Hold the presses! The Egyptians loved cats. Cats were very badly treated in the Middle Ages. Short haired mixed breed cats make up most of the domestic cat population. And - wait for it - this guy in Seattle invented this post, with some catnip and covered in carpet, and cats can claw it.
Well, I guess it was news in April 1946.
Seriously, this article I have found online from LIFE Magazine (April 22, 1946: v 20 no. 16) contains some fresh info I haven't seen before. Author Roger Butterfield includes a sizable shot of Timmie, a black and white cat that was bosom buddies with President Coolidge's canary Caruso. I learned that a cat helped build the Grand Coulee Dam by carrying a string tied to its tail through a drain pipe, which ultimately meant a cable got threaded. A half-Persian cat named Mr. Hafiz-Ali used to purr on the air daily at 8 AM on station WJZ. (Oh! What a great idea for NPR.) One of the oldest proverbs on record is the Sanskrit saying, "The white cat eats the gray mice of the twilight." And a Chicago banker named Rockwell Sayre hated cats so much that he paid 10 cents for every dead cat brought to his house. (Hiss.)
Oh, and the ads are included, so I learned 4 reasons why Fleischmann's makes the best martini.
It's a blast from the past! Want to see it?
About Me
- curator
- Oregon, United States
- loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !
5 comments:
Fleischmann's "dry dryness" sounds like something from Darrin Stephens' ad agency.
Human catnip sounds so much less fun than ours.
Oh I know!! The ads were hysterical!
And then there is the radio that gives them both a thrill!
You could have warned us about the "Ice Amputation"
(with an ad for a PAIR of shoes right next to it!)
What a hoot!
W.Wuudler
(Whicky: **gulp** I actually missed that one)
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