Who is the most famous cat of them all? Part one

It’s not easy to talk about famous cats: they are so many. So I decided to treat the subject for ideas, to be deepened if you want.

Let’s begin our journey by the most classic, which do not need any comment: Puss in Boots, the Cat and the Fox of Pinocchio, the ominous Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Out of the fairy tales is to remember the master E.A. Poe’s black cat. Many great writers have chosen cats as protagonists of their writings, among them Mark Twain, William S. Burroughs, Luis Sepùlveda.

Talking about cartoons and comics the list is really endless. We see the main: Felix the Cat (arrived in Italy as Mio Mao, who later became Felix), Peg-Leg Pete (or Big Bad Pete), the Aristocats Duchess and the kittens Marie, Toulouse and Berlioz, plus the Irish cat Thomas O’Malley “O’Malley the alley cat” in Italy Romeo “the best cat of the Coliseum”.

Ultra-famous even the cat Tom and the mouse Jerry, Sylvester, Garfield, but there are also Autocat and Motomouse, Pixie & Dixie with the cat Jinx, Topcat, the Japanese Doraemon, Torakiki (friend of Spank), Totoro, and Michael the cat for the mangas, just to mention the “stars”. The most present of all is Hello Kitty, born in Tokyo in 1974 and its billionaire turnover. Instead, the American underground comics produced a porno cat, Fritz, created by Robert Crumb.

On the big screen, the most famous films are Breakfast at Tiffany’s cat without name and FBI-Darn Cat by Disney; curious films are The cat from Outer Space and Rubharb. In TV there is the controversial and messy Salem Saberhagen of the sit-com Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. In art, a single quote for all: the famous poster of the Tournée du Chat Noir, by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen.

Internet is a universe with a high feline rate. They range from the photos reworked with humor of LOL Cats to the psychedelic Nyan Cat to Solange the Siamese strips, the quintessence of the cat. The most popular are the very funny Maru, skilled in the opening of drawers and boxes lover, Tard the Grumpy Cat – a cat whose only crime is to have a grumpy expression that lends itself to a thousand jokes. Also noteworthy is the big red tabby cat Bob, alley cat companion of the musician James Bowen and protagonist of a book, and Mr Mustache, whiskery cat with a spot under his nose. The most astonishing is Venus, a cat with the nose divided exactly in half: one part black, tricolor on the other, and even the eyes have different colors. To raise funds, the Stray Cat Alliance, a charity pro-cats, has created a set of playing cards with some famous cats on the internet.

To be continued