Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Sarah wants to know whose black cat from 1968 this is


My daughter Sarah oftens serves as my research assistant when I'm tracking down the history of books or pieces of paper that are featured here. She took special interest in a March post about Devil, a German Shepherd from the past, even writing her own blog post about it.

Now, Sarah has asked me -- and everyone out there reading this -- to help her identify the cat in this old photo. It's going to be a mighty challenge. This isn't a family photo -- we acquired it along with a bunch of other fantastic odds and ends when my wife won this groovy Ephemeraology giveaway earlier this year.

All we know about Sarah's Mystery Cat is:
  • it's black
  • it spent time outdoors
  • it appears in a photo that was developed in December 1968

Nothing is written on the back of the Kodak snapshot, which looks like it was once in a photo album.

That's it. That's all we have to go on. We're looking for a miracle. Does anyone know this cat?

2 comments:

  1. Over on my wife's Facebook page, Nate Martin checked in with the following "information": "The cat in question was to be used as a promotional mascot for the debut of the 1968 Japanese horror movie Kuroneko or "The Black Cat". Unfortunately the Cannes film festival was canceled that year due to massive labor strikes and the cat, jobless and forced to fend for itself, took to the streets of Paris looking for work. Fortunately it was adopted by a passing troupe of circus performers on their way to America. Midway through their cross Atlantic trip one of the elephants, in a fit of rage upon finding his wife sleeping with the head lion (he liked 'em big), punched a hole through the hull causing the ship to sink. Thus startling development forced the cat onto a liferaft with the ships cook, three monkey's, and the ring leaders attractive daughter. The cat quickly asserted himself as the leader and ruled over the raft as an iron fisted dictator; or at least he did until they were rescued by a passing fishing boat. Upon reaching shore the ringleaders attractive daughter, at this point quite smitten with the forceful cat married him. However their love was not meant to be as federal legislation passed that forbid their union and the cat was forced to go on the run. Several days later a photography student from the local college spotted the cat taking a dump in the woods, snapped a picture, and won the class prize for his picture showing a bitter satire of US politics at the time. As for the cat he went on to have even more incredible adventures, but that's a sorry for another time."

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  2. ...and here I thought it might be your cats' great-great-great-great-great grandfather. Boy was I wrong...

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