American Museum of the House Cat, Sylva, North Carolina

Yes indeed, there is actually a museum dedicated to the four legged feline pet. Dr. Harold Sims is a retired biology professor and his wife Kay set up a no-kill cat shelter in 2002 right next door to their home in Sylva, North Carolina. The museum was conceived as way to share their vast cat-themed collection with feline lovers, document the history of human-cat interaction, and raise money for the shelter. On most days, Sims is at the museum, adding to the unique experience with stories about the exhibits. Dr. Sims was at his American Museum of the House Cat on the day we visited. He was showing some people around and then started talking to Jim and me about the various phonographs he has and played some records on them -- all still working great. He had just celebrated his 88th birthday just last week, but he is still going strong.

It's not a large museum, but there is a lot of memorabilia crammed into it. Shelves upon shelves of small iconic cats, with a large carousel in the back. The museum is not to be missed for a memorable vacation stop. The room is packed with 5,000+ cat-related curiosities, including many rare and fascinating antiques. In fact, a bronze of the feline goddess Bastet dates back to 600 BC! This is a showcase of 30 years of collecting by Dr. Harold Sims - aka CatMan2. Proceeds fund his nearby no-kill cat shelter. It's open April-December. 

Dr. Harold Sims

On outside of the building

Fiberglass Cat over the Door

This large cat originally spent time with a rabbit at the doll market in Greensboro, North Carolina where they had been on display for many years. Later they occupied space in an antique mall in Selma, North Carolina and then went into storage. Dr. Sims bought the cat in 2011 and brought it to the Catman2 Shelter. It is a copy of a Dentzel cat and carries a bird in its mouth. Other cats Dentzel carry a fish or a mouse. This is original art made of hollow fiberglass and is mounted on a plastic cone. The date of origin is unknown but research traces it to be a piece of collectible Dentzel art.

There is also a short You Tube video on the museum. It's pretty dark and hard to see, but there are some videos of Dr. Sims showing off his numerous old phonographs:

Here is a longer video by Jacob the Carpetbagger:

Here are some of the iconic cats that Dr. Sims has on the various shelves in the museum:

Next comes the various cats that were on the carousel that he has in the back:

1910 French Bayol Child's Carousal Cat

Because of the beautiful art on the romance side, and a head that faces to the right, it was made for the American market where carousals go counter-clock-wise. This cat was made for a child to ride and did not go up and down. 

Dentzel Style, Wood Carved Cat

This is a carved wood cat in the style of Gustav Dentzel holding a fish in its mouth. It was found in a closed crate in a barn and may have never been used. The cat shared a home with the person who found it and later visited this museum. The cat would have been made for a stationary carousel and would not have moved up and down as it traveled around.

Gustav Bayol Cat

This running cat was said to have been made between 1900 and 1949 by French carousel maker Gustav Bayol. Dr. Sims attempted a crude restoration on it and repainted it to resemble a unique calico named "Kit Cat" who is a work of art. This is a likeness of Kit Cat, but does not come close to the beauty of the actual Kit Cat. The real Kit Cat shared a home with Dr. Sims for many years and became a member of his family.

Vintage Fairgrounds Carousel Cat

Purchased off of E-Bay with the description "extraordinary rare cat said to have been made in Austria." It does carry a fish in its mouth but is not a rendition of a Dentzel cat because its left front paw does not turn inward. Most likely carved for a child-size stationary carousel. Most likely did not move up and down; it can be described as a pouncing cat. 

Generic Wood Carousel Cat

A mid-20th century wood carved carousel cat; holds fish in its mouth but its left front paw is not turned inward like all the Dentzel carved cats. This cat is seated on a modern rectangular base with a brass pole. There are no records indicating that it was ever a carousel cat. It is in "as found" condition.

Antique Carousel Kitty

This cat was listed at auction as "a carousel kitty, not a horse." It came from the auction of a fine home with expensive furniture and was the most ugly item in the sale. It is a French Bayol cat made between 1900 and 1943. The condition, as found, was poor but salvageable. It stands on two posts and was never intended to go up and down. 

