Amusing Archival Footage of What Seems to Be the Famous Dog From 'His Master's Voice' Acting Frisky

Amusing archival footage from the EMI Archive Trust shows a dog that looks like Nipper, from the 1898 Francis Barraud, painting “His Master’s Voice”, getting a bit frisky in front of the gramophone that made him famous.

As it turns out, Nipper had died in 1895, several years before the painting was even made and this dog was very similar in looks.

The painting His Master’s Voice in its original form was completed in 1899 and originally showed the dog (who had in fact died some years previously) listening to a cylinder phonograph.

It was only when the image was sold to The Gramophone Company Ltd. that a couple of engineers decided to film a dog and gramophone together.

It appears that after the copyright was sold to Gramophone, two employees of the company, William Sinkler Darby and Theodore Bernard Birnbaum recorded a Mutoscope in 1900 (presumably for advertising purposes), which is entitled, ‘Nipper Runs Amok!’. Since “Nipper” died in 1895, a replacement dog was used.