Basenjis are not the famous type. The African breed rarely gets featured in films or in works of literature. However, in the 1950s, the breed started to gain good publicity after author James H. Street published a novel entitled “Goodbye, My Lady.” The novel features a Basenji dog as one of its major characters. “Goodbye, My Lady” is a story about a young boy’s journey to maturity after he tames and befriends a stray Basenji dog whose name is “Lady.”  This novel is regarded as one of the most touching and tear-jerking coming of age novels in literature.

In a university press, the author shared what ignited and inspired him to write the novel. According to Mr. Street, he was in a bar when his good friend showed him a photo of a young lady with unfamiliar dogs. He wasn’t at all interested in writing a story about it until he learned of the breed. After delving further and learning about Basenjis, he decided to write story entitled “Weep No More, My Lady.” The story got featured in The Saturday Evening Post in the 1940s and received a mixture of reactions, many of which were negative. This caused the author to revise some details and finally publish it under the title “Goodbye, My Lady” in 1954. The book immediately received an overall good response and became a best-selling book in America. Not long after, the novel got turned into a film under the same title.

Originally, James Street himself was supposed to be the film’s principal advisor. Unfortunately, he died of a cardiac arrest before the film production even began. The director, William A. Wellman, then took over the responsibility and proceeded with the creation of the film. In the movie, Lady was played by a Basenji dog registered as “My Lady of the Congo.” The dog actor, who is simply referred to as “My Lady,” is owned by an England-based Basenji breeder named Veronica Tudor-Williams. Interestingly enough, the young lady in the photo that inspired James Street to write the novel is Veronica Tudor-Williams herself. My Lady was then flown to California and the filming commenced.

The film adaptation of “Goodbye, My Lady” featured magnificent, A-list actors and actresses who all have good comments about My Lady. According to one of the actors, My Lady was the “best behaved, most captivating Basenji who ever stole a film scene.” The film became triumphant and received many awards and recognitions throughout the globe. The Daily Telegraph acknowledged the film’s greatness and included it in its list of “Top Ten Best Films” during the year it was released.