Marc Spitz

thank you to Ms. Geek for adding to the ongoing Great Basset Hound owners in pop culture list. this is Gabriel, the hound from the animated Ghost in the Shell film series . he was based on creator Mamoru Oshii’s own hound. if we expand this list to fictional characters (and why don’t we?) i am enshrining Cledus from the Smokey and the Bandit series (played by Jerry Reed of the immortal “When You’re Hot You’re Hot” fame) who kept “Fred” on the passenger seat (bassets are improbably well behaved driving companions), “Flash,” owned by Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane of Hazard County and “Henry,” owned by Amy Gardner on the West Wing. so, Ms. Geek and I are on the case.

ps. i was in the bar last night and someone played that neil young song “old king” on the jukebox. i wonder if neil young was or is a basset owner? maybe some other kind of hound? my own would certainly be afraid of jumping off the back of a truck “in high gear.” and they would never chase a deer. when jerry, the smaller one encounters a new york city mounted police officer he throws his head back and howls with alarm. he cannot process “horse.”