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June 05, 2009
The Pitts
Morley's Dog, originally uploaded by snoopoz.
Hey gang, today I had to go work in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. This is a town I knew absolutely nothing about, except that it has bad luck with floods. I also heard that the movie Slap Shot, although set in the fictional Charleston, was based on Johnstown.
It all came together today. As I trudged around downtown Johnstown after I got done at court, I saw the statue you see above. It turns out to be "Morley's Dog," so named because it used to sit near the Morley House in Johnstown. It was washed away in the 1889 flood, only to be found later that day.
Meanwhile, a legend grew that a dog had been seen saving children from the flood. Soon, people began to say the statue was a depiction of that dog. Of course, that is not true, but it's a funny story. As you can see, the statue now occupies a prominent place in downtown Johnstown, as a sort of reminder of the flood or something.
Anyway, back to Slap Shot. There is this famous exchange in the movie, which now that I have been to Johnstown, makes 100% perfect sense:
Lily Braden: What's the story on that dog?Oh, and to get to Johnstown, I had to go through Pittsburgh. Now that is a town with some bad traffic, relatively speaking. Better than Chicago, of course, but much worse than I expected. Hence the title of this post.
Reggie Dunlop: That's the dog that saved Charleston from the 1938 flood.
Lily Braden: Well fuck him.
entry no. 1387
Posted at June 5, 2009 04:22 PM
Comments
In the movie theaters they used to run a still frame on the screen that said, "Don't spit on the floor. Remember the Johnstown Flood."
Posted by: Pete at June 6, 2009 10:38 AM