The Story of Doctor Dolittle frontispiece

Doctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by

Hugh Lofting Hugh John Lofting (14 January 1886 – 26 September 1947) was an English American writer trained as a civil engineer, who created the classic children's literature character Doctor Dolittle. The fictional physician to talking animals, based in a ...

starting with the 1920 ''

The Story of Doctor Dolittle ''The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts'' (1920), written and illustrated by the British author Hugh Lofting, is the first of his Doctor Dolittle books, a series ...

''. He is a physician who shuns human patients in favour of animals, with whom he can speak in their own languages. He later becomes a naturalist, using his abilities to speak with animals to better understand nature and the history of the world.Schmidt, G. D. (1992). ''Hugh Lofting''. New York: Twayne Publishing Doctor Dolittle first appeared in the author's illustrated letters to his children, written from the

trenches A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit). In geology, trenches result from erosi ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

when actual news, he later said, was either too horrible or too dull. The stories are set in early

Victorian England In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

, where Doctor John Dolittle lives in the fictional English village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh in the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glo ...

. Doctor Dolittle has a few close human friends, including Tommy Stubbins and Matthew Mugg, the Cats'-Meat Man. The animal team includes

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoide ...

Gub-Gub This is a list of characters from the ''Doctor Dolittle'' series of children's books by Hugh Lofting and movies based on them. Most of the characters were introduced in the first book, the 1920 novel ''The Story of Doctor Dolittle''. Humans Doct ...

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

), Jip (a

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

Dab-Dab This is a list of characters from the ''Doctor Dolittle'' series of children's books by Hugh Lofting and movies based on them. Most of the characters were introduced in the first book, the 1920 novel ''The Story of Doctor Dolittle''. Humans Docto ...

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...

), Chee-Chee (a monkey), Too-Too (an

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

), the

Pushmi-pullyu This is a list of characters from the ''Doctor Dolittle'' series of children's books by Hugh Lofting and movies based on them. Most of the characters were introduced in the first book, the 1920 novel ''The Story of Doctor Dolittle''. Humans Docto ...

, and a white mouse later named simply "Whitey". Later on, in the 1925 novel ''

Doctor Dolittle's Zoo ''Doctor Dolittle's Zoo'' was written and illustrated by Hugh Lofting in 1925. In the book, Doctor Dolittle Doctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting starting with the 1920 '' The Story o ...

'', Whitey founds (with the doctor's help) the ''Rat and Mouse Club'', whose membership eventually reaches some 5,000 rats and mice.

Inspiration

One inspiration for his character appears to be the Scottish surgeon John Hunter.

Stories

''The Story of Doctor Dolittle: Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts Never Before Printed'' (1920) begins the series. The sequel ''The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle'' (1922) won the prestigious

Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished cont ...

. The next three, ''Doctor Dolittle's Post Office'' (1923), ''Doctor Dolittle's Circus'' (1924), and ''Doctor Dolittle's Caravan'' (1926) take place during and/or after the events of ''The Story of Doctor Dolittle''. Five more novels followed, and after Lofting's death in 1947, two more volumes of short, previously unpublished pieces appeared. The stories, in order of publication, are: #''

'' (1920) #''

The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle ''The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle'' is the second of Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle books. Published in 1922, the writing style is aimed at a more mature audience and features more sophisticated illustrations than its predecessor. The novel's sc ...

'' (1922) #'' Doctor Dolittle's Post Office'' (1923) #''

Doctor Dolittle's Circus ''Doctor Dolittle's Circus'', written by Hugh Lofting and published in 1924 by Frederick A. Stokes, is set in England sometime between the original story and the later voyages narrated by Stubbins. It was one of the novels in the series wh ...

'' (1924) #''Doctor Dolittle Meets a Londoner in Paris'' (1925) #''

'' (1925) #''

Doctor Dolittle's Caravan ''Doctor Dolittle's Caravan'' is a novel written by Hugh Lofting and published in 1926 by Frederick A. Stokes. It deals with the titular character's bird opera, centering on a female green canary named Pippinella. It is one of many books Hugh L ...

