by Linda Kay

Directed by: Seymour Friedman

Synopsis: Betty Foster (Margaret O’Brien) falls for Bobby (Allen Martin Jr.), the new boy at school, and even follows him to summer camp to try to win his affection.

Kitty Cameo: When Bobby needs to buy wood to build a boat ramp as part of a camp competition, Betty gets the brilliant idea to “borrow” the money from the safe in her father’s office located at his ice factory. She drags her little brother, Herbie (Jimmy Hunt), along for the heist. The children have a way to sneak into the building which incredibly entails them walking across a beam over a vat of boiling liquid which produces ammonia! Somehow they manage to get across but alert the night watchman who comes to investigate as they make their way back. As the children climb up into the vent which leads outside, Irving (Dick Rich), the night watchman, hears something being knocked over and turns his flashlight to catch a shadow moving across the wall.

“All right, I see ya!” he yells before shooting at the shadow (guess he planned to ask questions later!) It turns out what he saw was a calico cat which thankfully is not shot but saunters casually into frame to stop and make a snack of a convenient tasty morsel on the floor.

Behind the Scenes

The cat trainer on the film was a pre-Rhubarb Frank Inn. Inn had made a name for himself training cats specifically, notably the longhair grey tabby named Dinah who starred in The Return of October in 1948.

Even though the cat’s scene is incredibly short, it did warrant a syndicated Associated Press article in numerous papers across the counter, including the Syracuse Herald Journal on October 10, 1950:

Movie Cat Has Two Stand-Ins

    HOLLYWOOD (AP) — This movie cat not only has a stand-in, but the stand-in has a stand-in.
    The pussy was supposed to scat when Margaret O’Brien entered a room in a “Romantic Age” scene. But, according to Trainer Frank Inn, cats become sulky and lose interest after rehearsing a few times. Then, when the camera really turns, they’re apt to stalk off the set in disdain.
    To get the shot, Inn used three identical felines from the same litter. Although the first two became properly bored in rehearsals, the third was spry and springy for the “take.”

There is no film titled The Romantic Age starring Margaret O’Brien, but this 1951 movie is the closest that fits the bill and the inclusion of a cat scene in which O’Brien is slightly involved seems the most likely to be the incident cited in the article. The idea that multiple cats need to be used for movie shoots still fascinates reporters to this day, although there is no mention of the carefully placed treat implemented to make the cat actor hit their mark.

Final Mewsings: Cats don’t let ammonia or flying bullets interfere with their enjoyment of a tasty tidbit.

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