Just a short and silly blog this month to cheer up a dull November day. We noticed a cat-themed holiday this month – Tuxedo Cat Day is on November 29th – and two big anniversaries for famous tuxedos. So this month we thought we’d celebrate the smart boys and girls in that elegant two-tone coat.
The tuxedo pattern on cats – a dark coat with a white ‘shirt’ and occasionally white socks – is not inherited in the same way as a Bengal’s leopard markings or a ginger’s orange fur. The size of the white varies from a neat little bib to a complete white belly and chin, with the dark fur varying from black to grey – and some people class ginger or brown cats with white fronts as tuxedos. The lovely contrast and the resemblance to a human’s formal dinner jacket and white shirt might account for the number of cartoon cats that have been dressed in their tuxedo best.
Here’s some famous tuxedo cats;
Sylvester
Sylvester first appeared in the cartoon ‘Life With Feathers’ eighty years ago. He started creeping up on Tweety Pie two years later, and got thumped by his owner Granny for it. Sylvester went on to star in 103 Looney Tunes cartoons in total, winning awards for ‘Tweety Pie’, ‘Speedy Gonzalez’ and ‘Birds Anonymous’
Tom (and Jerry)
Tom first appeared as ‘Jasper Tom’ in a cartoon 85 years ago, the first of many cartoons and full-length films in which he fought Jerry the mouse and almost always lost. Tom and Jerry last appeared in a film in 2008, so a long, long career.
The Cat in the Hat
The Cat in the Hat by Doctor Seuss was first published in 1957.
Simon
Simon the stray tuxedo kitten was adopted by the crew HMS Amethyst in 1948 and is the only cat to have won a Dickin award for animal bravery.
Sybil
Sybil was brought to Downing Street by Alastair Darling in 2007 and served as the unofficial mouser until she made it clear that city life did not suit her and was taken off for a retirement in a country home belonging to friends of the Darlings. However Sybil (named after Sybil Fawlty) did the nation a great service by reintroducing the role of Downing Street Mouser after ten years with no Number 10 cat.
A friend of ours passed on the joke that tuxedo cats developed their coat colours to blend in to their preferred habitat – the black-tie gala dinner, where smoked salmon and caviar was certain to be dropped from unwary plates. Treat your own cats to their own posh dinner at least one day a year!
Photo: Tuxedo Cat by Chris WW, Pixabay
