old cat photo

Up a Tree

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Treed Cats

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: My personal experience with a cat up a tree is that it is an anxiety induing experience for both the human witness and the cat. To me it is a perfect metaphor for that dreadful mistake we all make once in a while – who hasn’t found themselves at least metaphorically up a tree? After all, everything about a cat is well designed for getting up the tree – and poorly outfitted for getting down. Having said that, many a cat’s hide has been saved by a quick run up a tree where a dog or other predator could not follow. While I have never had to resort to calling the fire department, nor even taking out a ladder, growing up with cats in the suburbs we periodically would find ourselves standing in the backyard trying to convince one kitty or another to make the slow trip back down the slippery trunk of a tree.  These fellows look like they might make the trip up this tree on a regular basis however. It did not excite my anxious nature.

The back of this photo postcard is a bit hard to read.  The postmark is Boston, November 3, 1909, 9:30 AM. It is address as follows: G A Orustredt, Bridgeport, Conn, general delivery.  It reads: J. P. 11/2/09; Friend Gus [sic] Received your Postal last evening and feeling o.k. Indigestion better, the girls are all feeling fine they all send Regards. [sic] So you are on the old camping ground again hope you wont stay too long. We will expect you back in Boston by xmas anyway. I am Forwarding Letter and Postal. hope you will receive them O.K. Friend G.A.G. I guess maybe the indigestion had a negative impact on his punctuation? And no mention of the cats in the tree in the photo.

Plenty Joes

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This one is in pretty bad shape – and Kim even helped out by taking it into photoshop and lightening it up! I couldn’t help it – I love this image. These two little fellows, Peter and Plenty Joes (possibly the best cat name I never heard before) are such adorable little guys. They look like they have a little attitude to back up those names – especially Plenty Joes. No surprise that I find kittens quite irresistible, but anyone who has adopted one or (God help us) two at this age know that they are quite a handful – and I can only guess from looking at these guys that they were no exceptions!  Blissfully, Cookie and Blackie have entered the easier to take adolescent stage – and only try to climb the walls to knock the pictures off occasionally.

Kitty Rescue at Sea

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Pam’s Pictorama Phot Post:  I am a real sucker for a cat photo with a story, and so I went all out to get this unusual postcard. It appears to be a memorial card for the Loss of the ‘Gladiator’ – no date, not postally used.  In case you can’t enlarge the image enough to read it, the typed article at the bottom reads as follows:  Cat Found Alive. The only living thing found on board was the ship’s cat, Mickey – a black and white animal. Mickey was found in the men’s quarters rushing wildly about, mad with fear. The man who rescued Mickey was a stranger to him, and could not possibly calm the animal’s feelings.  One of the crew of the Gladiator was fetched and the cat immediately recognized him and nestled lovingly in his big arms.  The sailor then carried Mickey ashore, where he was received with great jubilation.  Additionally the following is etched into the negative, Loss of the ‘Gladiator’ CRIBR. (?) This Bluejacket is seen with Mickey dressed in borrowed artilleryman’s clothes

Some quick research turns up the story. The British cruiser was rammed by an American liner, the St. Paul, in a snowstorm on April 25 of 1908 off the Isle of Wright. The Gladiator quickly sank – the St. Paul was damaged, but less so. Several lives from the Gladiator were lost, however the article in the New York Times archive mostly notes and praises the men for having awaited rescue in parade formation. No mention of Mickey is made in the Times article. I have included two images here of the ship and the accident – both are being sold on Amazon as historic prints.  They are of interest, but I will stick with Mickey I think.

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Cats on board ships are a major category unto themselves.  I can’t say I thoroughly embrace these stories because more often then not these fine furry fellows seem to come to a bad end. Life on a ship for a cat seems to be cheap – although a bit rough on the humans too I guess and most of the cats, like Mickey, often seem to be much beloved by sailors. (Perhaps the high life of fish eating and vermin chasing may somewhat compensate for this?)   However, Mickey, a fine looking tuxedo, seems to have kicked in with a few of those nine lives and made it out of this one alive and well.

Snow Day

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Happy first snow in Manhattan! I’ve been saving this one for you!

Another area I have trailed off into a bit is photos of cats in snow. Those of us who have lived with cats in the suburbs or country know that they have mixed feelings about the stuff, at best. On one hand, they love to watch it fall! For apartment cats this is pretty much where it starts and ends – although I used to bring snowballs into the bathtub for my cat Otto who enjoyed them immensely. The world as a snow dome. Few things are funnier than watching a cat try to negotiate outside in the snow – especially deep snow. They can walk on it for a second before breaking through – which eventually leads to hopping until they get to a secure dry spot. It is worth noting that none of the cats pictured are actually touching any of that cold wet stuff.

