to put into words how beautiful the animal is, and do justice to every expression and behavior. i was completely charmed by ackerley' s account of his dog tulip. some critics on amazon were repulsed by his romanticized description of tulip' s genitalia, for example. it didn' t strike me as pornographic, but rather poetic. i have a female german shepherd who is spayed, so in my mind, she will always be a puppy. but tulip becomes a
woman ,
so her li
a bittersweet account of the author' s 14 - year relationship with his adopted alsatian, my dog tulip was written, directed and animated by award - winning filmmakers paul and sandra fierlinger, and is the first animated feature ever to be entirely hand drawn and painted utilizing paperless computer technology. an official selection of the 2009 toronto international film festival, my dog tulip is based on the book by british author and distinguished man of letters j. r. ackerley. ackerley hardly thought of himself as a dog lover when, in middle age, he came to adopt tulip - a beautiful, yet intolerable 18 - month - old german shepherd. to his surprise, she turned out to be the love of his life, the ideal companion he had been searching for in vain. originally published in england in 1956, my dog tulip is now published in the us by the new york review of books, and is the best - selling title in their classics series. in vivid and sometimes startling detail, the film reveals tulip' s often erratic behavior, canine tastes, and ackerley' s determined efforts to ensure an existence of perfect happiness for her. - - (c) new yorker
brian murray plays the dual roles of ackerley’s indolent world war i army buddy, captain pugh, whom he visits at his country farm with an unruly tulip in hand, and mr. blandish, a dog owner whose proud german shepherd, max, is rebuffed by tulip .
the story of the transformative relationship between a man and his dog ,
tulip
should not be confused with contemporary manifestations of canine rapture of the
marley and me
variety .
this was an amazing book, so i read it slow. my friend jordan recommended this book to me because i mentioned my wife and i are writing a book about dogs. exceptional book. memoir as told through a shared life w / a german shepherd. an englishman post - wwii navigates london, with tulip off - leash. the book is fixated much on the sexuality of tulip and her nature, which he refuses to deny .
i think any writer who is in love with his dog wants to put into words how beautiful the animal is, and do justice to every expression and behavior. i was completely charmed by ackerley' s account of his dog tulip. some critics on amazon were repulsed by his romanticized description of tulip' s genitalia, for example. it didn' t strike me as pornographic, but rather poetic. i have a female german shepherd who is spayed, so in my mind, she will always be a puppy. but tulip becomes a
woman ,
so her life story takes a different path than my dog' s. most of the book is about ackerley' s efforts to mate tulip, not because he wants to raise puppies, but because that is what nature intends for female dogs in heat. at the very least, the book is an education in the mating of dogs in captivity .
but then, in the end, there' s no such thing as an unwild dog .
other people turn out to be less understanding of tulip' s vagaries. ackerley' s feckless sister nancy (voiced by the late lynn redgrave in her last released film) tries to steal the dog' s affections, and ackerley' s other friends never invite tulip over twice .
early on, ackerley describes the one moment when, by mistake, tulip bit his hand .
ack! ick. more gross than endearing, ackerly seems unduly focussed on his dog' s genitalia, breeding behaviour, and elimination. if i wanted more dog shit in my life, i' d adopt another puppy. i was surprised, as many of the reviews of this called it
charming
and i didn' t find any charming bits, just a cranky old man in love with his dog .
bark: when you were reading my dog tulip did you see yourself in j. r. ackerley and the way he related to and described his dog? paul: not in the least. ackerley typifies the most common dog owner on the hill — whom he himself learned to detest in due course — a man in complete adulation for his dog’s size, shape and breed and totally oblivious of the animal’s true nature and needs. ackerley, on top of being vain, was at times very lonely — which were fortunate circumstances for tulip. this set of circumstances, including her being rescued by ackerley from the grips of a very abusive previous owner, led to this ideal relationship of mutual tolerance and neediness .
that' s because, as even the writer admits, tulip was a double handful as a visiting dog, a ferocious barker that caused chaos wherever she went. ackerley, besotted by tulip' s undying affection, couldn' t have cared less. such are the hallmarks of mutual love .
bark: did you spend a lot of time studying your dogs, gracie or oscar, while working on tulip? paul: both, but mostly gracie. sandra found her on the side of highway 95 in the carolinas. she was emaciated and still very young: a corgi / german shepherd mix with a big dog’s head on a small dog’s body. she looked like a photoshop dog .