'' (1926) #'' Doctor Dolittle's Garden'' (1927) #'' Doctor Dolittle in the Moon'' (1928) #'' Gub Gub's Book: An Encyclopaedia of Food'' (1932) #'' Doctor Dolittle's Return'' (1933) #''Doctor Dolittle's Birthday Book'' (1936) #''

Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake ''Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake'' is a Doctor Dolittle book written by Hugh Lofting. The book was published posthumously in 1948, 15 years after its predecessor. Fittingly, it is the longest book in the series, and the tone is the darkes ...

'' (copyrighted 1923, but not published until 1948) #'' Doctor Dolittle and the Green Canary'' (1950) #'' Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures'' (1952) #*"The Sea Dog" #*"Dapple" #*"The Dog Ambulance" #*"The Stunned Man" #*"The Crested Screamers" #*"The Green Breasted Martins" #*"The Story of the Maggot" #*"The Lost Boy" ''Gub Gub's Book: An Encyclopaedia of Food'' (1932) is purportedly written by the pig. It is a series of food-themed animal vignettes. In the text, the pretence of Gub-Gub's authorship is dropped; Tommy Stubbins, Dr. Dolittle's assistant, explains that he is reporting a series of Gub-Gub's discourses to the other animals of the Dolittle household around the evening fire. Stubbins also says that the full version of Gub-Gub's encyclopaedia, which was an immense and poorly-organized collection of scribblings written by the pig in a language for pigs invented by Dr. Dolittle, was too long to translate into English. ''Doctor Dolittle's Birthday Book'' (1936) is a little day-book illustrated with pictures and quotations from the earlier stories. It appeared between ''Doctor Dolittle's Return'' and ''Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake''. "Doctor Dolittle Meets a Londoner in Paris" is a short story included in ''The Flying Carpet'', pp. 110–19 (1925), an anthology of children's short stories and poems with illustrations by

Cynthia Asquith Lady Cynthia Mary Evelyn Asquith (née Charteris; 27 September 1887 – 31 March 1960) was an English writer and socialite, known for her ghost stories and diaries.Richard Dalby, ''The Virago Book of Ghost Stories''.Virago, London, , 1987 (p. 23 ...

. April 2021, Shinichi Fukuoka, the Japanese biologist created a new story ''Dr. Dolittle Saves

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands (Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ...

'' which appeared in

The Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition and ...

Chronology

The main events of ''The Story of Doctor Dolittle'' take place in 1819 or 1820, although the events of the early chapters seem to be spread over several years. ''The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle'' begins in 1839. Dolittle returned from his journey to the moon in ''Doctor Dolittle's return'' during a full lunar eclipse that was visible low in the sky one late evening in spring. This was the first full lunar eclipse for a couple of years, and it took place in May 1844 in real life. Backstory references indicate that Dr. Dolittle travelled to the North Pole in April 1809, and already knew how to speak to some species of animals at that date, suggesting that the early chapters of ''The Story of Doctor Dolittle'' take place before that date. However, it is possible that the internal chronology is not consistent. The internal chronology of the books is somewhat different from the publishing order. The first book is followed by ''

'' (1924), ''

'' (1926), '' Doctor Dolittle and the Green Canary'' (1950), and '' Doctor Dolittle's Post Office'' (1923). Only then follows the second book, ''The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle'' (1922), continued by ''

'' (1925). After that, the publishing order is restored; '' Doctor Dolittle's Garden'' (1927) is followed by '' Doctor Dolittle in the Moon'' (1928) and '' Doctor Dolittle's Return'' (1933), ending with ''

'' (1948).Schmidt, G.D. (1992). Hugh Lofting. New York: Twayne Publishing The stories, in order of internal chronology, are: *''

'' (1920) :*"The Green Breasted Martins" (follows Chapter XII in ''The Story of Doctor Dolittle''; collected in '' Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures'' (1952)) *''

