Favorite Old Cat Books

It may not look like much on the outside (and without
the dust jacket, which was lost years and years ago),
but inside are some wonderful cat photos.

We have put together a short post today, due to lack of time on old SoLT’s part (some of us prefer to call this “lack of planning,” but whatever). For a while now, old SoLT has been wanting to share a couple of cat books from her childhood. They are books she has had seemingly forever, and to call them well-worn is a kindness; they are far from falling apart, but they do show their years of being owned by a child who turned their pages over and over and over.

Walter Chandoah’s Book of Kittens and Cats

The first is Walter Chandoah’s Book of Kittens and Cats. This book has gone through several editions, the earliest published in 1963 by Bramhall House. This is the one old SoLT has. It doesn’t look like much, but it is double special to her because its first page is inscribed:

Presented to Sarah Marie Andrews on the occasion of her 6^th birthday, December 22, 1974
Betty Van Zandt

She remembers being so honored to be presented with a book (and a grown-up book, no less!), and through the years she has read the inscription many, many times. Sadly, today she has no idea who Betty Van Zandt was.

Walter Chandoah (b. 1920) is a rather famous cat photographer, and this book is a collection of black and white photos of…kittens and cats. To old SoLT, they are iconic photos that are firmly etched in her memory. When she thinks of cats, often she still thinks of Chandoah’s photos. Used copies can be found on Amazon (this is not an affiliate link). You can follow Chandoah on Instagram.

The Cat Catalog: The Ultimate Cat Book

The Cat Catalog is so packed with interesting
information, it is hard to stop turning its pages.

The second book is The Cat Catalog: The Ultimate Cat Book, edited by Judy Fireman. Old SoLT does not know when she received this book, but it was published in 1976 by Workman, and she thinks she has had it since around that time. This book has fascinated her through the years because it contains page after page of stories and articles about everything cat. It is all so very interesting, from “The Historical Cat” to “The Medical Cat” and “The Legal Cat.” She still comes to it for blog post ideas (recognizing that some of its information may be out of date). Used copies are readily available: (Amazon buy link) Cat Catalog: The Ultimate Cat Book 

Those are old SoLT’s favorite old cat books. What about you? Do you have any treasured cat books from childhood (or adulthood—we’re not picky)? Please share in the comments!

Explore Cats at the Archives of American Art

Remember life before the internet? Back in the day when, if you wanted to show your friend on the other side of the country some silly thing your cat liked to do, you couldn’t just shoot off an email with a link. Oh no. You had to draw. A picture. On a piece of paper. And send it. In the mail. With a stamp. Remember that?

The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art remembers, and that’s why “Cat Correspondence” is one section of the exhibition titled Before Internet Cats: Feline Finds from the Archives of American Art. The exhibition is on view at the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery in Washington, DC, but you can explore the items from the comfort of your own computer. We picked out just a few of our favorites to share with you here.

First up is an ink drawing of a cat and three mice, by Charles Green Shaw (1892-1974). Find this and other sketches in "Cats and the Creative Process."

Here is a photograph of Tuffy the cat, from the papers of abstract expressionist painter Hans Hofmann (1880-1966). Photographer and date unknown. Find this and other photographs, and even a 1958 Cat Fancier's Association registration form, in "Everyday Life."

And last, wouldn't you love to get this in the mail? It's a piece of "mail art" sent by influential fiber artist Lenore Tawney (1907-2007) in 1980. Find it and some other neat pieces in "Cat Correspondence."

Details

• Before Internet Cats runs through October 29, 2017.
• The Fleischman Gallery is located in the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, 8th and F Streets, NW, Washington, DC.
• Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily.
• Admission is free.

Love Cat Videos? Thank Eadweard Muybridge

I’ll bet you’ve watched your fair share of cat videos online, haven’t you? Admit it: you’ve spent hours of your life giggling over the antics of other people’s cats. But have you ever wondered where cat videos really got their start?

To find out, let’s meet a pioneer in motion studies: Eadweard Muybridge (yes, that’s how he spelled it; we’ll get to that).

