Mar 20th 2008 07:56 am A true story
I guess back then a cat skin was cheaper than a scrap of nylon. I’m betting the market for cat-based teaching supplies is way down these days.
Dan in Jackson, TN, left a comment yesterday mentioning one of our favorite authors, Rheta Grimsley Johnson. Remember her? She is the author of “Good Grief,” the biography of Charles M. Schulz that can be read without a truss. For those of you who missed Dan’s post and my reply, Rheta has a new book out, “Poor Man’s Provence,” a paean to her adopted home of Acadian Louisiana. I know a lot of us here enjoy travel writing. This is a great travel book, although, strictly speaking, it’s more about putting down roots.
The above link will take you directly to her publisher, NewSouth Books, but you have an inside connection. I recommend you email Rheta directly and tell her “Arlo sent me” and that you want a book. You’ll get a personalized, autographed copy. And you can ask HER all those embarrassing questions about our former association.
Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J
18 Responses to “A true story”
Steve from Royal Oak on 20 Mar 2008 at 8:35 am #
Today’s strip about the cat sleeping on the bed is a classic already. Both of my kids came home last weekend and because we have two very young cats, we have closed the door to their rooms so that they are not knocking off all of the stuff that they have on their dressers.
When I walked by my daughter’s room all of the cats were in her bed purring as she watched TV and she remarked how they must have really missed her. I told her, “Maybe a little, but I think that they missed your bed even more!”
Thanks. If my cat could draw, that is what he would have drawn. Then again if my cat could draw, I would be too busy spending my money to write on your blog.
Mary Kay in Maumee on 20 Mar 2008 at 8:51 am #
Okay, since you mentioned Rheta, I must ask you a question, Jimmy. Can you tell me what papers carry her column now? My parents and I, especially my Dad (she and Bonnie Hunt are crushes of his), love her prose. The Ann Arbor News used to carry her column, but foolishly dropped it. I searched and found her bio on King Features, but no links to any papers carrying her writing. I have been dying to ask you about her column, but wasn’t sure if it would be rude. Thanks so much for the heads up about her new book.
Kent from Colorado on 20 Mar 2008 at 9:06 am #
I doubt you will find any cat pelts in this politically correct world.
A while back, I thought it would be cool to have a stuffed black cat sitting in the corner, yea, I’m kinda strange. Anyway, I couldn’t find one, so I went to a taxidermy message board and inquired. It turns out that back in the late 90′s, someone was importing coats from China that had the hoods trimmed in what turned out to be dog fur. Well, the animal rights activists got on a tear and had pet body parts (I’m not sure of all the exact bans) banned from being sold for profit. This is the general way it went, all the specifics are out on the web. So anyway, no stuffed cat for me. The taxidermy message board had a great time with it for a while though. I did find someone that would freeze dry fluffy though, but it had to be your own pet for personal “use”.
Bill from Paducah on 20 Mar 2008 at 9:28 am #
As a 50 something guy with a “former association”, your last sentence gave me a hearty “laugh out loud”. People in the next office are peering around the corner, raising eyebrows and, no doubt, desiring to ask an embarrassing question.
Best
Bill
Joyce from Indy on 20 Mar 2008 at 9:36 am #
I remember Rheta used to have a column that ran on the editorial page in my local newspaper. It was one of the first things I looked for when I got the paper. When they stopped carrying it, I was very disappointed. That was before the internet was so pervasive so I didn’t know what happened to her or why it was dropped. I’m glad to know that she is still writing and I will definitely be buying her book. I find it so strange that her ex draws one of my favorite cartoons, it’s such a small world.
I too remember Max Headroom but I was waaaay past high school when it was on.
Greg from Robertsdale on 20 Mar 2008 at 10:35 am #
Mary Kay, try this link. http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/columns/rheta/about.htm
momof3boys in FL on 20 Mar 2008 at 10:35 am #
I had to dissect a cat in college for A&P in the early 90s. Gross! Even worse my lab partner dropped out in the 1st two weeks and I had to finish on my own.
BubbaWorldComix.net on 20 Mar 2008 at 10:57 am #
I would like to say I just decided to teach my cat how to talk…but I i didnt…he learned his 15 or 20 words all on his own.
Joni from North Dakota on 20 Mar 2008 at 11:05 am #
My husband always “jokingly” says he wants to have our three cats stuffed in various attack positions around the house when they pass into the kitty summerland.
This started when I commented once I wasn’t going to spend my retirement driving from NASCAR race to race in an RV. My husband said “fine, I’ll take Moxie (our black cat)”. I commented she would be passed away by the time retirement came our way and he said “No problem, I’ll just have her stuffed and mounted onto the dash of the RV and her and I will travel the country”.
