cat photo

Old Tommy

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  Meet Tommy, sitting by a fishbowl on a window sill, pretty as a picture. The back of this card has the following written on it, Dear Lina, here is a picture of old Tommy he is a live [sic] and well. Gay said he did not think he could get away tomorrow. Give our love to Mrs. Brady and sister. It is addressed to Mrs. Pauline Bauldwin, New Milford, PA Route no.1 Dated October (illegible date) 2 PM 1908. It is written in pencil, except the address which is in pen – it is a neat script. Unsigned – I guess Lina knew who was writing.

The photographer had an excellent eye and this is a great photo. Most notably the wonderful reflection in the fish bowl – a little universe unto itself showing a trim yard and house in tiny replica. I can’t actually see a fish, but there is a large and interesting shell evident in the fish bowl and I wonder what book it is sitting atop of, but nothing on the spine.

Old Tommy is a hefty fellow. He is dignified and not even giving that fish bowl a sideways look – at least not while the camera is on him. Another of my cat stories from my youth is about a tabby stray named Zipper. My mother rescued him as a tiny, malnourished kitten being abused by boys outside a laundry mat. Anyway, Zips was a hunter and feral fellow and, additionally, a great admirer of the large tropical fish tank we kept. Zipper liked to sit next to it, eyes shining with interest, and he would gently pat it intently, while looking at us innocently. To my knowledge no fish fell prey to Zipper (we did have a top on tank although it had an opening), but it was a large tank and who’s to say really if he had the occasional fish nip or not?

Felix is the Cat’s Pajamas – Zita Harrison and Pagliaccio the Cat

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: I spotted the photo of the cat reading first on eBay. Oh man, what I wouldn’t give for those Felix pajama costume she is wearing! Lucky for me the seller wasn’t capitalizing on the Felix-ness of the photo. It was not cheap, but I bought it uncontested. The back reads, ‘Pagliaccio’ is said to be the best trained cat in the business. Zita Harrison has taught him how to spell and how to play the banjo while playing a mouth organ. CREDIT LINES MUST READ: BY ACME.

It is not often that Mr. Internet lets me down entirely. In fact I have become spoiled (and fascinated) by the ability to type in obscure and presumably long lost addresses and information about long forgotten stars of vaudeville (see for example Mad Jenny, an earlier post) into an internet search and generally turning up some information. It was with this in mind that I anxiously typed in Zita Harrison 1926, really wanting to know more about her cat act, and promptly turned up…nothing. A few other variations and searches several pages in and I found the second photo published here in The Plattsburgh Sentinel, but the only additional bit of information is that she is from San Francisco.

While waiting for the photo to show up in the mail I tried rolling the internet dice again and this time I notice not only was the other version of the photo online, but it was for sale on Canadian eBay. Needless to say, I purchased that one immediately, and I like it even more – although the Felix suit is not shown off to quite such an advantage.  On the back this one is inscribed, lars – S.F. to Cleveland and Acme  Feb. 11. ‘Pagliaccio’ is said to be the best trained cat in the business. Zita Harrison has taught him how to spell and how to play the banjo while playing a mouth organ. -vl- It is also stamped Feb. 18 1926. (It is a strange bonus that February 11 is my birthday, Kim purchased it for me, and arrived just in time for the day!) Unlike the first photo where Pagliaccio looks utterly content in his sweater and glasses, he looks decided less happy playing the tiny guitar. Fangy fellow.

Given the fact that Zita looks a tad long in the tooth, I tried some earlier periods – her name isn’t terribly common after all. Not even any listings in old newspapers that might have listed the act with others playing in San Francisco. So, I have to wonder. How did she achieve this one publicity push in winter of 1926? It doesn’t seem to correspond with any real articles on her or listings for her performances. I guess we will never know about that or where those great Felix pajamas came from.

Kim’s Favorite Photo

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Hoo-ha! When I first spotted this photo on eBay and showed it to Kim, he said, “That’s my kind of cat photo!” Despite his enthusiasm, I purchased it anyway. It is a pretty great card.