Mystery Carousel Cat

This cat holds nothing in its mouth, so it is hard to tell who might have made it. There were many small traveling carousels on the roads during the years gone by and the animals on them were made by unknown carvers. This cat would not have gone up and down and could have shared a carousel with many other animals, including horses, pigs, rabbits, tigers, lions, bears, and other contraptions such as little cars, boats, or a seat for a parent to ride in.

Dentzel Carousel Cat

Made by second generation Dentzel family workers around 1917-1921. This cat is said to have been made for a carousel at Mishnock Lake, Rhode Island. It was a "mixed" carousel with animals by Dare, Dentzel, Looff, and the Stein and Goldstein Factory. Because of the beautiful art work, it was likely on the outside row. It was made to carry an adult or large child.

Long ago the Egyptians used animals to carry their spirits to the afterlife and the cat was a popular vessel. Street merchants sold mummified cats for the purpose. Some people put their own mummified pets in the grave with them so they could carry spirits and share their afterlife. Other animals, including dogs, were used but not in large numbers.

The cat from the Temple

Medieval Petrified Cat

This cat, by family repute, was removed from the chimney breast of a late 16th Century Medieval home in Sheffield Yorkshire, England demolished during the 1950s or 1960s. A chimney breast is the portion of a chimney which projects forward from the wall to accommodate a fireplace. Here, the flue, carries smoke out of a building and upward through the chimney. 

Because early chimneys could not close the flue, animals frequently hid inside the chimney and died from the smoke. After a long period of time they became petrified. This poor cat possibly took refuge in the chimney breast for warmth then died when the fire was restarted.

The cat at the arcade: At many arcades you may find the cat being used in a popular game called "Cat Knock Down". The game has its origin at a time when stray cats howled outside homes and city apartments as they searched for mates. To rid the noisy critters from their yard and get a good night's sleep, residents threw old shoes and other objects at the cats to chase them away. When these people went to the amusement park, they found the knock down game as a way to diminish their frustration the night before. 

The knock down game had three or more handmade cat dolls, called "Punks" sitting on the shelf. These were made of heavy canvas filled with sand and had feather-like material at their sides. The image of a cat was painted on the front. The player would stand about 20 feet away and would throw soft balls at the punks in an effort to knock one over. The ball was very light in weight and it took a strong arm to topple a cat. If the thrower was successful the prize might be a Cupie Doll, an animal made of chalk, or a piece of carnival glass.

In any case, bopping a cat would relieve your frustration. Today most knock down games use the image of a clown rather than a cat. The Beanbag Toss games are said to have come from France. They employed a cat with an open mouth into which one would toss beanbags. The bags would fall to the bottom and prizes were awarded for the number of bags that hit their mark. These look like what we call a corn hole game here in America but these cats stand upright. Other carnival bag-toss games made by hand used just the face of a cat with a large open mouth. 

In the 1980s the "Tommy" Toy Pocket Arcade "Cat Dodgers" was a toy that could be carried in your pocket. It was a wind-up game that needed no batteries and you didn't need to leave home to play it. 

There are two pinball machines with cats on them. The "Bad Cats" was made by the Williams Company in 1989 and the the "Junkyard Cats" in 1996. The "Bad Cats" game is geared for polite company.  The junkyard cats needs to be rated "X" as the sound and graphics are a bit raunchy. Both games play for coins and rack up points. The score for Bad Cats can reach into the high millions in the hands of a skilled player. The Williams Company and other companies employed the cat in games of skill such as bowling alley games and a game called "skeet" where wood balls were rolled up a ramp into rings to add up points. A 1980s 1￠ Felix the Cat Fortune Telling Game was available at an auction going for $25,000 (Dr. Sims only bid $100 for it).