j. r. ackerley' s slim, beautifully observed memoir my dog tulip is often called one of the finest works about a dog ever written, though truman capote came closer when he called it
one of the greatest books ever written by anybody in the world .
those who love the book might have reason to be wary of an animated adaptation of it. but paul and sandra fierlinger' s my dog tulip - - which opens in los angeles this friday, with other cities to follow - - is a double rarity: an adaptation that wholly and faithfully captures the spirit and mood of the book it' s based on, and an example of computer animation - - the 2 - d sort - - that shows the human touch in every frame .
woof woof! ... boohoo ...
most moving dog story ...
and so one way of admiring my dog tulip is to see it as a manic critique of the usual norms of representation. in ulysses, james joyce recorded bloom on the lavatory ,
calm above his own rising smell
; or in his hallucinations offering his wife' s lover a helpful tub of vaseline. but then there is ackerley. one long chapter of his short book is correctly called
liquids and solids
. in another episode, trying to encourage tulip to have sex, he
smeared tulip lavishly with vaseline
. as for the fierlingers, they jubilantly offer the viewer a close - up of tulip' s arsehole .
roger ebert was born on this day in 1942, and died a little over five years ago. i owe a good part of my success…
unlike studio cartoons, which often involve computer - generated imagery, the fierlingers’ work is hands - on, sort of. what’s eliminated is wasted motion: the shuffling of paper, the sharpening of pencils, the setting up of shots. that it still took them three years to make “my dog tulip” almost seems surprising. it certainly gave mr. plummer pause .
1. 5 stars i first came across my dog tulip when it was being adapted into an animated film back in 2011 and how renowned film critic roger ebert expressed his great admiration for the film. i went on to learn that this film was adapted into a book with the same title and the same story, that of j. r. ackerley' s bond that he had with his alsatian (german shepherd), tulip. while this is a true account, ackerley' s dog was actually named queenie, but since he himself was gay during a period that was n
there were a small handful of reasons why i was going to read my dog tulip eventually. 1) it was one of the first books published by nyrb and in my psychotic, obsessive way – i found the list of the first 250 books they published, broke them into groups of 20 and am going through each group selecting a few at random. this happened to be the very first i selected because… 2) it was recently adapted into an animated movie (trailer below), featuring the voice of christopher plummer and that roger ebe
i consent to having nyrb add my email to their mailing list to receive news about the their books, and other items of interest from the nyr shop .
a veterinarian of astonishing empathy with animals is voiced by isabella rossellini. examining tulip for worms, she gently explains to ackerley: “tulip is a good girl. you are the trouble. she is in love with you. ”
the book jacket says this is a heartwarming story of a man and his dog, but i would describe it as a graphic tale of a dog and her hoo - ha. unless you really, really, really like dogs or like the idea of learning how to pimp out your dog when she' s in heat, i' d probably stay away from this book. unless you are into dog vulvas, in which case you might enjoy it .
anyone still questioning the adaptability of traditional animation in the digital age should check out my dog tulip by paul and sandra fierlinger. it' s not only a marvelous adaptation of author j. r. ackerley' s account of his bittersweet friendship with an alsatian in england after world war ii, but it' s also the first paperless hand - drawn animated feature (using tvpaint) .
a wonderful animated movie for anyone who' s ever experienced dog ownership at its most glorious, and most embarrassing .
my dog tulip
is a bittersweet animated film of j. r. ackerley' s recollections of a dog he owned in the years during and after world war ii when he no longer was a young man. but this is not just any dog. it is an alsatian female, tulip, that he rescues from a working class family that is apparently incapable of caring for it since they never took it for walks, leaving the dog' s social sklls woefully underdeveloped. so dog and owner have their fair share of kinks to work out in their relationshiip but as time wears on and they get to know each other better, things go much smoother .
my dog tulip
is animated in a rough hand drawn style with occasional interludes that are even cruder looking, like they are directly pulled from ackerley' s sketch pad. it is almost as if he is writing the film as we are watching it. the only thing that might trouble potential viewers is the scatalogical details of tulip' s habits which at times definitely feel like too much information. (also remember that the movie is set in a less civilized time when there were no pooper scooper laws .) thankfully, this is not played for laughs but used as a way of showing how tulip communicates with her owner, as she makes her feelings clear. some of which actually reminded me of the family dog i had when i was growing up. all of which plays well into what the author is saying about the search for the perfect friend which he finds in a dog. but for me, a dog would not be perfect since they still have to be taken care of and looked after and that' s not really the basis for any kind of healthy relationship. (plus, i have killed off plants when i' ve tried to look after them .) on the other hand, as a friend put it, dogs may ruin your rug but they will not ruin your life, unlike children .