Muybridge and motion

Eadweard Muybridge ca. 1899.
Photo reproduced in Optic Projection, 1914.
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Eadweard Muybridge (1830–1904) was born Edward James Muggeridge in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England. He later changed the spelling of his name to what he believed to be the original Anglo-Saxon form. Muybridge immigrated to the United States when he was 20 and started trying to photograph motion in 1872. He’d been hired by former California governor Leland Stanford to prove that all four of a horse’s legs were off the ground at a particular point in its trotting gait. This proved difficult, though, as Muybridge’s camera didn’t have a fast enough shutter. In any event, the locomotion studies got put on hold after Muybridge shot and killed his wife’s lover. He was acquitted in his 1875 trial on the grounds of “justifiable homicide,” and in 1877 he started working on motion photography again. This time he set up a battery of 12 cameras with a shutter speed of 2 one-thousandths of a second. This allowed him to finally prove Stanford’s contention about a trotting horse’s hooves. Later setups used a series of 24 cameras.

In 1879, Muybridge created a thing he called a zoopraxiscope, which was basically an early movie projector. It worked by projecting images from a rotating disk to give the illusion of motion. He used this device in lecture tours across the United States and Europe.

This series of 24 photos shows a cat running. Photographed by Eadweard Muybridge, June 13, 1887.
From the book Animal Locomotion, pl. 720, via Library of Congress.

Animal Locomotion

Muybridge worked under the sponsorship of the University of Pennsylvania through much of the 1880s, taking movement studies of human models and of animals from the Philadelphia Zoo. His work was important to the development of biomechanics, photography, and motion pictures, and his images are still used by artists who want to portray figures in motion. In 1887, his photos were published in the book Animal Locomotion: An Electro-Photographic Investigation of Connective Phases of Animal Movements. This volume had 781 plates and 20,000 photographs, including the series of cat photos above. And if you take a series of Muybridge’s cat photos and run them in sequence … you get a cat video:

So, next time you hurt your sides guffawing at some cat video on YouTube, take a moment to remember and thank Eadweard Muybridge, who made it all possible.

Sources

Biography.com, “Eadweard Muybridge,” http://www.biography.com/people/eadweard-muybridge-9419513

Encyclopedia Britannica, “Eadweard Muybridge,” last updated Feb. 25, 2011, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eadweard-Muybridge

Wikipedia, “Eadweard Muybridge,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge.

Flexy Paw Promises to Help You Take Better Cat Photos

Flexy Paws clips to your phone or
tablet. The paw clip holds a toy or treat
up to a half-inch thick.
Photo courtesy of Paw Champs.

It seems so simple. Your cat is adorable and is constantly doing adorable things, so it should be easy to get adorable photos of said cat, right? Right?

Yes, we know how it really goes. Your cat is being adorable, so you run off to find your phone, run back to where the cat is, put in your passcode, find the camera app, open the camera app … and by then the cat has lost interest in whatever adorable thing she was doing. Your cat has also lost interest in you and your little phone thingy. Another cute-photo fail.

Introducing Flexy Paw

Recently we were contacted by the makers of a new product called Flexy Paw that promises to help you take better pet photos. The Flexy Paw is basically a clip that you attach to your phone and then clip a toy or treat into. Having a favorite toy attached to the phone will draw your cat’s attention right where you want it—on you.

Flexy Paw in action. The attached toy catches
your cat's attention.
Photo courtesy of Paw Champs.

Flexy Paw is created by Paw Champs and got its start in Los Angeles with a group of friends who wanted to take better photos of their pets (i.e., photos in which the pet was actually looking toward the camera). The product isn’t ready just yet. It’s currently in a Kickstarter campaign, where for a $14 pledge, you can get yourself locked in to receive one of the very first Flexy Paws. We pledged because we really want to try this out on the Real Cats. Because surely a catnip toy will be more interesting to the cats than old SoLT begging, “Look at me. Please look at me.”

Flexy Paw details

Here are a few details on the Flexy Paw:

• attaches to most smart phones and tablets, along with most cases
• made of soft plastic, so it won’t scratch your phone
• bends and rotates 360 degrees to any direction or angle you would want 
• holds a treat or toy up to half-inch thick and can hold a weight of an apple (about 7 ounces)
• will retail for $16.99, but you can get it for less on Kickstarter

Oh yeah...works on dogs too.
Photo courtesy of Paw Champs.

Note that the photos show the Flexy Paw prototype. The color of the final product will be a high-gloss white.

Oh, and we’ve kept this post cat-centric because, you know, cats are awesome … but I bet you could get a dog’s attention by clipping a treat to your phone.

