October 22, 2004
Unleashing a pack of fiberglass Nippers
Burlington County Times

By Rusty Pray
Inquirer Staff Writer

The dog days - and a specific dog at that - are coming to Moorestown.

Nipper, the famous terrier who listens with head cocked smartly as his master's voice comes out of a gramophone, will be on display all over town next summer as part of a public art project to benefit five nonprofit organizations.

Nipper, first used as a trademark for the Victor Talking Machine Co. of Camden and later RCA, has close ties to Moorestown. Eldridge Johnson, who founded Victor, was a resident for many years.

The project is set up to enlist artists, schools and other groups to decorate the fiberglass Nipper statues, which, including the base, stand 6 feet tall.

The dog decorators have until Nov. 12 to submit designs. A committee will judge the designs, then notify the qualifying artists in January. The artists will be paid $1,000 each to defray costs.

The decorated dogs will be put on the streets of Moorestown from June to early September. For $2,500, businesses, community groups and individuals can sponsor a dog, giving them the right to display Nipper in front of their buildings or on their lawns.

The dogs will be auctioned next October, and the proceeds will be split evenly among the Lutheran Home, a retirement home that once was Johnson's residence; the Moorestown Community House, built by Johnson in 1926; the Evergreens retirement home; the Moorestown Historical Society; and the Perkins Center for the Arts.

Virginia Devery, director of development for the Evergreens, came up with the idea after learning of the "Cows on Parade" project in Chicago in 1999.

Chicago picked up on a similar project in Switzerland to become the first U.S. city to display inanimate animals. In that case, 300 fiberglass cows were displayed around town. Officials there said two million people had come to see them, dropping $200 million into the city coffers. Later auctioned, the cows raised more than $3 million for charity.

"I heard about all these great cows" in the Chicago presentation, Devery said. "Actually, the year before, I was in Zurich on vacation with my daughter, and I saw all these cows all over. I thought they were there all the time."

Displaying sculptures has become popular across the country. Dogs were on display in 2002 in Upper and Lower Merion Townships on the Main Line. Baltimore and New Orleans have done it with fish; St. Paul, Minn., with Snoopys; San Jose, Calif., with sharks; and Buffalo with bison, of course.

Devery had wanted to "get the Evergreens more connected with the community" by staging a special event, and now she had an idea she believed would work.

It happened that Johnson's son, E.R. Fenimore Johnson, once resided at the Evergreens, "so we have this connection to the Victor Talking Machine," Devery said. "From there, it was a short jump to Nipper."

She took the idea to her board of directors, and it was suggested she broaden it to include other organizations.

When she approached Bill Newborg, executive director of the Community House, he "thought it was dynamite from the beginning."

Newborg believes Nipper, considered one of the most recognizable trademarks in the world, could be a big attention-getter. "Moorestown will never be a tourist destination, but it could be a fun thing for people all over the Philadelphia area to come over, find the Nippers, and get a look at our town."

Twenty-seven Nippers - three already are in town - are scheduled to be delivered to the Lutheran Home on East Main Street on Nov. 16, an event organizers have dubbed Nipper Comes Home.

"This is tied so beautifully with the history of the town," Devery said. "This is not just any dog."

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Contact staff writer Rusty Pray at 856-779-3894 or rpray@phillynews.com.