John Steinbeck’s Poodle, Charley

By 1960 John Steinbeck (1902-1968) had achieved both fame and fortune.  He and his third wife, Elaine, split their time primarily in New York City and Sag Harbor, and most of their trips weresteinbeck and Charley to Europe.

Because Steinbeck had been ill the previous year, he began to re-consider how he wanted to spend the next few years.  He decided he wanted to re-acquaint himself with his own country, and he planned to take several months to go on his own, criss-crossing the country “in search of America.”  He took with him his ten-year-old standard poodle, Charley.  The book that resulted was Travels with Charley: In Search of America.

Charley was an eager traveler and loved road trips.  At a time when camper trucks were a bit unusual, Steinbeck decided this was the ideal way for him to travel so he commissioned a specially-built truck that he then proceeded to outfit with necessary equipment and supplies.  During the planning and packing, Steinbeck writes that Charley was in a state of mild hysteria, worrying that perhaps he wasn’t on the passenger manifest.

“During the weeks of preparation he was underfoot the whole time and made a damned nuisance of himself.  He took to hiding in the truck, creeping in and trying to make himself look small.”

Of course, Charley was part of the plan all along.  Steinbeck wanted him along, and Elaine felt that it was better that her husband have some type of companion along rather than traveling solo.  Elaine planned to meet up with them at a couple of stops along the way.

Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Rocinante
Rocinante

Before they departed, Steinbeck christened the truck “Rocinante,” after Don Quixote’s trusty horse.  Charley rode shotgun in the truck, and his method for alerting Steinbeck that it was time for a rest stop was a “Ftt” sound that was generally effective.  The two would stop and Charley would find an unsuspecting bush or tree to anoint, and Steinbeck would poke around a bit to see if anyone or anything interested him.

While Charley is an ever-present companion, he does not participate in many activities that are described in the book.  One passage in the book, however, is priceless for dog owners: Steinbeck’s description of how Charley wakes him in the morning.

“Charley likes to get up early, and he likes me to get up early, too.  And why shouldn’t he? Right after his breakfast he goes back to sleep.  Over the years he has developed a number of innocent-appearing ways to get me up.  He can shake himself and his collar loud enough to wake the dead. If that doesn’t work he gets a sneezing fit. But perhaps his most irritating method is to sit quietly beside the bed and stare into my face with a sweet and forgiving look on his face; I come out of deep sleep with the feeling of being looked at.  But I have learned to keep my eyes tight shut. If I even blink he sneezes and stretches, and that night’s sleep is over for me. Often the war of wills goes on for quite a time,  I squinching my eyes shut and he forgiving me, but he nearly always wins. He likes traveling so much he wanted to get started early, and early for Charley is the first tempering of darkness with the dawn.”

Though Charley suffered two bouts of prostatitis that required vet care and a pause in the journey, Steinbeck makes it clear that Charley is an asset. When Steinbeck does get a conversation going it often begins with the dog.

Most Memorable Trip Scene

The most memorable and historic moments described in Travel with Charley occur near the end of the trip when Steinbeck visited New Orleans. He is there when protesters (white parents who became known as the Cheerleaders) showed up daily to shout their disapproval of school integration.  Four African-American girls, including Ruby Bridges, were escorted to school by federal marshals, amidst taunting of racial epithets and physical effort to interfere.  The crowd stayed around to shout just as many invectives at the white children who arrived intending to better mapattend an integrated school. The scene is a reminder of our country’s continued struggle with race issues.

From New Orleans, Steinbeck and Charley turn north and are glad to return to New York and home. There is no afterward that explains Charley in retirement, but we can rest assured that he was an able companion on the trip and lived out the rest of his years with the Steinbecks.

The Book Today

Reading the book today is a disappointment.  While there is some interesting commentary on our country and a few apt descriptions, of places he visited or things he saw, much of it is Steinbeck’s ruminations during his travel. The time spent with the book often feels like listening to the complaints of a crotchety old uncle. Much of the time Steinbeck has difficulty getting people to talk to him… something I absolutely don’t understand.  If you look pleasant and interested, most Americans will be happy to tell you some of their story.

