Child star Jackie Cooper was given Spot as an 11th birthday present. In 1931, two years before this picture was taken, Cooper starred in the film “Skippy,” directed by his uncle, Norman Taurog. To get Cooper to cry, Taurog ordered that Spot be taken away backstage by a security guard, who pretended to shoot it. Cooper became the youngest person ever to be nominated for an Oscar (a title he held until 1979), but he did not forgive his uncle for many years.
The John Kobal Foundation