ackerley' s memoir of life with his rambunctious alsatian predates marley & me by half - a - century and yet, it does the job of showcasing one human' s love, devotion, and compassion for a canine so much more effectively. the power in my dog tulip comes not from long, emotional passages about the tender feelings tulip summons in ackerley, nor are they tied to some heart - rending tragedy that besets an entire family; rather, it is the simple descriptions and eye for fantastic detail that ackerley w
i always like reading about dogs and dogs' behavior with other dogs and with humans, but
my dog tulip
is also an elegant piece of writing and an interesting period piece about england, its classes, and its values. the book has offended some reviewers because tulip' s sex life or lack thereof is a main theme. i would agree that ackerley obsesses about whether his beloved alsatian (a breed known as german shepherd by most of the world these days) is sexually content, but the reader should also re
there were a small handful of reasons why i was going to read my dog tulip eventually. 1) it was one of the first books published by nyrb and in my psychotic, obsessive way – i found the list of the first 250 books they published, broke them into groups of 20 and am going through each group selecting a few at random. this happened to be the very first i selected because… 2) it was recently adapted into an animated movie (trailer below), featuring the voice of christopher plummer and that roger ebert was quite fond of. 3) i read (quite possible on the nyrb page) but maybe elsewhere that truman capote once said that this was “one of the greatest books ever written by anybody in the world. ” hyperbole? maybe – but he chose to disregard the whole “best book about a pet” thing. 4) i like dogs. and this is a remarkable book. essentially dealing with one man’s relationship with his rather rambunctious dog during the first few years of having her. and while i expected it to be more encompassing about the relationship with the dog – my girlfriend soon informed me that it was almost all about mating and the tulip’s…inner…problems. it’s graphic, sure, but it’s written so beautifully and in such a loving way that you can’t help but grow to care about tulip. there is no doubt that this dog was the most important thing in ackerley’s life and while i had read reviews and book group discussion that suggested he might have loved tulip too much – that didn’t really come to light during my reading. i don’t know what to say really. i wasn’t “riveted” – so i can’t put it among my favorite books ever, but for what it is – for what it made me feel and the way it put pets into perspective… there’s really nothing like it. and you should read it .
his newest feature, my dog tulip, is adapted from j. r. ackerley’s 1956 memoir of the same name. a writer, poet and memoirist, ackerley (1896–1967) was the literary editor of the listener, a weekly bbc program, and the author of hindoo holiday. he never liked dogs until, in middle age, he adopted queenie, a high - strung, overly barky, wildly possessive german shepherd .
given ackerley' s apparent celibacy, it becomes the source of some humor when he struggles to find tulip a suitable mate .
second, dutch tulip harvesters screwed up the massive order, resulting in thousands of off - colour bulbs being shipped to canada .
more than that, intent on seeing to it that tulip has a full dog' s life, ackerley also goes into considerable clinical detail about what happens to her when she goes into heat — as well as the trials and tribulations of finding a suitable male dog to mate her with. it is all written in lapidary prose and gracefully animated, but it does take getting used to .
that said, i can report some good news for paul fierlinger’s my dog tulip. the film has been picked up by apparition, a fairly new theatrical distributor out of nyc specializing in independent films for the u. s. market. they take on only about 7 films a year and, based on some of their live action acquistions (terrence malick’s the tree of hope and jane campion’s bright star), have gained a solid reputation .
the distinguished british man of letters j. r. ackerley hardly thought of himself as a dog lover when, well into middle age, he came into possession of a german shepherd. to his surprise, she turned out to be the love of his life, the “ideal friend” he had been searching for in vain for years. my dog tulip is a bittersweet retrospective account of their sixteen - year companionship, as well as a profound and subtle meditation on the strangeness that lies at the heart of all relationships. in vivid and sometimes startling detail, ackerley tells of tulip’s often erratic behavior and very canine tastes, and of his own fumbling but determined efforts to ensure for her an existence of perfect happiness .
we are treated to far too much detail about trying to house train tulip and exactly when, where and how she relieves herself .
