A few years ago, I decided to read the novel that was the basis for 101 Dalmatians. The children’s librarian said it was “far superior to the Walt Disney version”, and after reading it I tended to agree with her. I also was curious about the author, Dorothy Gladys “Dodie” Smith, and what led her to write so sympathetically about dogs.

Dodie Smith was born in Manchester, England, in 1896. She passed through several careers – struggling actress, department manager at an upscale furniture store, and finally successful playwright and novelist. (I may as well warn you here that, though she wrote good stories for children, the complete story of her life is for adults only.)

According to Dear Dodie: The Life of Dodie Smith, by Valerie Grove:

(S)he liked dogs. All her clothes were black and white; she lived in a black and white flat, and she had often said in jest that all she needed now was a Dalmatian.” Two friends (one of them was her future husband, Alec Beesley) took her at her word and gave her a Dalmatian puppy for her thirty-eighth birthday. This was the original Pongo, who was with her until his death in 1940.

Pongo was followed by two puppies, a female named Folly and “Freckles of Finchingfield . . . always known as Buzz”. These two eventually had their own litter of 15. Just as in The Hundred and One Dalmatians, their owners had to look for another nursing female to help out, and “somewhat miraculously” found one at a dog pound. It’s probably just as miraculous that they eventually found homes for 14 of the puppies and the foster mother.

Dodie Smith shared her life with her Dalmatians – and since her life was the source of her writing, it’s natural that they became some of her fictional heroes.