The history of carousel in America: The Dentzel brothers migrated from Germany to America. They brought with them a small portable carousel to test the market. Their mission was to build steam powered carousels along the eastern coast. By 1867 they had found their footings and formed the Dentzel Carousel Company in Germantown, Pennsylvania. During the years that followed they built two or three carousels each year selling them to amusement parks across the country. Carousel seats were made in the shape of different animals: horses, of course, but they also carved other animals such as: bears, pigs, frogs, rabbits and even house cats that each carried a mouse, a bird, or a fish in its mouth. Many of these early carousels are still working today. The oldest (1883) named "The Duchess" can be found at Watch Hill, Rhode Island. Several Dentzel carousel cats can be found in North Carolina. There are two in the city of Burlington which were made in the early 1800s or early 1900s, by Gustav Dentzel himself. 

Two Dentzel cats are located in Pullen Park in Raleigh. These were carved later, in time, by skilled carvers employed by his company. Other skilled carvers added cats to their carousels in years to follow. All theses different companies produced running, jumping and prancing cats for children of all ages to see and enjoy. There is a Dentzel carousel cat here in the museum collection, said to have been made by second generation maker William Dentzel around 1916.

The Crazy Cat Lady

See the You Tube video above

Cat Flower Seller with Surprise Automaton, Switzerland: Reuge, ca. 1980. A cat dressed in a frilly costume holds a basket of flowers with one hand and a garland in the other. When activated, the cat shakes the garland up and down, then opens the basket to reveal a mouse inside. Head moves back and forth and up and down. 

 

Louis Wain -- the man who drew cats. He was born in London in 1860 and started painting landscapes as a young man but had limited success as an artist. As a young man he married an older woman, who in her later years suffered breast cancer. To comfort her he drew pictures of a black and white kitten named Peter who was her beloved pet. His work picked up her spirits and also drew attention from the public and his career as a cat artist began. After his wife died he spent his full time drawing anthropomorphized (cats doing human things) and his art became popular as paintings and illustrations in children's books, some of which are here in the museum. 

Despite his talent and number of works, he suffered financial difficulties because of his lack of business sense, such as selling his work outright, and retaining no rights over their reproduction. Later in life he developed schizophrenia and he drew cats with abstract patterns, some of which may be found in modern psychology textbooks. He died in 1939. Today his original art commands high prices on the art market. However, beware because there are many reproductions. The Chris Beetles Gallery in London is the best source of authenticity.

The last cat that will be highlighted is the infamous Puss in Boots. The earliest known version of the "Puss in Boots" story is "Constantino Fortunato" ("Lucky Constantino") which was written by the Italian author Francesco Giovanni Straparola between 1550 and 1590. 

A forward and setting of the times: The story of Puss in Boots was written in the 1600s at a time when the male person in a family held the power over the property and the wealth. The father owned everything and his wife and sons weren't allowed to own anything. When the father died, his wife would not inherit anything. The oldest son inherited most of the family's wealth and property and younger sons were given what the father thought was fair. Back at the time this was known as Patrilineal inheritance.

This archaic practice of preserving property and wealth dates back to the time of the Bible, and all of its bigots. Jesus was God's only begotten son. So, in the story of Puss in Boots, the oldest son in the miller's family inherits most of his wealth and his youngest son is given the least amount. At his death his wife had no rights to wealth or property. It was up to his sons to care for her and any of their sisters. At one time this practice was true in America. Women were not allowed to own property until 1890 and they couldn't vote until 1920, and that was only for white women. Black women couldn't vote until 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson granted them that right. This practice is no longer common in most of the world, although some people still live by it.

The Story of Puss in Boots -- an old story in which a cat wears a pair of boots and can talk. Rewritten by Professor of Cat Studies, Dr. Harold W. Sims

Long ago, in a faraway land there lived a miller, a man who owned a grist mill that ground grain into flour. The flour was sold to make bread. This man had three sons. Their names were Larry, Moe, and Curly. When a man died in those days, his wealth was divided among his sons and his eldest son inherited the most. So, when his miller died, following the custom of the day, he gave his oldest son, Larry, the grist mill and all of his money. His second-oldest son, Moe, got his clothes, a donkey, and a wagon, and Curly, his youngest son, got nothing but Puss the family cat. It seemed like a dirty deal at the time, and Curly was crying by the time he and Puss went home together. 