a heartwarming memoir of writer, j. r. ackerley' s relationship with tulip, an alsatian bitch he rescued. tulip' s visits to the vets, urinary and bowel movements are lightheartedly detailed, as is his attempts to find tulip a suitable' marriage' partner. but it' s a moving tribute also to the canine who became a part of his life and his heart .
ms. fierlinger, 55, who has a fine - arts background, adapted her skills to colorizing her husband’s sketches. “i paint with layers, just as i would with traditional animation, ” she said. “i make my own brushes and mix my own colors, just as if it were a paper background. but i do it all on the computer. ”
an amusing, fun account of life with a skittish, freewheeling german shepherd, jr ackerley' s my dog tulip is a nice read, but i can see why it' d also turn some readers off. indeed, what this book does best is what some people will hate: it' s utter frankness. ackerley never minces his words, describing tulip in startling detail: her rambunctious attitude, her fur coat, her bowel movements and her heats. he never once tries to turn her into a human, but never treats her flippantly, either. it' s a f
opening on sept. 1 at film forum in the south village, “my dog tulip” features the voices of christopher plummer as ackerley, the writer and longtime bbc radio host; lynn redgrave, who died in may, as his nettlesome sister; and isabella rossellini as a kindly veterinarian. as it happens, nearly everyone involved is a dog lover: the fierlingers have gracie, a mix of shepherd and corgi, and oscar (whose electronically adjusted voice was used when an aggressive bark was called for). mr. plummer said in a telephone interview that he grew up around dogs and “prefers them to a lot of humans, ” while ms. rossellini said that, of course, she is “a huge dog person. ”
bark: were you familiar with j. r. ackerley before you started the film? paul: oh yeah, mostly with the book my dog tulip. once we decided to make the film, i got in touch with peter parker, the british writer who wrote a very extensive biography of j. r. ackerley [ the life of j. r. ackerley, 1989 ]. and then i read everything ackerley ever wrote, including his letters .
in a quiet weekend without big new releases, holdover family drama a dog' s purpose staged a surprise upset over wolverine threequel logan .
as a dog owner there were parts of this book that made me a little emotional. and there was plenty of information that was pretty fascinating. but ackerley' s description of tulip' s sex life was a little creepy. he seemed way too interested and descriptive .
the chapters describing ackerley’s dog’s poop and his lack of disposing of said poop were the best part of the book. i guess that’s a mixed compliment given my general disregard for the book as a whole, however, i did genuinely find this part interesting mainly b / c of how it was a reflection of the time period and just how different things were in society then. now for the rest of the book: i really really disliked it. how on earth does anyone consider this to be a classic of dog lover literature? the man not once but twice considers drowning his dog’s newborn puppies in a bucket of water. let me repeat that, the author admits without qualm that the very same puppies he tried so hard to have his dog have are the ones he was seconds away from drowning in a bucket of water. nice guy. then there is the overly detailed description of his dog’s heat and breeding. this man’s fascination with his dog’s nether regions and her sex life were more than a bit unsettling. i can accept that things were different then and getting a dog fixed wasn’t the norm, but i can’t get over his desire to become so involved in his dog’s reproduction. dogs managed to have sex just fine before the invention of vaseline and if you ever get to the point in your life when you consider applying it to your dog, well, seek help, don’t write a book about it .
it isn' t clear that tulip much wants to become pregnant, but ackerley is determined that she be impregnated. perhaps she is a surrogate through which he achieves fertility. lord knows they struggle together, j. r. and tulip, through the travails of courtship .
white with red stripes are nothing new in the tulip field. in fact, it was the viceroy and the semper augustus, striped tulips very similar to the canada 150, that were among the most egregious examples of tulip mania — the ruinous financial speculation over tulip bulbs that occurred in the 17th century dutch republic. although, those varieties were striped due to a virus, unlike the naturally striped carnaval de rio .
