My human has been spending most of this long weekend at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, attending an annual vintage film festval called Cinecon. She has gone every year for something like a decade or so. In addition to old time movie stars like Fanny Ward, Jean Harlow and Milton Sills (we’re talking really old time — the 1910s through the 1930s!), my human has been seeing a lot of kitties on the silver screen! In fact, here is a clip from a film she saw Friday afternoon called The Freshman, starring Harold Lloyd, one of the biggest silent comedians of the 1920s (in fact, his films grossed more than either Charles Chaplin or Buster Keaton, the other two comic filmmakers of the era). In The Freshman, Harold (unbeknownst to him) is the collage laughingstock, and in this scene there is a kitten hidden in his sweater. Watch where she crawls out!
For you kitty film trivial buffs, here are some famous cats from vintage motion pictures:
Pepper: This gray tabby showed up on the Mack Sennett lot one day. Sennett was the biggest producer of comedy two-reelers in the 1910s, and Pepper found herself appearing alongside comedians of the day such as Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, Charlie Chaplin, and yes, Teddy the Great Dane. My human got to see some of Pepper’s work on Thursday in the 1920 Sennett comedy feature, Down on the Farm, starring Louise Fazenda. After Teddy died, Pepper apparently vanished, never to be seen on film again.
Orangey: This red tabby thespian was the winner of two Patsy awards (from the 1950s to 1986, the animal equivalent of the Oscars) for his star turns in Rhubarb (he had the title role), and as Audrey Hepburn’s cat, Cat, in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. If you’re into vintage sci-fi, you can see him in the original 1957 Incredible Shrinking Man, where he treats his miniature human as prey. Orangey even has his own Wikipedia page!
Pyewacket: Another Patsy winner, this Siamese stunner was one of the stars of 1958’s Bell Book and Candle. Pyewacket helped Kim Novak bewitch James Stewart.
Rumple and Amber: These Abyssinian siblings played Jake, the title character of the Disney film, The Cat From Outer Space (1978). Incidentally, one of the film’s stars, Sandy Duncan, is allergic to cats. Must’ve been a fun movie for her to make!
Syn Cat: Along with some uncredited stand-ins, this traditional, apple-head Siamese played the title character in the original 1965 version of That Darn Cat.
There are a number of movies in which multiple uncredited cats played a single role. One cat and two stand-ins played Tonto in 1974’s Harry and Tonto (Art Carney, who played Harry, claims the stand-ins were never needed, but he apparently became attached to his co-star and may not be telling the whole truth). A favorite film of mine, The Three Lives of Thomasina, has two ginger tabbies playing Thomasina. Actually, the two Thomasinas don’t even look that much alike — can you tell them apart in the otherwise-charming opening scene to the movie?
Do you have any favorite movie cats, from either vintage or newer films?
See all of Summer’s merch at her Designercat Shop, available on Zazzle.
Well it sounds a lot better than recent films, where you just know if you see a kitty it’s gonna be mistreated *steam*
I know! What is with that? And I am beginning to wonder if this is why we are hearing so many news stories about cruelty to cats these days….
Oh My GOSH! Momma has seen a lot of those movies!! She loves old movies too. And we think cats are natural actors. . . if the humans can loosen up a bit and let the cat ‘ad lib’.
We remember thinking the same thing when we watched “Thomasina” — how could humans possibly be so obtuse as to think those two cats were one and the same?!? Of course, Mama noticed the difference right away, too. Can’t blame her; first of all, it’s pretty obvious, and secondly, she’s spent the last 14 years being (usually) able to tell the difference between two slender and beautiful black cats!
We could tell the difference but I am not sure we would have noticed if you hadn’t told us. Although the cat outside is very different than the one inside. Sure is interesting hearing about these movies. The first one with the kittens sure was cute. That must be great fun for Mom. Thanks for sharing with us.
Have a great Sunday.
We loved watching the Thomasina clip. Wouldn’t it be nice if they made more GOOD cat movies like that? How come the cat is always the bad guy now?
Sniffie and the Florida Furkids
It is just more proof that Hollywood has really gone downhill.
How interesting!! We didn’t know animals got awards like the Oscars. Now how come they don’t show those on TV?? We would definitely watch it!!
I agree with Island Cats, our serious work just doesn’t get enough attention!
Ahh, Sparkle, my human Tommy says she woulda loved to have gone to the moving picture show with you( she eats alot of popcorn tho!) She’s love stuff from the ’30’s, and hasn’t really had a chance to embrace the ‘silents’—because they’re well–silent! And she smiled (I did too) about the 3 Lives of Thomasina–see, Tommy’s nickname is because of the movie, is the name of her blog (which isn’t half as exciting as MINE!) And what’s up with us cats not having more starring role in this day and age? It’s up to us to make humans look GOOD!
The first movie cat that comes to our mind is the cat in “The Silence of the Lambs”. It belongs to the girl who gets kidnapped and is waiting for her in her apartment window in one scene. It’s a bit part, but a very powerful image!
How fun for your Mom to go to the film festival. We LOVE old movies, but mostly from the 30’s and 40’s. Our favorite silent film is called “He Who Gets Slapped” with Lon Chaney and Norma Shearer.
He Who Gets Slapped also features one of my human’s favorite silent stars, Jack Gilbert!
Oh my goodness, yes – two very different cats played “Thomasina” – where were their eyes!
Cute movie clips=those cats were brilliant=they should have been stars :)…We really don’t watch a lot of movies, but we love Animal Planet and our Cat Sitter DVDs!…Happy Sunday, sweet friends…xoxo…Calle, Halle, Sukki
The cat markings are so different. Even this goat can see that!
Can you believe it, our Human actually knew about Orangey! There may be hope for her yet.
We enjoyed both the clips…and of COURSE the Thomasinas are different…DUH!
I’m surprised that a number of my friends here are familiar with some of these old films and stars! Ha, and my human thought I would be boring you all with this post.
Those two kitties aren’t even close! Well, okay, they are the same color but that’s about it! Our mommy hadn’t seen those movies before and she doesn’t like to watch any movies or even scenes that have a cat in it because something bad usually happens to the cat and then she cries and worries about it for the rest of the day, week, month! She’s starting to get leaky just thinking about it! She’s weird.
We remember Syn Cat and loved him in the original. Can you imagine the remake didn’t even use a Siamese?!
LOVED this post, Sparkle! I knew some of them, but now I have a list of some others to check out 🙂 Your mom has great taste!
Angie
Catladyland/Katt Food
We LOVED the That darn cat movies! We have the newer one at home and we saw the 1965 that darn cat on the T.V. and we think we saw a book called “Tomasina the cat who thought she was god”. We think that mabe “The 3 lives of Tomasina might be the movie to it. It makes you stop and wonder…………..
Oh, I used to be such a movie buff! Not so much anymore. Cinecon brought back a lot of memories, tho!