While Steinbeck’s early work was a gift to America for enlightening us to the plight of those caught up in the Depression, and his novels contained characters readers will never forget, he had clearly gone through some sort of a change—perhaps health-related or perhaps great affected by the blacklisting era that affected many of his friends; he was not blacklisted but was a constant target of the IRS.

At any rate, something put him in a different state of mind during these later years. That said, the parts involving Charley are still everything a dog owner would want.

 

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5 thoughts on “John Steinbeck’s Poodle, Charley”

  1. Pingback: In John Steinbeck’s book “Travels With Charley,” who is Charley? – The Millennial Mirror

  2. I was in high school (1964-1968) in Riverside, CA, when one day I saw a dog running down a major avenue. I pulled over, opened my door and the happy boy bounded into my arms. He was dirty, smelly and panting like mad, but he immediately settled into a shotgun position and seemed to indicate that I should ‘put ‘er in gear.’

    Thus, began my story.

    The dog was huge; a standard poodle with what I thought was a charcoal colored coat. I later learned that it was mostly just an aged coat. I knew immediately that this was someone’s special dog because, even without any ID, he did have a fine, black leather collar studded with chunks of turquoise. Real turquoise. To keep the friendly boy off our busy streets, I took him home.

    Now, my home was a dog-loving home (cats need not apply) so bringing this happy boy home was nothing new. After introductions, I immediately got down to business making a call to our local newspaper to place a Lost and Found ad. Meanwhile, my parents kept all in order as the newcomer and our three Irish Setters went about sniffing each other…thoroughly. Later, while giving the dirty poodle a bath, my mother discovered a large, angry-looking swelling on his shoulder. Without hesitation, a call was made to our vet and the dog was in his office within the hour.

    Dr. Henry Boerenko had been our vet for years and found nothing unusual about my family rescuing foundlings. He thoroughly examined the dog and then probed the swollen mass. Dr. B said this was an older dog and that it appeared that he had been in a fight. There were several smaller puncture wounds, but the mass on the shoulder was a serious wound that had developed into an abscess. It would require surgery with a drainage tube put in for frequent post-operative flushings. The surgery was scheduled for the following morning with the understanding that our now costly dog would remain hospitalized overnight.

    The morning came and our new poodle happily trotted to the car and was delivered to Dr. Boerenko. The day went by without excitement, but I was nervous, nonetheless. Finally, we received the call that all had gone well and that we could pick up our mystery boy the following morning.

    Later that afternoon, our newspaper was delivered and I immediately checked to see if the Lost and Found ad had made it to print. Yes, it had and a of couple hours later, the phone rang. The voice on the other end sounded anxious but, after identifying the turquoise studded collar (which I deliberately had omitted from the ad), a sigh of relief was heard. I proceeded to tell him of his dog’s injuries and that he was recovering from surgery. My caller was relieved that we had seen to the dog’s medical needs, but he corrected me that it was not his dog. The real owner was John Steinbeck and he was just babysitting for the famed author. Oh, and the dog’s name was Charley.

    Charley, as in TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY!

    We never saw our celebrity again. Charley was picked up the next morning and, hopefully, went on to be reunited with his owner/best friend. I never verified that Charley was THE CHARLEY, but I like to think that he was. If, indeed, all this was true, the dog I found would have been somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 to 15 years of age. I know, that’s asking a lot.

  3. Wow! That’s an amazing story. I think your though process is very good. Even good-sized poodles can probably make it to 12 or 13. At any rate, you did a REALLY good deed for the pet sitter, and any owner would be glad to get their dog back. Today most dogs have chips, thank goodness.

  4. Thank you for posing the question. The black-and-white photo I have in my article shows Charley in the same light as your “findagrave” photograph. The woman who wrote in the comments section about meeting Charley describes him as “charcoal.” This would fit with the black-and-white photographs. But I agree with you that the second photograph on http://www.findagrave.com posted by Donald Greyfield makes him appear a red or brown tone. My guess is that he probably was charcoal in color but the light in that photograph makes the coloring different. I really don’t know!
    Thanks for writing.

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