One day the circus came to Yarmouth. Mary's brothers, Larry and Harry had to go see it being set up with all the trained animals. Larry had a gift with animals, and after helping out a little, it wasn't a stretch to offer to help when one of the dogs would not perform. Within minutes, the dog happily role-played with Larry, and Larry got paid--his first job as a trainer.
      Not long afterwards, he went to New York and worked in theatre for awhile. He got married to Marie Louisa Githens,an opera singer, had a child Janet in 1912, and got custody of her when they divorced.* Sometime around 1913 Vitagraph Films moved to California, and Larry moved with them.
     He invited Ronald and Mary to come on out West in 1918 when he was making a film in Canada. And they did.

Larry introduced the first dog to film, but it was his dog Jean who became the "Vitagraph Dog" the darling of American Film. This picture is of Jean and Larry in California.

*Memories by Lawrence Curtis Raynes

Ronald's youth: Elm Street, Yarmouth days

Ronald was raised in the old town of Yarmouth, Maine, the first of three children of Edward and Mary Olive (Curtis) Raynes. His house was rather new at the time, and sat next to the bridge over the Royal River at 170 East Elm Street, with the railroad tracks running behind them. His father worked for the Grand Trunk Railroad, as did his Uncle Joseph Raynes.(RR Station) Born October 6, 1877, Ronald was raised with many cousins around him also. Aunt Josephine (Curtis) and Uncle Warren Pullen lived on the farm in North Yarmouth with 13 children, one of Ronald's favorite places in the world. He also had 3 Raynes and 3 Knight cousins in town, as well as his Curtis grandparents on South Street and Raynes grandparents in New Gloucester.
        A very social person, he had a bright and cheerful disposition and wielded a dry wit. A letter from his Aunt Eliza says that all the town will be happy when he gets back--they will "trip the light fantastic" -dance- into early morning hours. Even in his later years, he made the daily trip to the post office so he could swap yarns, and had his cronies hanging about his boat-building shop on a regular basis.

 But he loved the outdoors like his father. He always lived near the water.  The story goes that one day as a kid he was crossing the bridge into town when he saw a big fish, a pickerel, laying under it.

 "He hurried back home, got his fishing pole, found a frog and baited his hook. Carefully sneaking up to the bank, he dropped his hook with the frog into the river near the big fish, and WOW! he had a battle.

But he won, and they had fish for supper." 

(Memories by L. Curtis Raynes)