Check out the video below, and for more information, take a look at the Flexy Paw Kickstarter page.

Book Review: Circles of Delight: Classic Carousels of San Francisco

Domestic cats with fish in their
mouths, San Francisco Zoo Carousel.
By Daderot (Own work) [Public domain or CC0],
via WikimediaCommons.

We received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. We wouldn’t tell you it was good unless we really liked it!

Please note that the photos in this review do not come from Circles of Delight. They are representative photos of the carousel at the San Francisco Zoo.

Remember carousels? Handing over your ticket and stepping onto the platform to search out that one perfect horse. The music, the round-and-round, the one kid who always got sick from the round-and-round… At least that’s how old SoLT’s memories run.

Some carousels have cats

You may be wondering why we’re talking about carousels on a cat blog. Well, it’s because some carousels (only the best ones, we think) include carved lions and tigers and even domestic cats right alongside the usual prancing horses, and you can see some of these cats in the book Circles of Delight: Classic Carousels of San Francisco, by Aaron Shepard.

Standing lion on the San Francisco Zoo Carousel.

By Daderot (Own work) [Public domain or CC0],

via WikimediaCommons.

This book is heavy on photos and short on text, but it does provide the basic history of the carousels at the San Francisco Zoo, Yerba Buena Gardens, and Golden Gate Park. You can also pick up a little carousel lingo just by reading the photo captions: jumper, listener, stander. And for the cat fans out there, the carousels’ felines are a delight.

The San Francisco Zoo Carousel features tigers, lion, and jumping cats. The Yerba Buena Gardens Carousel doesn’t seem to have any felines, but it does have jumping giraffes and camels, which is certainly something to see. The Golden Gate Park Carousel is our favorite because the colors are just…wow! It has a standing lion, standing tiger, and jumping cat.

Our verdict

Standing tiger on the San Francisco Zoo Carousel.

By Daderot (Own work) [Public domain or CC0],

via WikimediaCommons.

We enjoyed looking through this book, and we were surprised at how many felines there actually are on the carousels of San Francisco. We might as well admit that we enjoyed the photos of other animals too; old SoLT got especially excited over those jumping giraffes. (You should have heard her exclaim, "Holy jumping giraffes!" It was embarrassing.)

You won’t learn a lot about the history or art of carousel animals from Circles of Delight, but you will get to see some pretty stunning examples of carved animals that will make you yearn to jump up on that platform and run to your favorite before someone else gets it.

 A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good read; two paws is for a great read. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

For more on carousel cats, see Cats onCarousels.

Pet Blogger Bloopers Roundup: September

We have been having a lot of fun this year sharing She of Little Talent's awful photos on the Pet Blogger Bloopers Roundup, a blog hop hosted the second Friday of every month by The Lazy Pit Bull. (Finally, a pet blogging event celebrating pure ineptitude--old SoLT has been waiting her whole life for this!)

This month's blooper stars Real Cat Paisley. Old SoLT caught Paisley taking a bath a few nights ago, and she (Paisley, not old SoLT) had left one of her back paws sticking straight up in the cutest way--like, in a way that would look fabulous in a blog post or on Instagram. After a subdued scramble for the smartphone (subdued so as not to disturb the cute bathing kitty), this was the resulting photo:

At least you can almost sort of tell that the big blurry thing on the right is a cat!

Pet Blogger Bloopers Roundup: August

We have been having a lot of fun this year sharing She of Little Talent's awful photos on the Pet Blogger Bloopers Roundup, a blog hop hosted the second Friday of every month by The Lazy Pit Bull. (Finally, a pet blogging event celebrating pure ineptitude--old SoLT has been waiting her whole life for this!)

For August, it pleases me immensely to share what I am calling the Worst Pet Photo Ever. I call it the worst ever because, no matter how hard you look, you will not find a pet of any sort in this photo. You will find a colorful bit of a rainbow cat dancer in the lower right portion, so we feel somewhat justified in calling this a "pet" photo. Also, it was taken completely accidentally while She of Little Talent was trying to sneak up on Real Cat Paisley, who was being totally cute at the time. And no, old SoLT did not get a cute photo of an actual cat from the incident. This is all she managed:

Worst Pet Photo Ever?
Old SoLT's foot. This was supposed to be a cat photo,
but I guess you'll just have to take my word for that.