It is sort of hard to say anything about this photo that isn’t fairly self-evident – but really, what a kick in the head! How crazy – posing that (very nice) black cat toy and a mouse on this French babe while she reads a book on a stand! (What could she be reading?) I have a mental image of the photographer and the model, doing these postcards day after day and trying to come up with something – anything! – new, until one day it came down to the cat and mouse. This comes from a long tradition of so-called risqué postcards produced by the French – there are dozens of cards on eBay right now of partially or fully unclothed women holding cats so this is a bit of a play on that as well I think. And of course, presumably some, um, cat puns.

I believe the cat is a popular Steiff model that came in a myriad of sizes. I don’t actually own one of them – unlike their teddy bears their cats do not have an especially expressive face. They feel cookie cutter to me. The mouse was probably the hard part – he or she has a nicely distinct mouse shape. Our apartment houses a large number of life-like mice – Cookie in particular can play with them for hours. Right now we have some in lurid colors – she is especially fond of a bright red one. But life-like though they are – this one has an especially mouse-y form.

Okay, I know I am probably the only one out here analyzing the toys. But remember boys, toys are catnip to me like this image was meant to be for you!

Ahoy! Cats at Sea

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This card is kind of messy, even in the printing process – the scribbles and whatnot making it even more tatty over time. (Did someone nibble on the edges of the neg before printing?) However, there’s something appealing about these two boat kitties, their images printed together. Homemade looking, but loved enough to have been stored away somewhere all these years. The one on the left looks like quite the man around town and the one on the right very dignified and in charge.

As you may know, I have expressed my ambivalence about cats at sea (it never seems to end well for them), but let’s face it, even on this blog, it is a sort of a genre. (See also, Kitty Rescue at Sea, Tom the Fire Boat Cat and Sporty among others!) While I may express some unease about cats on boats, they seem to frequent them and even enjoy them. When you consider how little cats like water this seems like an odd choice. Perhaps it is the potential for the consumption of fish?

Growing up on the waterfront in New Jersey, I had a huge fat orange tabby named Pumpkin. Pumpkin was the size of a small dog, adored me and had a bad tendency to bite most other people – usually after inviting them to rub his fluffy striped tummy. We would warn people, but they often didn’t believe us or move away fast enough. More to the point, over time Pumpkin had figured out that at certain times of the day he could jump from our floating dock to the sailboat we kept moored there. Evidently he discovered that tiny fish could be found on the deck which he would happily consume. He would then have to wait for the tide to swing the boat back to the dock so he could get off.  (I am unclear if these fish landed on the deck jumping from the water, or if the seagulls, which routinely dropped their oyster shells on the deck and dock to break them, were also responsible for the fishy build up.) While not seafaring, Pumpkin was, in his own way, one in a long line of maritime kitties.

Flying Dutch Kitties

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: There are endless examples of early images of kittens dressed up and doing cute human-type things. However, I have never purchased one until this one hit my radar recently. It just cracks me up! As you can see by the writing, it is Dutch. A very rough translation gratis Google tells me that this is a bit of advertising and the back informs the recipient (this one not used) that the vendors hope to see them this week and that they offer high value for their orders – whatever those might be. The front makes reference to “our kitties which will soon be in the air!” (Any readers who speak Dutch please reply below!) What were these kitties selling? I’m buying!

I am always threatening to dress the cats up and take their photo – Kim begs me not to injure their dignity that way and I am brought to my senses. This image strikes me as a perfect marriage of low tech and professional – like those glorious ‘homemade’ cars and machines the Little Rascals used to have. I especially love the balloon!

I gather the key mover behind the cats-dressed-as-people movement was Harry Whittier Frees (1879-1953) – sort of a Louis Wain of early photography. I snatched the quote below from Wikipedia and it come from his own book, Animal Land on the Air, discussing the superiority of kittens as models,

Rabbits are the easiest to photograph in costume, but incapable of taking many ‘human’ parts. Puppies are tractable when rightly understood, but the kitten is the most versatile animal actor, and possesses the greatest variety of appeal. Yay kittens!

The practice spread widely beyond Whittier Frees – as we can assume this card was made by someone else. For a healthy serving of these I suggest this site on littlethings.com. I have stolen a single image from it, shown below by an unidentified photographer.

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