''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' (1939) is a collection of whimsical light poems by

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

about feline

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

, published by

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

. It serves as the basis for

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

's 1981 musical ''

Cats The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

''. Eliot wrote the poems in the 1930s and included them, under his assumed name "Old Possum", in letters to his godchildren. Eliot tried to persuade the poet Ralph Hodgson to illustrate the poems but failed. They were collected and published in 1939, with cover illustrations by the author, and quickly re-published in 1940, illustrated in full by Nicolas Bentley. They have also been published in versions illustrated by

Edward Gorey Edward St. John Gorey (February 22, 1925 – April 15, 2000) was an Americans, American writer, Tony Awards, Tony Award-winning costume designer, and artist, noted for his own illustrated books as well as cover art and illustration for book ...

(1982), Axel Scheffler (2009) and Rebecca Ashdown (2014).

The contents of ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'', along with the names of the featured cats where appropriate, are: * "

The Naming of Cats The Naming of Cats is a poem in T. S. Eliot's 1939 poetry book ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats''. It was adapted into a musical number in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 musical ''Cats'', and has also been quoted in other films, notably '' Log ...

" * "The Old Gumbie Cat" ( Jennyanydots) * " Growltiger's Last Stand" * "The Rum Tum Tugger" * "The Song of the Jellicles" * " Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" * "

Old Deuteronomy Old Deuteronomy is a character in T. S. Eliot's 1939 ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' and its 1981 musical adaptation, ''Cats''. He is a wise and beloved elderly cat, further serving as the Jellicle patriarch in the musical. The role of O ...

" * " (Of) The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles (Together with Some Account of the Participation of the Pugs and the Poms and the Intervention of the Great Rumpus Cat)" * " Mr. Mistoffelees" * "

Macavity Macavity the Mystery Cat, also called the Hidden Paw, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of T. S. Eliot's 1939 poetry book '' Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats''. He also appears in the Andrew Lloyd Webber 1981 musical ''Ca ...

: The Mystery Cat" * " Gus: The Theatre Cat" * "Bustopher Jones: The Cat about Town" * "

Skimbleshanks Skimbleshanks is a character in T. S. Eliot's 1939 book of poetry ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' and in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 musical ''Cats'', which is based on Eliot's book. The character is portrayed as a bright and energetic or ...

: The Railway Cat" * "The Ad-dressing of Cats" * "Cat Morgan Introduces Himself" (added in the 1952 edition)

Adaptations

In 1954, English composer

Alan Rawsthorne Alan Rawsthorne (2 May 1905 – 24 July 1971) was a British composer. He was born in Haslingden, Lancashire, and is buried in Thaxted churchyard in Essex. Early years Alan Rawsthorne was born in Deardengate House, Haslingden, Lancashire, to ...

set six of the poems in a work for speaker and orchestra entitled ''Practical Cats'', which was recorded soon afterwards, with the actor

Robert Donat Friedrich Robert Donat ( ; 18 March 1905 – 9 June 1958) was an English actor. Making his breakthrough film role in Alexander Korda's ''The Private Life of Henry VIII'' (1933), today he is best remembered for his roles in ''The Count of Monte C ...

as the speaker. At about the same time another English composer,

Humphrey Searle Humphrey Searle (26 August 1915 – 12 May 1982) was an English composer and writer on music. His music combines aspects of late Romanticism and modernist serialism, particularly reminiscent of his primary influences, Franz Liszt, Arnold Sch ...

, composed another narrated piece based on the poems, using flute, piccolo, cello and guitar. This work, ''Two Practical Cats'', consists of settings of the poems about Macavity and Growltiger. The best-known musical adaptation of the poems is

's musical ''

'', which was premiered in the West End of London in 1981 and on Broadway in 1982. It became the longest-running Broadway show in history until it was overtaken by another musical by Lloyd Webber, ''The Phantom of the Opera''. As well as the characters found in the book, ''Cats'' introduces several additional characters from Eliot's unpublished drafts, most notably

Grizabella Grizabella the Glamour Cat is a main character in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical ''Cats''. Lonely and decrepit, Grizabella seeks acceptance from the other Jellicle cats but is initially ostracised. She sings the most famous song from the music ...

. The musical was adapted into a direct-to-video film in 1998. A feature film adaptation of ''Cats'' was released on 20 December 2019. As of December, 2019, the feature film's production cost was $100 million but only grossed $38.3 million globally, yielding an approximate $70 million loss.

Cultural references

In the film ''Logan's Run'', Logan and Jessica meet an old man in the ruins of the United States Senate Chamber during their search for Sanctuary. The Old Man has many cats and refers to the poem "The Naming of Cats", explaining that each cat has three names: one common, one fancy and one that only the cat knows. Later the Old Man refers to one cat in particular, "Gus", short for "Asparagus", and goes on to recite parts of "Macavity: the Mystery Cat". The British rock band

Mungo Jerry Mungo Jerry (formerly known as Mungo Jerry Blues Band) are a British rock band formed by Ray Dorset in Ashford, Middlesex, in 1970. Experiencing their greatest success in the early 1970s, with a changing line-up always fronted by Dorset, the ...

derived their name from the book's poem " Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer".

The Tombs The Tombs was the colloquial name for Manhattan Detention Complex (formerly the Bernard B. Kerik Complex during 2001–2006), a former municipal jail at 125 White Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It was also the nickname for three prev ...

, a bar and restaurant in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, is named after the fictional establishment mentioned in the poem "Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town".

Comparable work

On 5 June 2009, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' revealed that in 1937 Eliot had composed a 34-line poem entitled "Cows" for the children of Frank Morley, a friend who, like Eliot, was a director of the publishing company Faber and Faber. Morley's daughter, Susanna Smithson, uncovered the poem as part of the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

programme ''Arena: T.S. Eliot'', broadcast that night as part of the BBC Poetry Season.Arena
/ref>

References

General references

* *Larsen, Janet Karsten (1982) "Eliot's Cats Come Out Tonight", ''Christian Century''. May 5, 1982, p. 534.

External links