The cyanotype is the photo I have owned the longest and, I assume, the oldest of the bunch. Like many other things I have shared, it lives in my office where I see it everyday. It is backed on a bit of cardboard so I am unsure if it has anything on the back. I believe it came via Canada. It takes a moment and then you realize that it is a photograph of a good size cat clinging onto the front of a very large man. Ouch! Good thing he has layers on. Probably turn-of-the-century, but the farm probably already looked that way for fifty years – and perhaps did for fifty more.

The featured photo is marked December ’49 and I love this kid with his double-fisted cat hold. He too is dressed for the snow around him (snow shovel seems to be right behind him) and a good looking barn behind him. Boy, do they have some snow! Look how high it is on the ladder in the back. He’s got two nice looking cats and they look pretty pleased with their perch on his lap. He’s a pretty old guy today – wonder how this photo got away from him.

Lastly we have my most recent snow cat purchase. It is marked on the back 1942 John Duke & Honey.  Cannot say if Duke is the cat (my vote) and Honey the dog or the other way around. These folks had some serious snow drifts as well, up to the second floor of the house. This kid has his arms around a contented, fat tabby – the dog (dogs really like snow) is guarding them in that proud way dogs do.

I don’t know why, but these photos remind me of my own childhood – which had what probably amounts to an average amount of snow.  Still, no one can resist the thrill of a snow day.

Girl and Her Cat

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: I realize that there should probably be a whole category on this blog of photos only I could love. This one would go in I suspect, but maybe you will love it too. This is a small snap shot from Great Britain of a girl with a sizable, fluffy kitty in her arms. This cat reminds me of a wonderful Tuxedo who our cat Cookie is unofficially named for – a huge, wonderfully good natured boy cat who belonged to my friend Bridget, who lives in Massachusetts. That Cookie met an untimely end, they think due to a fox or something along those lines. I was heartbroken when I heard and thought of the name when we got the kits. (Our Cookie doesn’t take after him at all however, tuxedo or not – her skin seems to crawl when you pet her, assuming she lets you, and she has a horror of being picked up.)

I guess it wouldn’t surprise anyone to hear that my happiest hours as a small child were spent with the family cats. I too would carry them everywhere. We had a lovely white cat with black cow spots whose name was Snoopy. He let me carry him around and dress him up and all sorts of things. I would tell him everything and I prized his attention, especially when he would decide to sleep on my bed. He was a dignified cat of some girth. He would walk in that slow deliberate way cats have sometimes. (See my post Passin’ Through.) He was very tidy and kept himself very nice, whites very white. When we adopted a young kitten who didn’t seem to understand that he was meant to clean himself, we placed him in a bathroom with Snoopy overnight and he had him ship shape by morning – and more or less comprehending the self-cleaning nature of cats.

Snoopy also met an unfortunate end – killed by a dog. If Kim was here he’d say cat life is cheap and sadly he’s right – especially for the outdoor guys. Still, no one understands you or loves you like your cat and when you are a kid your pets can be a whole universe.

Corfu, NY, October 7, 1911, 6 PM

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Pam Photo Post: This photo postcard has the penny stamp on it, time stamped for an age when there was more than one delivery a day perhaps, and the back (which is water stained and difficult to read, although in a fairly clear, female hand): Dear old Chum – Well how are you? Did you think that I would never answer your card? Well you know how good I am at writing. I was in Rochester when your card came and didn’t know until I got home that you had gone back. Well what do you think of this for a comic postcard? Ans. (?) There is also something thoroughly blotted out.  It was addressed to Miss Katherine Keleher, Woodville, NY. Not surprisingly, both Corfu and Woodville, NY seem to be way upstate, near Rochester. Corfu evidently named for the island in Greece (thinking of the winters there I can’t imagine why) and had a population of a little of 700 people in the most recent census. Woodville seems to have remained equally small.

Looking closely I think it might be a family of girls and their mother – there is a general resemblance between them. Of course, I love the fact that the family cat got into the action and posed so smartly as well. He’s quite a card, that stripe-y fellow – a perfect foil to the women lined up, each with their hair up, most with a similar bow, every one of them staring off in a different way, thinking their own thoughts. Cat too, as he seems to be studying the hand of the woman on the end. We assume he was off and running a bare few minutes later.

Sporty

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Sam 3 mts. old it says on the back. This cat is a hot number. This appears to be taken on the deck of a large ship. Sam is clearly a perky fellow, and he is mesmerized trying to catch that mouse toy. This is British, no date – a photo, not a postcard. I love the suited arm that is reaching into the photo. A man in a suit having his photo taken on board a ship, playing with Sam the cat!

