Editing Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

{{Short description|Book of poems by T. S. Eliot}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name = Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
| title_orig = 
| translator = 
| image = BookOfPracticalCats.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = First edition cover
| author = [[T. S. Eliot]]
| illustrator = 
| cover_artist =
| country = 
| language = English
| series =
| genre = [[Light poetry]]
| publisher = 
| release_date = 5 October 1939<ref name=henryhart>{{cite journal|title=T. S. Eliot's Autobiographical Cats|journal=[[The Sewanee Review]]|first=Henry|last=Hart|year=2012|volume=120|issue=3|pages=379–381|issn=0037-3052}}</ref>
| media_type = Print
| pages = 
| isbn = 
| congress= 
| oclc= 
}}

'''''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats''''' (1939) is a collection of whimsical [[Light poetry|light poem]]s by [[T. S. Eliot]] about [[Cat|feline]] [[psychology]] and [[sociology]], published by [[Faber and Faber]]. It serves as the basis for [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]'s 1981 musical ''[[Cats (musical)|Cats]]''.

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.<ref>Harding, John,  Dreaming of Babylon. The Life and Times of Ralph Hodgson. (Greenwich Exchange 2008) https://greenex.co.uk/</ref>
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]] (1982), [[Axel Scheffler]] (2009) and Rebecca Ashdown (2014).<ref>{{cite web |title=Old Possum's book of practical cats|website=[[WorldCat]] |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/978264444 |oclc = 978264444}}</ref>

==Contents==

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 Old Gumbie Cat" ([[Jennyanydots]])
* "[[Growltiger's Last Stand]]"
* "The [[Rum Tum Tugger]]"
* "The Song of the [[Jellicle cats|Jellicle]]s"
* "[[Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer]]"
* "[[Old Deuteronomy]]"
* "[[The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles|(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]]: The Mystery Cat"
* "[[Gus: The Theatre Cat]]"
* "Bustopher Jones: The Cat about Town"
* "[[Skimbleshanks]]: The Railway Cat"
* "The Ad-dressing <!-- sic --> of Cats"
* "Cat Morgan Introduces Himself" (added in the 1952 edition)

==Adaptations==
{{anchor|practicalcats}}<!-- [[Practical Cats]] subsection-redirects to Rawsthorne's "Practical Cats" -->
In 1954, English composer [[Alan Rawsthorne]] 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]] as the speaker.  At about the same time another English composer, [[Humphrey Searle]], 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 [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]'s musical ''[[Cats (musical)|Cats]]'', which was premiered in the West End of London in 1981 and on Broadway in 1982. It became the [[List of the longest-running Broadway shows#Timeline of longest-running Broadway shows|longest-running Broadway show in history]] until it was overtaken by another musical by Lloyd Webber, [[The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)|''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]]. The musical was adapted into a [[Cats (1998 film)|direct-to-video film]] in 1998.<ref name=1998film>{{cite web|url=https://www.catsthemusical.com/now-and-forever/the-film|title=The Film|publisher=catsthemusical.com (official website)|access-date=21 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190409050104/https://www.catsthemusical.com/now-and-forever/the-film|archive-date=9 April 2019}}</ref> A [[Cats (2019 film)|feature film adaptation of ''Cats'']] was released on 20 December 2019.<ref>[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cats-movie-gets-december-2019-release-date-1138971 'Cats' Movie Adaptation Sets December 2019 Release Date]</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-12-30|title=Universal Pictures faces at least $70-million loss from 'Cats' debacle|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2019-12-30/universal-pictures-cats-debacle-could-lead-to-70m-loss|access-date=2021-11-28|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Cultural references==
In the film [[Logan's Run (1976 film)|''Logan's Run'']], Logan and Jessica meet an old man in the ruins of the United States [[United States Senate|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]] derived their name from the book's poem "[[Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer]]".<ref>{{cite book|first=Jo|last=Rice|year=1982|title=The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits|edition=1st|publisher=Guinness Superlatives Ltd|location=Enfield, Middlesex|page=133|isbn=0-85112-250-7}}</ref>

[[The Tombs (bar)|The Tombs]], a bar and restaurant in [[Washington, D.C.]], is named after the fictional establishment mentioned in the poem "Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town".<ref>{{cite web |title=Our History |url=https://www.tombs.com/our-history/ |publisher=The Tombs |access-date=January 27, 2023}}</ref>

==Comparable work==
On 5 June 2009, ''[[The Times]]'' 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.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110617012529/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/poetry/article6439548.ece Unpublished Poem by T.S. Eliot Reveals his Dislike for Cows at timesonline.co.uk]</ref> Morley's daughter, Susanna Smithson, uncovered the poem as part of the [[BBC Two]] programme ''Arena: T.S. Eliot'', broadcast that night as part of the BBC Poetry Season.<ref>[http://wherepoetrycrosses.blogspot.com/2015/06/ts-eliot-7-cows.html Arena]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===General references===
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book|title=Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats |url=https://archive.org/details/oldpossumsbookof00elio |url-access=registration | author=T.S. Eliot | publisher=Harcourt | year=1982 |isbn=0-15-168656-4}}
*Larsen, Janet Karsten (1982) "Eliot's Cats Come Out Tonight", ''Christian Century''. May 5, 1982, p.&nbsp;534.
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{FadedPage|id=20160525|name=Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats}}
*T.S. Eliot [https://books.google.com/books?id=M-CvglZWOK4C&q=old+possum%27s+book+of+practical+cats ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'']
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160803113327/http://www.bl.uk/works/old-possums-book-of-practical-cats ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats''] at the British Library
*[http://www.andrewlloydwebber.com/shows/cats/ ''Cats'' at AndrewLloydWebber.com]

{{T. S. Eliot}}
{{Cats navbox}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Old Possum's Book Of Practical Cats}}
[[Category:1939 poetry books]]
[[Category:British poetry collections]]
[[Category:Fictional cats]]
[[Category:Poetry by T. S. Eliot]]
[[Category:Cats (musical)]]
[[Category:Faber & Faber books]]
[[Category:Poems about cats]]