“Hi, Mom.” Allen and Kiki were stretched out on the floor, blocking my pathway like little protective dragons. “Can we hear about some more of those famous cats today?”
“Well, sure. But I think it would be nice if you could go on in the living room and settle yourselves on the big chair.”
They were up in a flash, nicely clearing the way so that I could walk by without killing myself trying to step over them. I made my way into the room and arranged myself on the big blue recliner, giving each cat a little pet as I brought up the footrest. They snuggled their little furry selves against my arms, and we began to explore the stories of some famous cartoon cats.
“Some years ago, long before you kitties were a part of this household, I had a poster on the wall in the hall. The poster was by an artist called B. Kliban, and it showed a big striped cat playing a guitar and singing a song about chomping on mousies. Kliban drew a lot of pictures of his favorite cats and some of their friends.”
One of Kliban’s pictures had a cat something like the one in this picture, and he commented that a cat was a “nice animal,” and that it was often “mistaken for a meatloaf.”
“That’s silly. Who ever saw a meatloaf that had fur?” Kiki piped up.
“I’ll bet he was just meaning the shape of that curled-up cat was the same shape as a meatloaf.” Allen had the right idea.
“I think I’ve seen meatloaf with fur in my frig a time or two, when I had forgotten it was there, but I guess that is a little different,” I commented.
Allen joined in. “I think I would like to eat some meatloaf. Not if it has fur, though.”
By the way, Kliban didn’t draw this picture. His pictures are all still protected by copyright laws. However, if anyone would like to see some of his delightful drawings, you can follow the link at the bottom of this diary.
“Here’s another cartoon cat, one who has been around for a long time. Way back in 1919, before the movies even had sound, Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer created Felix and made animated films featuring him.”
The first Felix cartoon was called Feline Follies, and a link to it appears below. In it, Felix falls in love with Miss Kitty, while mice sneak in and destroy the things in his house.”
“Was that the first animated cartoon?”
“Animated cartoons were a fairly new thing then, although some animated films were made as early as 1906. The first animated cartoon using what came to be known as traditional animation methods was made in 1908 by the French artist Émile Cohl, called the Fantasmagorie.”
“Did it have a cat in it?”
“I don’t know, actually. I think it was mostly stick figures jumping around Here’s a still photo from it.”
“When I was little, one of my uncles used to take a pad of paper and draw stick figures on the bottom edges of the pages. Then he would flip the pages and it would look like the figures were dancing. He called it a flip book. That’s kind of how animation works. It’s a series of still pictures that appear, then disappear very quickly, to give the impression of movement.”
“A long, long time ago, when I was young, one of the Saturday morning TV offerings was Saturday Morning Cartoons. Some of those cartoons were of a cat and a mouse named Tom and Jerry.”
“Those critters and their film antics were created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Warner Brothers. Mostly they showed Tom chasing Jerry, the mouse, and the mouse always getting away. There’s a link at the end for anyone who would like to watch a sampling of Tom and Jerry and their friends.”
Allen said, “Why would I want to watch a video of a cat who never catches the mouse? That doesn’t seem very fair to Tom.”
“I can sort of see why you might feel that way, Allen. But remember, it’s just a silly story.”
“Well, I think I want to hear about another cat who has better luck.”
“There’s a more modern cat who seems to always get the best of his human.”
“He’s just called Simon’s cat, and his creator, British animator Simon Tofield, has produced many animated cartoons. That cat makes me laugh, because he is so much like some real cats I know.”
“Like us?”
“Yeah, like you. He’s always interested in food, and he enjoys knocking things down.”
”Hmmm…Well,” Allen said, “It is fun to knock things down.”
“And are you going to give our readers a link to those videos, too?” asked Kiki.
“Yep. There’s a link to one of them, and from there, they can find more if they like. In fact, they can probably spend the whole afternoon just watching Simon’s cat.”
“Are you going to watch that cat all afternoon, too?”
“No, my little furries.” I reached around and stroked their soft fur. “I am going to relax here and snuggle with you.”
“Aah,” they purred. “Okay, just so we know that, we can look at some more cats, now.”
“Well, there’s Sylvester the tuxie cat (with the voice of Mel Blanc) and his nemesis, Tweety Bird the canary. They appeared in Loony Tunes and Merrie Melodies.”
“They were often part of those Saturday morning cartoons, too. Like Tom, the cat in the Tom and Jerry cartoons, Sylvester Pussycat Senior, with one of his favorite lisped expressions, ‘Sufferin’ succotash!’ was always either being chased by dogs or chasing someone, often the canary, Tweety Bird, without much luck.” And yes, there’s yet another link to one of their films at the end of this diary.
Kiki looked sad. “I don’t know why those kitties never seem to have any luck catching anything.”
“Maybe their creators felt sorry for the little critters, the mice and the birdies,” I suggested.
“Doesn’t sound like much fun to me. And those cats always seem to be harassed by dogs.”
“I’m sure glad we don’t have any dogs in this house,” said Allen, looking up from licking his paw. “That would be soooo scary.”
“We once had dogs here, before you were born. They were pretty nice woozles.”
My kitties looked unconvinced.
“A cartoonist named Jim Davis created a comic strip (See link below) starring a very well-known chubby orange kitty named Garfield.”
“Did Garfield ever catch any mice or birds?”
“Mostly, I think Garfield ate lasagna and took naps. They had a dog in their house named Odie, and Garfield sometimes played with him, and he talked with his human, Jon.”
“That sounds boring,” Allen mewed. I could see his eyes trying to slide shut. He looked very comfy lying there on top of my arm. My arm, on the other hand, was already going to sleep.
“Come on, wake up, Allen.” Kiki reached over and swatted him with a soft paw. “Let’s look at one more cartoon cat before we go.”
Did I just hear Allen grumble? We’d better get a move on, here.
“Anime is a whole category of animated cartoons that originated in Japan. It consists of images that are hand-drawn and then animated by using a computer. There are quite a few anime cats, and one of my favorites is Chi. The link to one of her videos for young kids is with the others. She is a very sweet little kitty who loves to purr and be petted and played with.”
Both cats perked up a little. Together, they said, “Now she sounds like our kind of pootie. We both like to be petted.”
“And I like it when you purr. I love to feel your little bodies throbbing when you are happily purring.”
“And we like to purr as we get ready to take a little snooze. Like, right about now.” Kiki yawned.
Allen jumped down. “But first, I think I need some little treats.”
That was my signal. Both kitties had moved off my arms, and I managed to fight my way out of the chair to go find some treats for all of us. That napping sounded like a good idea, too.
I hope we haven’t put you to sleep, my friends. But if we did, I wish you many purrs as you are drifting off to slumberland. And to say goodbye, here are the cartoon versions of Allen and Kiki.
Have a purr-y week and stay well. Love from all of us.
Aaaaand, HERE ARE THE PROMISED LINKS ~
B.Kliban’s cartoons:
https://www.pinterest.com/sharian/cartoons-by-b-kliban/
Felix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5zXjQuUi_M
Tom and Jerry cartoon compilation (Warner Brothers)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EQiSXX-mCE
Simon’s Cat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tZMpDG_M-o
Sylvester and Tweety Bird
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtOcpHo_amU
Garfield comic strips
https://www.gocomics.com/search/full_results?terms=cat&category=comic&short_name=garfield
https://gbatemp.net/threads/garfield-comic-strip-appreciation-thread.609706/
Chi, the Cat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TudKeB99MCg
I loved this. Wonderful stories and brings some many memories growing up Thank you. I need a little peace.