“she offered me what i had never found in my life with humans: constant, single - hearted, incorruptible, uncritical devotion, which it is in the nature of dogs to offer. ”
my dog tulip is populated with some notable people - characters: isabella rossellini is the voice of the kind, no - nonsense vet who helps ackerley to understand and accept some of tulip' s more bewildering behavior; lynn redgrave (who died shortly after the film was completed) is ackerley' s bossy sister. but the movie' s real star has no lines at all, unless you included barks, sighs and the occasional whimper. in the body the fierlingers have given her on film, tulip is alternately a blur of action and joy, an inquisitive being of great intelligence and curiosity, a snoozy, snoring bundle in a chair. occasionally, you might notice her looking into the
camera ,
but you' ll have to forgive her, because she' s not a professional actor and doesn' t know any better. to call tulip a cartoon is an insult: she is, beyond a doubt, all dog, and she is as real to us within the frames of this movie as ackerley made her on the page .
ackerley is in love with the dogginess of dogs – impervious to the artificial disgusts which humans call civilisation. for if kitsch is the negation of shit, then there are very few things less kitsch than a dog. which is why, after ackerley' s examination of liquids and solids, the main subject of my dog tulip is his attempt to offer tulip a sex life. and there' s a way in which this search for sex is also ackerley' s, so it' s possible to see this book as a great fantasia of the unconscious – but its real truth is more radical. this book is a study in the problem of otherness. this is its deeper critique, of the conventional art of representation – the fake forsterian categories of flat and round character .
according to sandra, painting tulip
was hard and then i got into the swing of things, and most of my painting depends on how paul draws it, so i can be loose. with the realistic drawings, i don' t know how many layers i had to paint her in, but i learned to really enjoy it .
alibaba pictures rolled out an array of dog - loving promotional initiatives — both online and offline — during the lead - up to the movie' s release. using parent company alibaba' s big data resources, the studio with its online promotional campaigns targeted pet lovers, female moviegoers and families. alibaba pictures also organized a series of dog adoption activities in shopping malls across china and held a number of screenings open to dog owners and their pets .
bark: what appealed to you about the way ackerley describes his relationship with this dog? paul: what was appealing to me was that he didn’t know dogs at all [ before tulip ]. and then i found out, reading his other material, he actually disliked dogs. he was annoyed by them. he was very intolerant of dogs barking in the neighborhood. and then here he got, in tulip, the worst kind of neurotic barker .
the healthy china performance of a dog' s purpose is a boon for amblin. the film has grossed a decent $ 61. 7 million in north america since its release jan. 27, but it likely was hurt by a leaked video showing a dog being shoved into a water tank during production .
out of print for years, tulip, is now back to amaze, amuse, and somewhat dismay those lucky enough to receive her. — boston globe
i always like reading about dogs and dogs' behavior with other dogs and with humans, but
my dog tulip
is also an elegant piece of writing and an interesting period piece about england, its classes, and its values. the book has offended some reviewers because tulip' s sex life or lack thereof is a main theme. i would agree that ackerley obsesses about whether his beloved alsatian (a breed known as german shepherd by most of the world these days) is sexually content, but the reader should also remember that the book was written in the mid - 1900s. dog overpopulation was not an issue as it is today, and concerns about doggie - sex reflected judgments regarding how such activity would affect a dog' s behavior - - and based on ackerley' s account, most seemed to think it was right, proper, natural, and good for dogs. ackerley, whose own life merits a biography (and i have no doubt there are several), is a kindhearted man whose way of life reflects a high degree of self - sufficiency, if one can read a bit between the lines. tulip is his muse and is far more of a person to him than anyone else he describes. most dog - owning readers who can get beyond different perspectives associated with when the book was written should be able to identify with ackerley' s love for tulip and appreciate his occasional struggles with her lack of appreciation for human standards of propriety. every reader should at least acknowledge that his writing provides an exquisite portrait of a dog and of life in england during a bygone era .
this is as charming as any other book written about a man’s single - minded pursuit to get his dog laid. this book was in my quarterly literary fiction box from pagehabit, as a companion - book to the friend. it was published in england in 1956 and the u. s. in 1965, in a distant past before lawmakers realized civilization would be nicer without dog poop on the streets, before bob barker was around to encourage people to spay and neuter their furfriends, and before the internet taught dogs how to have
the chapters describing ackerley’s dog’s poop and his lack of disposing of said poop were the best part of the book. i guess that’s a mixed compliment given my general disregard for the book as a whole, however, i did genuinely find this part interesting mainly b / c of how it was a reflection of the time period and just how different things were in society then. now for the rest of the book: i really really disliked it. how on earth does anyone consider this to be a classic of dog lover literatur
paul fierlinger: i would never venture into a film whose topic i had no personal connection to. i couldn’t possibly make anything useful out of a subject i knew little about in a personal way. there’s a scene in tulip in which ackerley walks over to his bar to have a drink while tulip is having puppies. only much later did i notice that i drew ackerley reaching for the bottle the way i have to in real life with my bad shoulder and i was not aware of animating ackerley like that at the time. sometimes this makes acting my characters difficult for me, for instance when i have to animate women. having never been one, i step into the task gingerly and have to keep asking sandra if she thinks it’s alright, what i’m doing .