Pet Blogger Bloopers Roundup: July

Hello, friends. It's time again for the Pet Blogger Bloopers Roundup--and can you believe it's July already? This is a blog hop hosted by The Lazy Pit Bull, and we're having a lot of fun participating, joining other bloggers on the second Friday of every month to post the results of photo shoots gone wrong. Fortunately, She of Little Talent takes lots of bad photos.

Naturally, old SoLT wanted to do something special for the Fourth of July this year, so she decided to put patriotic scarves and bows on the pets. Adorable, right? Well, mercifully she did not go overboard, so the Real Cats and Resident Dog did not get overdecorated. Even more amazingly, she got decent photos pretty quickly. That means we don't have tons of hilarious bloopers to share. Still and all, it's not easy to get a good picture of Paisley. As evidence, I offer these:

This one isn't bad, but wouldn't it be nice if Paisley's
whole head had made the shot?

And Paisley has a habit of moving at just the wrong time,
so old SoLT does get a lot of blurry photos.

Making the Most of All Nine Lives—Book Review

Some cats get out and about more than others do, but at least one cat, a handsome orange tabby named Buffy, gets out and about more than many people do. Buffy is what you might call “inspirationally active.”

Photographic documentation

Of course, when you’re an inspirationally active cat, you want to have your activities documented so you can share them with the world. Accordingly, Buffy has had his staff put together a photo book that shows everyone—felines and humans alike—just how to do this “life” thing. It’s called Making the Most of All Nine Lives: The Extraordinary Life of Buffy the Cat. The pages of this small book show Buffy at his best, whether he’s pumping gas, grocery shopping, or teeing up for a golf shot.

Wait… You didn’t know that cats did any of those things? Well, most cats don’t. (I refer you to the words “extraordinary” and “inspirationally active” above.) But Buffy isn’t most cats; when he isn’t napping or doing other ordinary cat stuff, he gets out there and does things. It’s just lucky for us that Buffy convinced his human, Paul Smulson, to follow him around with a camera and document his activities. He also convinced author Sandy Robins to translate his Buffy-speech into something humans can understand, resulting in captions that let us know exactly what this cat has to say. When you think about it, it’s lucky for us that the humans were able to keep up so we can enjoy Buffy’s day-to-day accomplishments.

Entertaining and fun

Buffy’s book is certainly entertaining, and it’s easy to relate to this cat-about-town. After all, who hasn’t wanted to be Batman, if only for an evening of trick-or-treating (on a way-cool trike, no less)? Or sit in as a judge in a courtroom? Karate chop a board into submission? Go along with the police to bust some bad guys? Buffy has done all that, and a whole lot more. 

Making the Most of All Nine Lives is a fun book. We’ve found ourselves picking it up to browse through the photos again and again, partly because one of us (She of Little Talent) can’t get enough of Buffy in his Batman costume. We had one small beef with the font used in the book’s front matter. We wished the designers had chosen something more readable, at least for the acknowledgments and introduction, as old SoLT’s failing eyes had trouble making out the text. But that’s a relatively small complaint, since the main point of the book is the photos and captions, and those are wonderful…and inspirationally active.

Recommended!

(A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good read; two paws is for a great read. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!)

Come to the book launch on the first annual National Tabby Day!

If you want to be inspirationally active, come on out to Bideawee Animal Shelter in New York City on April 30 to meet Buffy’s staff and get their autographs, and adopt a cat on National Tabby Day. Watch this space to learn more about the events and to meet a few of the cats you might meet at Bideawee that day.

When: Saturday, April 30, 2016, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Where: Bideawee Animal Shelter, 410 E 38th Street, New York, NY 10016

Buy from Amazon.

A Cat of Yesterday, and One of Today

Wordless Wednesday

December 23, yesterday....

A cat named Tom takes a look at some of the
cameraman’s gear during a Christmas party for the
stray animals at the Washington pound. The party was
given by poundmaster Frank. B. Marks on December 23, 1936.
Photo by Harris & Ewing.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

and today...

And if you’re looking for something a little more
modern, here’s a lovely lady currently waiting at the
Washington (DC) Humane Society for her forever home.
This is Mynx, a nine-year-old beauty looking for
a true and lasting love in a quiet home.
Learn more about her here.