Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
Starring: Kevin Hooks, Michael Gorrin
Directed by: Robert M. Young

Cat Out of the Bag Alert!  This review contains MAJOR spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: This made-for-television children’s special was the winner of a Peabody Award. J.T. Gamble (Kevin Hooks) is a quiet boy struggling while growing up in a tough Harlem neighborhood when he finds and nurses a sick stray cat.

Featured Feline: J.T. is a shy boy who loves his transistor radio, but the tough kids are always trying to steal it from him. One day before school the boys are chasing him and he runs into a condemned building to escape the bullies. It is there that he finds the tuxedo cat who has a bad eye and is sickly.

J.T. goes to school but can’t stop thinking about the cat. At lunch he packs up his food and returns to the building, finding the cat in an old stove.

J.T. shares his lunch with the cat, who is starving.

Before leaving, J.T. wraps his scarf around the cat.

The next day J.T. uses his mother’s credit at the corner market to get some canned tuna which he brings to the cat.

He even leaves the cat his prized radio to listen to while he is gone.

J.T. keeps sneaking back to the building to care for the kitty, nursing him back to health. He fixes up the stove so that it is more comfortable and sheltered from the rain, brings drops for the cat’s eye and even makes him a little patch to wear while the eye heals.

He keeps the cat a secret and eventually gets in trouble with the store owner, Mr. Rosen (Michael Gorrin) and his mother when they find out he’s been charging cans of tuna. But J.T. is devoted to the cat.

Kitty Carnage Warning:  One day the bullies find J.T. and play “keep away” with his radio. When J.T. gets it back, one of the bullies gets the cat from the stove and holds it up. The boy runs toward the street with the cat with J.T. chasing him, but the boy slips and falls and the cat runs into the street and is hit by a car (not actually shown on the screen). Mr. Rosen comes out to see J.T. crying over the cat (whose body is never seen). He then realizes why the boy had been charging the tuna.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer):  Later Mr. Rosen comes over to J.T.’s apartment carrying a basket. He tells J.T.’s mother and grandmother, Mama Meley (Theresa Merritt) that he has brought something for the boy. In the basket is a tuxedo kitten.

The grandmother calls it a miracle, but J.T. is aloof.

Later that night, the kitten is in the basket next to J.T.’s bed and eventually wins the boy over. This is a very sweet Christmas special that is totally heartbreaking but heartwarming at the same time.

Final Mewsings: Cats and people often find each other when they need each other the most.

Many thanks to Ted Davis for letting us know about this special.

Relevant Links:

To discuss this film and other cats in movies and on television, join us on
Facebook and Twitter.