'' (1924) *''

'' (1926) :*"The Crested Screamers" (takes place within Part One, Chapter 12 of ''Doctor Dolittle's Caravan''; collected in ''Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures'' (1952)) :*"The Lost Boy" (takes place within Part One, Chapter 12 of ''Doctor Dolittle's Caravan''; collected in ''Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures'' (1952)) *'' Doctor Dolittle and the Green Canary'' (1950) :*" Doctor Dolittle Meets a Londoner in Paris" (1925 – uncollected) *'' Doctor Dolittle's Post Office'' (1923) *''

'' (1922) *''

'' (1925) *'' Doctor Dolittle's Garden'' (1927) :*"The Sea Dog" (takes place at the beginning of ''Doctor Dolittle's Garden''; collected in ''Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures'' (1952)) :*"Dapple" (takes place at the beginning of ''Doctor Dolittle's Garden''; collected in ''Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures'' (1952)) :*"The Dog Ambulance" (takes place at the beginning of ''Doctor Dolittle's Garden''; collected in ''Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures'' (1952)) :*"The Stunned Man" (takes place at the beginning of ''Doctor Dolittle's Garden''; collected in ''Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures'' (1952)) :*"The Story of the Maggot" (given a greatly reduced summary at the conclusion to early printings of Part Two, Chapter 4 of ''Doctor Dolittle's Garden''; collected in ''Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures'' (1952)) *'' Gub Gub's Book: An Encyclopaedia of Food'' (1932) *'' Doctor Dolittle in the Moon'' (1928) *'' Doctor Dolittle's Return'' (1933) *''Doctor Dolittle's Birthday Book'' (1936) *''

'' (copyrighted 1923, but not published until 1948)

Adaptations

There have been a number of adaptations of the Doctor Dolittle stories in other media: Animation: * 1928: ''Doktor Dolittle und seine Tiere'' (''Doctor Dolittle and his Animals''), a silent animated short in German by

Lotte Reiniger Charlotte "Lotte" Reiniger (2 June 1899 – 19 June 1981) was a German film director and the foremost pioneer of silhouette animation. Her best known films are ''The Adventures of Prince Achmed'', from 1926, the first feature-length animated fil ...

* 1970–1972: ''Doctor Dolittle'' animated TV series, produced at DePatie-Freleng Enterprises for

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Co ...

* 1984: The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (ドリトルせんせいものがたり) (U.S.-Japan coproduction, not aired in Japan until 1997) * 2011: ''The Voyages of Young Doctor Dolittle''

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...

animated film, starring

Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne ...

, Jason Alexander, and

Tim Curry Timothy James Curry (born 19 April 1946) is an English actor and singer. He rose to prominence for his portrayal of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the film ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975), reprising the role he had originated in the 1973 London ...

Audio: * 1933–1934:

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

radio series * 1995–2001: BBC audio books read by

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

Stages * 1973: stage adaptation by the

Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale is a boys' choir and men's chorale based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, currently under the direction of Jeffrey R. Smith. They are known as "America's Ambassadors of Song" and are considered to be one of the best ...

, which was used during their concert tour to Belgium and Kenya * 1998: ''

Doctor Dolittle Doctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting starting with the 1920 '' The Story of Doctor Dolittle''. He is a physician who shuns human patients in favour of animals, with whom he can speak in th ...

'' stage musical by

Leslie Bricusse Leslie Bricusse OBE (; 29 January 1931 – 19 October 2021) was a British composer, lyricist, and playwright who worked on theatre musicals and wrote theme music for films. He was best known for writing the music and lyrics for the films '' Do ...

, based on the 1967 film musical * 2007: stage musical adaptation by

TheatreWorksUSA TheatreWorksUSA is a professional, not-for-profit theatre for young and family audiences founded in 1961. The company is based out of New York City, but has touring productions that run through forty-nine states as well as parts of Canada. Pl ...

