Murray the Outlaw of Falahill (1940-1952) was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's beloved Scottish Terrier. He was named after one of the president's Scottish ancestors. But he was best known by his nickname, Fala. He was FDR's constant companion—usually to be found curled-up in the same room as the president. He even travelled with Roosevelt.
Fala was an American institution. He frequently was mentioned-by-name in the press. And, during the Battle of the Bulge in World War Two, "Fala" became the secret code word for American soldiers to identify themselves to their comrades. At the moment Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia, on 12 April 1945, Fala—who had been lying quietly in the corner of the room—jumped-up snarling and barking. He raced from the room, burst through the screen on the front door, and raced up the hill—still barking and snarling. Fala outlived the president by seven years. He lived with the president's widow, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the two became inseparable. Fala is buried a few yards away from his master and mistress in the rose garden of Springwood, the Roosevelt estate in Hyde Park, New York. At the FDR Memorial in Washington, DC, a sculpture of Fala stands a few feet from the sculpture of the president.
Scotties were very popular in the Twenties and Thirties—which was the time period during which these bookends were made. These bookends are nicely sculpted, crisply cast, and finished with a brass finish—over which a verdigris patina has been applied. The sculpting depicts a terrier, eagerly waiting at the fence. Perhaps it is Fala, waiting for the return of his best friend. Click on the photo above to learn more about this handsome pair of bookends.
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