The Louis Wain Myth

   Scythrop Glowry on Mar 18 14:23:03

View QTML

Apparently the movie about Louis Wain followed pretty close to his actual life...but their statement was too presumptuous...and very misleading...when they said that cats would not have their position today without Louis Wain and portrayed it as an unthinkable thing to have a pet cat in the late 19th century. Behold the Regency Era cats:

"Next to him is Mr. Henbane, the toxicologist, I think he calls himself. He has passed half his life in studying poisons and antidotes. The first thing he did on his arrival here was to kill the cat; and while Miss Crotchet was crying over her, he brought her to life again. I am more shy of him than the other."

-- Crotchet Castle by Thomas Love Peacock (1831)

And the Georgian cats!

"My orchard was often robbed by school-boys, and my wife's custards plundered by the cats or the children."

-- The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith (1766-74 [could not obtain publication date for the 3^rd edition])

And a little confirmation for the Victorian Era:

"When it was done they all cuddled in underneath. It was a very small bower - just big enough to hold them , and the baskets, and the kitten. I don't think there would have been room for anybody else, not even another kitten."

-- What Katy Did by "Susan Coolidge" (1872)