Cats standing on their hind legs could be their own genre. This one below is a photo I have owned for quite a while – a cat preparing to stand for a cat treat. Not as young or as sporty as Sam – this fellow is a tad stout from those treats. This time a mysterious female arm. (The humans are always on the edges of these photos – an arm, a shadow.) Although this looks like a photo postcard and has those dimensions, it is a lighter paper. Nothing on the back. I do not remember where this came from, but I am fairly certain it is from the US. I bought it because at the time we had a beloved cat, Roscoe, who was a fiend for cat treats and would catch them in his mouth if pitched. It reminded me of him.

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This one below had its own post recently. (Peeved Puss Postcard, August 24, 2014.)

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We aren’t quite sure what they were doing to encourage him to stand up but clearly he isn’t happy about it.

Cookie and Blackie are the most standing up cats I have ever had. Kim and I have speculated that it is an evolutionary aspect of cats. I don’t believe I have captured this in a photo so I will have to work on that. Mouse toys at the ready!

Men in Hats with Cats

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Hailing from McMinnville, Oregon, October 3, 1911!  Still yet another terrific turn-of-the-century postcard from the great Pacific northwest. Evidently McMinnville is in the heart of the wine country, between Portland and the coast – these fellows look as if they may have been imbibing a bit, or preparing to, but that is pure speculation on my part.

Here we are cats and all ha ha is inscribed on the back with the date and the location. It is a photo postcard and these gentlemen are all dressed up and raring to go I’d say. Of course I love the fact that they are holding these two tabby cats – wearing typical looks of cat concern. The cats are identical so I take them for siblings. The one on the right is clearly considering making a break for it, and the guy holding him seems well aware of the cat’s intention to become a projectile any moment. The other guy is holding the cat in what my family refers to as cat prison – the two-handed you ain’t goin’ nowhere hold. (My father gets credit for naming this cat hold.) As a result he is able to look squarely into the camera. (His suit is a bit ill-fitting; too big for him. Perhaps it was a loaner? Growing into it?)

The guy in the lower left looks like a bit of a bum for my money – not as natty as the others, pork pie hat shoved back on his head; couldn’t be bothered. No cat holding for him – he’s too cool. I love that these guys, all dressed up, bowler hats and all are posing with these two kitties. Tabby cats always strike me as especially scrappy, so they seem a good choice for these young gentlemen. Cool with cats, I’d say.

Dog, Cats and Kittens

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: The sincerity of the dog in this photo made me love it.  He’s guarding the kittens while Mom cat herds them along – looks like a great place to be a pet, perhaps a small farm. A naughty looking spotty fellow getting licked by Mom and, of course, an excellent all black kitty. (Blackie’s forefather?) Dogs seem to cast themselves in this role of ensuring that there’s no monkey business going on – the cop on the beat of the domestic animal world. It is an interesting thing about collecting photos like I do though.  There are times when I am struck by the fact that this was just someone’s pets and they were just taking a picture of them. Somehow it was a really appealing photo, and transcended being no more than John Doe’s cats and dog. It has survived, presumably outlasting the photographer, and found its way to stand on its own, to me via eBay to live in my collection for the price of a few dollars before it passes onto the next person. I am pleased to have given it a home – at least for now.

A Photo Only I Could Love?

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  More Pre-Halloween seasonal fun! I fell hard for this card, but it was one if those rare occasions when Kim just couldn’t see it. Don’t get me wrong – he would never actively discourage me from purchasing a photo I was crazy about, but sometimes when he seems truly mystified it does take the wind out of my sails. There’s nothing about marriage which makes me think you should like all the same stuff – more interesting if you don’t really and Kim readily agrees. And I know that the kindest thing he can say about some of the most ratty of my toy purchases is that this one or that one look like a stuffed demon, or worse yet, a roll of the eyes and a (sad) shake of the head – but somehow I expect our esthetic sensibility for images such as photos to be more aligned. But on the other hand, how can my husband fail to see the bizarre greatness of a card of someone in a homemade Felix costume, with a mask made out of a bag and an advertising sign that says, Felix left off walking when he bought a bike from Curry’s? Or am I really just crazy? I mean, it was The Prize Winner at Boston. Really Kim!

Another time this happened was an attempt to purchase these photos of co-eds donning Felix-y costumes. I was seriously jazzed when I saw them and Kim…wasn’t. I was so befuddled I put it out to Facebook for a vote. The buys had it (by a good margin, but not unanimous) but so shaken was my confidence that I underbid and ultimately lost it. (Below is the scan pulled off of Facebook from eBay.)

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There are those occasions when Kim seems unimpressed until the photo enters the apartment. There are numerous examples of this, but the most recent is the photo featured in my post Cat Hat, sadly this was not one of those times.

For me, the costume, complete with broken cat tail and white socks for feet (those folks at Curry’s were nothing if not resourceful), posed on an early British version of Astroturf just tickles me silly. I hope it does as much for you, my reader.