Kilarney, Ch. Juneter’s Ace and Ch. Vardona Frosty Snowman
a little later, all deserve their own chapters. Several had been
successful in their native England before being let loose at
American shows.
The Poodle Craze
And then there were the Poodles! The 1950s saw the beginning of the Poodle craze that eventually engulfed not just
America but the whole Western world. Standard Poodles
had already made their mark, but Miniatures were coming to
the fore, starting in the late 1940s, and Toys were only a few
years behind. There were glamorous English imports galore,
but quite a few of the top winners were born in the US, most
originating from Hayes Blake Hoyt’s Blakeen kennel that already had won BIS at both Westminster and Morris & Essex
with Standards. The Miniature Ch. Blakeen Van Aseltine and
the Toy Ch. Blakeen King Doodles were both among the country’s top dogs of all breeds in 1955, and the following year Ch.
Blakeen Ding Ding was top dog of all breeds. She was not
actually bred by Mrs. Hoyt but out of one of her bitches and
was sired by Ch. Wilber White Swan, who in 1956 became the
first Toy dog ever to win BIS at Westminster.
It was perhaps symptomatic that in 1956, the first year of
official point rankings, Poodles were both No. 1 and No. 2 of
all breeds — and, amazingly, both had the same owner and
were shown by the same person. How Mrs. Marguerite Tyson
and her handler, Maxine Beam, achieved this is difficult to
imagine: Many times they must have won the Toy Group with
Ding Ding at the same show as the Miniature, Ch. Adastra
Magic Fame, was best Non-Sporting. How was it determined
which one of them Maxine would handle for BIS? Magic Fame
was born in England but sired by a Blakeen dog that Mrs.
Hoyt had exported and who became a champion over there.
For good measure, Magic Fame was No. 2 of all breeds
again in 1957, now behind the Pekingese. More, much more
would follow in the next decades for Poodles of all three sizes.
Glamorous Afghans
Afghan Hounds followed a similar trajectory as the Poodles,
having been “discovered” a few years earlier but achieving
unprecedented success in the 1950s. On the East Coast, there
was the great Ch. Shirkhan of Grandeur, whose BIS at Westminster in 1957, owner-handled by the colorful Sunny Shay,
upset a lot of apple carts, partly because he was quite young
and relatively unknown at the time. After his Westminster win
under legendary judge Bea Godsol, Shirkhan continued to win
well for at least four years and was even occasionally brought
out as a veteran to be applauded by adoring fans. Shirkhan
won at least 23 BIS and 94 Hound Groups and became a great
sire. Grandeur, of course, continued well into recent years
although under different ownership.
Meanwhile, on the West Coast, a very different but equally
flamboyant breeder was achieving great success with a series of powerful, heavily coated black-masked blondes. Ch.
Taejon of Crown Crest was not Kay Finch’s first top winner,
SEPTEMBER 2016
88x92_FirstBIS.indd 91
Above: Toy
Poodle Ch.
Blakeen Ding
Ding (left) was
top dog all
breeds in 1956,
and Miniature
Ch. Adastra
Magic Fame
(right) was No.
2 of all breeds
in both 1956
and ‘57. Below:
Ch. Shirkhan
of Grandeur
(left) won BIS
at Westminster
in 1957 and Ch .
Taejon of Crown
Crest (right)
took back-toback Groups
there in 1954
and ‘55.
DOGS IN REVIEW
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