But Puss was no ordinary cat. He wore fine clothes, a red hat, red leather boots, and he carried a golden sword cased in a beautiful yellow-green scabbard. On their way home, Puss told Curly to stop crying and listen to him. "Curly," he said, "You may feel bad now but you got the best deal of them all. You've got me! Puss, and I am a very smart cat. I am going to make you much richer than all the others. You see, I know a very wealthy king who lives down the road. He is old and can no longer hunt for his food. I have been bringing him rabbits to eat. He likes me. The king has a daughter who is very beautiful and I want you to meet her. Here's my plan: Tomorrow morning the king will take his daughter for a ride in their carriage along the Valley Road that runs through fields of grain, orchards of apples, and vineyards filled with grapes. So, get some sleep tonight, be up early in the morning, and stop crying."

So, the next morning, bright and early, Curly and Puss walked along the Valley Road until they came to a pond. Puss told Curly to go behind a tree, take off his filthy clothes, and hide, bare-naked in the pond. Curly was skeptical but he did what Puss told him to do. The water was cold, and he shivered even more as he watched a water snake slip into the pond. But he waited. Soon the king's carriage came down the bumpy road. As it was about to pass the pond, Puss ran out in front of it, halted it, and he cried to the king: "My new master has been robbed by bad people. Have your footman bring my new master a fine new suite of clothes; he's hiding, bare-naked, in the pond." 

So, the King's footman brought Curly a fine suit of clothes and he put them on and wore them as he walked up to the carriage. There he saw the king's beautiful daughter and he was very pleased. He sat up front with the king, and the king's daughter sat alone in the seat behind them. Puss ran alongside. Every chance Curly got, he looked back at the king's daughter and she smiled back at him. It was love at first sight.

Then Puss ran far ahead of the carriage, and when he came to people working in the fields, Puss told them that his new master, the King of Carabas, owned all the lands along the road and he said he would soon by passing by, sitting right next to the king. They were very impressed and when the carriage passed them, they all bowed and waved, and Curly, acting like he was the king's best friend, nodded and waved back to them. At the end of the road, there was another castle, much finer than the one the king owned. It belonged to an ogre named "Harry the Terrible." 

Puss knew Harry, and Puss had run faster than the carriage to reach the ogre's castle before it arrived at the ogre's castle. When Puss entered the ogre's great-room, the ogre was counting the gold he had won at the casino the night before, and he invited Puss in. They had known each other for a long time and they had become good friends. Puss knew that the ogre was a shapeshifter who could change himself into all kinds of animals. He did it all the time to scare children in the park.

So, Puss casually asked the ogre to change himself into a lion, then a bear, a large rat, and finally to change into a tiny mouse. The ogre, tired from dancing and drinking the night before, without realizing what he'd been asked to do, changed himself into a mouse and Puss ate him up. That was his plan all along. Puss thought the world had no need for a nasty old ogre anymore. 

When the king's carriage arrived at the ogre's castle, Puss had a large limp in his tummy, but nobody seemed to notice it. Curly took the king's daughter's hand as she stepped from the carriage. Soon they were married and moved into the ogre's castle. Now Curly owned the ogre's castle and he had all of his money. The king, now his father-in-law, lived in his own castle at the far end of the road until he died. When the king died, Curly inherited the king's castle and then he owned both castles and all the land in between. 

He was a very wealthy man. But because he was a nice guy, he gave both of his brothers good jobs caring for his castles and working the land around them. Puss lived part-time at both castles and went on hunting rabbits; not because he had to, just because he hated them. Curly and his wife, concerned about excess population growth in their kingdom, only had two children. But they filled both castles with tame and feral neutered house cats they saved from being killed by the rabbits.

The End -- That's all Folks. I hope you enjoyed this version of Puss in Boots. The American Museum of the House Cat needs the support of cat lovers, and I hope you and other fellow cat lovers visit the museum. They accept donations, bequests, grants and gifts.