Never dissected a cat but did dissect a fetal pig. That smell of flormaldahyde (sp?) never quite leaves your senses.
Jim in SE Mississippi on 20 Mar 2008 at 11:12 am #
Thank you, JJ; I think I’ll buy a copy of Poor Man’s Provence for my brother-in-law, the Cajun chef. Now, if you’d just get to work on an A&J book (or any book for that matter), I could buy a copy of it someday.
Ken from Framingham (Boston Globe reader) on 20 Mar 2008 at 11:15 am #
Good for you and Rheta (what a pretty name) if, as it seems, you’ve maintained a post-marriage friendship!
Sam on 20 Mar 2008 at 2:24 pm #
I remember when Rheta was selected by the Atlanta Journal Constitution to take over the column space that had been used by Lewis Grizzard. It was a very big change in tone and content.
Mary in Ohio on 20 Mar 2008 at 4:52 pm #
There may not be much market for cat pelts any more, but the pets/livestock want ads in the Akron Beacon Journal carry the disclaimer:
“WARNING: Animals advertised for “free” are sometimes acquired by people who use them as bait in training other animals to fight or in science experimentation. Please offer your pet for a nominal fee in order to attract a sincere buyer.”
They’ve only been carrying this disclaimer in the last couple years.
Oh, by the way, the woman with the Cruciform Fish Sticks got $75 for them on eBay. Odd to see Holy Week and the Silly Season coincide.
And ever since I acquired a cat that does have “thumbs,” they have all been looking at me sort of funny when I open a can for them.
ron in lockport on 20 Mar 2008 at 5:18 pm #
oh jimmy; rheta says she use to be janis but not now. i am waiting to find out if she is
” a legend down at the dump “. if she is does that mean you are the nut with a leaf blower in the bath ? ron lockport il GO white sox
Bonnie from Gloucester on 20 Mar 2008 at 7:06 pm #
Re – Ludwig on the bed.
My parents had a golden retriever that thought he was a human. He typically slept on the foot of their bed. When my father died, Woofie assumed the position of head-of-household. On a visit, I was preparing to sleep on my father’s side of the bed but the big furry thing was already there; fast asleep with his head on the pillow. My orders, entreaties and pleadings for him to move were quite simply ignored and he was too heavy for me to push out of the way. He never flinched or blinked. I scooched in at the edge and tried to keep myself from falling out. When he was good and ready, Woofie eventually got up and sauntered out – he’d made his point. Woofie is gone now, too. His passing made me miss my Dad all over again.
Art Mulder on 21 Mar 2008 at 7:13 am #
Errr, Cat pelts? Seriously? We used **Rabbit** pelts in high school physics studying static electricity and so on.
Jean from Dahlonega GA on 21 Mar 2008 at 7:38 am #
Sam, I remember Rheta’s column in the AJC, too. Yes, different from Lewis, but very good. I was disappointed when they quit running it. Over time I became even more disappointed in the AJC, so I dropped it.
Bonnie, when my husband has to go on a business trip my dog Buddy sleeps on his side of the bed. Maybe he thinks he can protect me better from there than if he’s on the floor.
Does anyone remember “Earl the Dead Cat”? “Earl” was a fake fur cat skin, no stuffing, with tire tracks across the back as though he had been run over. Rather morbidly amusing, but it didn’t stay in the stores long.
JJ, thanks for the tip on Rheta’s book. Having enjoyed her columns and your A&J cartoons, I was pleasantly surprised to find that you were married, but saddened to find that you weren’t any more.
Steve from Pensacola on 22 Mar 2008 at 5:21 am #
I’ve always been a “cat person” and my family always had cats. That having been said, my father used to teach human anatomy, specializing in oral anatomy. Every term, he would have 50 – 60 attractive young ladies who wanted to become dental hygienists dissect cats. It seems that the oral anatomy of a cat is disturbingly similar to a human, and cats are easier to come by than humans. In fact, there is apparenty a good business in raising cats just for this purpose – just not in this country. All of the cats used in the class were imported. One year, one of the girls decided to tan the hide of her cat. At the end of the term she presented it to my father as a gift. I still have the pelt and it lives in my office. It even has a name – Frisbee, after an old Freak Brothers cartoon. Most folks who meet Frisbee, who looks a lot like a flat Garfield, don’t believe what it is, but so far, no one has threatened me with bodily harm.
On a side note, after the first girl tanned her hide, all the rest started doing it too. At one time we had a stack of cat pelts over a foot high. Now, that did creep people out! I don’t know what happened to all of those pelts when my father died, but I hope they got a decent burial.