ackerley was a famous curmudgeon and his tulip was a kindred spirit .
one of the reasons we made the film is to make it clear to people who are considering having dogs that they should rethink it if they don' t understand dogs well ,
proclaims paul fierlinger .
we had been successful with dog films [ still life with animated dogs, a room nearby ] before and when tulip became a possibility, i had always had it in the back of my mind as film material. i had to understand ackerly better. once i decided to do it, i had to look more into his past and got acquainted over email with his biographer, peter parker. and we became good friends .
consider the following moment in ackerley' s description of tulip. he takes tulip to a series of vets, with all of whom she is in a manic flurry. she can only be sadly compared, say, to an obedient spaniel he can observe
standing quietly on a table with a thermometer sticking out of his bottom, like a cigarette
. finally, he discovers miss canvey. with miss canvey, tulip is calm. and ackerley – what else? – is distraught :
with four million sold, it was marketed by home hardware as a “limited edition” red - and - white tulip developed by the netherlands especially for canada’s 150th birthday .
i have an eighteen - month - old sable border collie mix named yiya, who is the apple of my eye and more dear to me than i ever could have imagined. i mean, how could you not love her ?
to this story, directed and animated by paul and sandra fierlinger, “my dog tulip
brings sandra' s watercolors. fierlinger is the sort of watercolorist one would collect. her colors, her line, her ability to saturate or wash, are well - suited to the story. she makes a london in which its black cabs and red buses come alive, and then turns pastoral on putney common. her animated paintings have life and impact. she is an original, but if you know of an artist named david gentleman, you' ll get the idea .
on the left, what the canada 150 tulip is supposed to look like. right, the orange tulips that came up in ontarian jane antoniak' s garden instead .
the origin of the carnaval de rio becoming the canada 150 tulip lies with ottawa’s national capital commission — which also happens to be one of canada’s largest consumers of tulips .
an amusing, fun account of life with a skittish, freewheeling german shepherd, jr ackerley' s my dog tulip is a nice read, but i can see why it' d also turn some readers off. indeed, what this book does best is what some people will hate: it' s utter frankness. ackerley never minces his words, describing tulip in startling detail: her rambunctious attitude, her fur coat, her bowel movements and her heats. he never once tries to turn her into a human, but never treats her flippantly, either. it' s a full portrait, warts and all. well, sort of. while he never hides how naughty she was, apparently he' s also got the blinders on, too. in the introduction, it' s noted that tulip was often so wild his friends stopped inviting him over since he always brought the dog. but then again, ackerley was utterly devoted to her: even when she does something bad, all she has to do is look at him with her and he just about melts. i did, too. a note about context: remember this book is set in the mid - to - late 1940s before judging him for not having tulip fixed or for his ideas on puppies .
asaf agranat: according to this, maybe the more awkwardness and disabilities one have, the more one' s animated characters will have particular personality :) (sometimes i think that this is what makes, say, robert wyatt' s (who' s in wheelchair) music, so different from everything else). since' tulip' is a feature film, it demanded big dedication and much effort over a long period (i wouldn' t believe you if you say it didn' t). when i come to a point of choosing what to make my film about, i feel that everything can have tremendous importance (because it' s my creation), and this kinds of stresses me. do you get like this? what made you decide to make a film about a relationship between a dog and her owner ?
a great deal of the book is taken up with ackerley' s attempts to provide tulip with the experience of mating and motherhood. ackerley second guesses his choices constantly - is he doing what he should? what is a fulfilling life like for a dog? what are her wants and needs? tulip, in turn, is equally, in ackerley' s words, concerned with ackerley' s well being, and in time, through the discussions of impacted anal glands and estrus, socially awkward pit stops and trips to the vet ,
meh. this was presented to me as the be - all, end - all of dog memoirs. what it is, in fact, is one man' s obsession with his dog' s elimination and procreative functions. given that it was published in 1956, in england, there have to be allowances for the fact that the world view of dog ownership has changed, for the better, in the last fifty years. we pick up after them, and we neuter them, thus making them, and ourselves, more agreeable .