, written by Randy Courts and

Mark St. Germain Mark St. Germain is an American playwright, author, and film and television writer. Career Plays St. Germain has written ''Camping With Henry And Tom'' (Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards), ''Out of Gas On Lover's Leap'', ''Forgiving ...

Film: * 1967: ''

'', starring Rex Harrison * 1998: ''

Dr. Dolittle Doctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting starting with the 1920 ''The Story of Doctor Dolittle''. He is a physician who shuns human patients in favour of animals, with whom he can speak in the ...

'' and its sequels: '' Dr. Dolittle 2'' (2001), '' Dr. Dolittle 3'' (2006), '' Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief'' (2008), and '' Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts'' (2009). The first two star Eddie Murphy in the title role, whereas all five star

Kyla Pratt Kyla Amore Pratt (born September 16, 1986) is an American actress. She provided the voice of Penny Proud in the first animated series for Disney Channel called ''The Proud Family'', and Breanna Latrice Barnes in UPN's '' One on One''. After play ...

as his daughter, Maya.

Norm Macdonald Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...

appears in each film as the voice of their dog, Lucky. * 2020: '' Dolittle'', a live action adaptation starring

Robert Downey Jr. Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor and producer. His career has been characterized by critical and popular success in his youth, followed by a period of substance abuse and legal troubles, before a resurgence of ...

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor, television producer and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage rol ...

, and Antonio Banderas. Video Games: * 2006: Dr. Dolittle

PS2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia o ...

video game produced by Aqua Pacific and distributed by Blast! Entertainment Ltd

Appearances in other languages

A Russian children's novel ''

Doctor Aybolit Doctor Aybolit (russian: Доктор Айболит, ''Doktor Aibolit'') is a fictional character from the children's poems ''Aybolit'' (1929) and ''Barmaley'' (1925) by Korney Chukovsky, as well as from the children's fantastic novella ''Doctor ...

'' (Doctor Oh-it-hurts) by

Korney Chukovsky Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky ( rus, Корне́й Ива́нович Чуко́вский, p=kɐrˈnʲej ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ tɕʊˈkofskʲɪj, a=Kornyey Ivanovich Chukovskiy.ru.vorb.oga; 31 March NS 1882 – 28 October 1969) was one of the most p ...

(first published in 1924) was loosely based on the stories of Doctor Dolittle. The original novel credited Lofting's work, as did Chukovsky in his memoirs. Norwegian playwright, songwriter, and illustrator,

Thorbjørn Egner Thorbjørn Egner (12 December 1912 – 24 December 1990) was a Norwegian playwright, songwriter and illustrator known principally for his books, plays and musicals for children. He is principally associated with his narratives for children includ ...

, made an album called ''Doktor Dyregod'' (Doctor good-toward-animals) with songs and story based on Doctor Dolittle. All the books in the series have been translated into Japanese by

Ibuse Masuji was a Japanese author. His most notable work is the novel '' Black Rain''. Early life and education Ibuse was born in 1898 to a landowning family in the village of , which is now part of Fukuyama, Hiroshima. Ibuse failed his entrance exam to ...

and into Lithuanian by

Pranas Mašiotas Pranas Mašiotas (1863–1940) was a Lithuanian activist and educator best known as children's writer and translator. Born in Suvalkija to a family of Lithuanian farmers, Mašiotas attended Marijampolė Gymnasium and studied mathematics at Mo ...

(few decades after appearance of an original).

References

External links

*
''The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle''
full text * (1928 cartoon) * (1970–1972 cartoon) * (1984 cartoon) * ''Doctor Dolittle'' first editions listed with images – https://sites.google.com/site/hughloftingfirsteditionsuk/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Dolittle, John Book series introduced in 1920 Characters in children's literature Fictional British medical doctors

Fantasy novel series Characters in fantasy literature Fictional linguists Fictional veterinarians Literary characters introduced in 1920 Characters in British novels of the 20th century Talking animals in fiction Fictional English people ja:ドリトル先生シリーズ