bark: … and then often not picking up after tulip when she “fouls the footway. ” people had different standards in the 1950s, but i’m wondering if it was difficult for you to illustrate irresponsible dog - owner behaviors without commenting on them? paul: poop - picking laws only began in the late 1970s here, and even later in europe. but [ tulip ] was out on the farm or the woods when she pooped without him picking it up. not on the street. back in the ’50s and ’60s in europe responsible dog owners trained their dogs to poop on the street, next to the sidewalks, what was considered the gutter. streets were swept early, every morning, even in communist countries .
i listened to an audiobook version of this novel on a road trip. everything starts out good and it' s quite funny and if you love dogs it' s wonderful. but soon everything really heads to toilet town. over the course of the book ackerley' s description of tulip becomes downright disturbing. you' re lulled into a false sense of security that this is the story of a man who loves his dog and of the kind of kooky things that happen to them then - bam! everything becomes about dog penises and vaginas and
my dog tulip is an american independent animated feature film based on the 1956 memoir of the same name by j. r. ackerley , bbc editor , novelist and memoirist . the film tells the story of ackerley 's fifteen-year relationship with his alsatian dog ( german shepherd ) queenie , who had been renamed tulip for the book . the film – geared toward an adult audience – was adapted , directed and animated by paul fierlinger with backgrounds and characters painted by his wife , sandra fierlinger . christopher plummer narrated ackerley 's voice , isabella rossellini provided the voice of the veterinarian , and lynn redgrave provided the voice ( in her last film performance ) of ackerley 's sister nancy . the film premiered at the annecy international animated film festival on june 10 , 2009 and received honourable mention for best animated film at the 2009 ottawa international animation festival . the film won grand prix - best feature film award at the world festival of animated film zagreb - animafest zagreb in 2011 . as with the original book , the film gives detailed descriptions of the dog 's bowel movements and sex life – received as " positively juvenile " and helping the film achieve realism and avoid anthropomorphism . in 1988 , colin gregg had filmed ackerley 's we think the world of you ( 1960 ) – also about ackerley 's relationship with his dog queenie . 
my dog tulip is an american independent animated feature film based on the 1956 memoir of the same name by j. r. ackerley, bbc editor, novelist and memoirist. the film tells the story of ackerley's fifteen-year relationship with his alsatian dog (german shepherd) queenie, who had been renamed tulip for the book. the film – geared toward an adult audience – was adapted, directed and animated by paul fierlinger with backgrounds and characters painted by his wife, sandra fierlinger. christopher plummer narrated ackerley's voice, isabella rossellini provided the voice of the veterinarian, and lynn redgrave provided the voice (in her last film performance) of ackerley's sister nancy. the film premiered at the annecy international animated film festival on june 10, 2009 and received honourable mention for best animated film at the 2009 ottawa international animation festival. the film won grand prix - best feature film award at the world festival of animated film zagreb - animafest zagreb in 2011. as with the original book, the film gives detailed descriptions of the dog's bowel movements and sex life – received as " positively juvenile " and helping the film achieve realism and avoid anthropomorphism. in 1988, colin gregg had filmed ackerley's we think the world of you (1960) – also about ackerley's relationship with his dog queenie.
my dog tulip is an american independent animated feature film based on the 1956 memoir of the same name by j. r. ackerley, bbc editor, novelist and memoirist. the film tells the story of ackerley's fifteen-year relationship with his alsatian dog (german shepherd) queenie, who had been renamed tulip for the book. the film – geared toward an adult audience – was adapted, directed and animated by paul fierlinger with backgrounds and characters painted by his wife, sandra fierlinger. christopher plummer narrated ackerley's voice, isabella rossellini provided the voice of the veterinarian, and lynn redgrave provided the voice (in her last film performance) of ackerley's sister nancy. the film premiered at the annecy international animated film festival on june 10, 2009 and received honourable mention for best animated film at the 2009 ottawa international animation festival. the film won grand prix - best feature film award at the world festival of animated film zagreb - animafest zagreb in 2011. as with the original book, the film gives detailed descriptions of the dog's bowel movements and sex life – received as " positively juvenile " and helping the film achieve realism and avoid anthropomorphism. in 1988, colin gregg had filmed ackerley's we think the world of you (1960) – also about ackerley's relationship with his dog queenie.