The Breakthrough Cat Role That Never Happened

On Cinema Cats we obviously focus on the cats of the silver screen. But sometimes a juicy cat role comes along that shows promise but never becomes a reality.

This happened when film director Maxwell Shane set out to make a film version of the John Jennings book The Salem Frigate. Much was written in various newspapers about the impending film which Shane was originally to write and produce for Universal International. But one article by United Press Correspondent Aline Mosby garnered unexpected attention when it ran in numerous papers, including The Johnson City Press (Johnson City, Tennessee) on May 13, 1948:

Newest Film Hero Will be a One-Eyed Cat

    HOLLYWOOD, May 13 (UP) — Sleepy people who heave tin cans at battle-scarred cats howling on the back fence had better lay off. One of those critters might turn movie star and haul home a fortune.
    In this project he’ll be aided by movie-maker Maxwell Shane.
    Mr. Shane today announced a talent search for a one-eyed cat.
    He thinks dogs and horses have been the upper crust of the movie animaldom long enough. Cats ought to get in on this scene-stealing, too.
    We have Lassie the Pooch, Trigger the Nag. There’s even an old black crow running around who pulls down a neat salary. But is there a feline with a big name, a fat contract and caviar in her icebox? No, sir.
    This Mr. Shane proposes to remedy.
    The lucky yowler he picks will have a part (although you know with any sense he could steal the whole picture) in a movie, “The Salem Frigate.” That’s the John Jennings sea epic Shane is writing and producing for U-I.
    The part, you can relay to reluctant cats, looks pretty big. The purrer goes to sea with two men. Now a sailor is no sissy. So this cat star can’t be a bored, sleek Persian snatched off a velvet pillow.
    Mr. Shane wants a cat who’s, er, lived. Also with one eye. That’s where those guys on the back fence come in.
    “In the story,” he tells us, “the cat is one-eyed, scarred and tough. His name is Skipper. We can make up a cat to look scarred, but he’d have to be really one-eyed. We couldn’t fake that.”
    Don’t put out your cat’s eye to get in the movies, though. If Shane can’t find a one-eyed puss he’ll settle for one with two blinkers.
    Shane first will send a crew to scour the city animal shelters for stray warriors hauled from the alley battlefields. If that’s in vain, he’ll notify the public to submit their nominees.
    Shane promises Skipper will get a contract, in the hopes other screen-writers will bring themselves to put one-eyed cats in their stories. Well, they could always put him in a movie of H. Allen Smith’s book “Rhubarb,” a cat that inherited a baseball team.
    Skipper, of course, will get enough dough for filet mignons and much catnip to get loaded on. He also will be insured, says Shane, in case a door gets in the way of his tail or some jealous dog actor tries to beat him up.
    The producer – writer – director figures he’s cashing in on a new trend.
    “The world is getting to be a sucker for cats,” he said. “A few people have a morbid fear of cats. But most people like them. The dog and horse are on their way out. The new heart-breaker on the screen is the cat.”

Oddly enough a quick search of the contents of the book shows no cat at all (granted we have not read the book thoroughly) so how it was decided a cat would co-star in this film seems puzzling to begin with. And contrary to Maxwell Shane’s claims there had been notable cat actors (Pepper, Puzzums and Whitey to name but a few.) It is very interesting that Aline Mosby would mention Rhubarb in this article. As if predicting the future, almost the exact same public announcement would be made when that film adaptation was announced, and in that case a true feline Hollywood celebrity was found in Orangey Murray. But that’s a story for another day.

So what happened to the the role of Skipper? An even better question is what happened to the screen adaptation of The Salem Frigate?

The film was in pre-production for quite some time with various newspaper articles chronicling its progress (or lack thereof) from 1947 through 1949. It seemed like it was always “the next film” on Shane’s roster. Casting appeared to be the movie’s biggest issue. Noted in various articles as being possibilities for the male leads were Burt Lancaster, Gar Moore, John Wayne, Colonel Wilde, Zachary Scott, Wallace Beery and Fred MacMurray. (Shane suggested in one interview that Gregory Peck or Dana Andrews would be his choice to play the lead role of Tom while it was rumored that Errol Flynn was anxious to appear in the film as well). Among those hinted at for the female lead were Ann Richards, Susan Hayward, Ella Raines and Gene Tierney.

Salem, Massachusetts (one of the settings in the book) was chosen the main location where nothing short of a film colony would be set up. Sea Captain Yoel Dunder was to serve as the technical director. Shane teamed with Maxwell Geffen to create Geffen-Shane Productions to produce the film, planning to film in Technicolor with a budget of $1,500,000. At one point June 1, 1948 was set as the starting date of filming, even though the movie had not yet been cast.

All of this appeared to be in vain as the picture apparently never went into production even after two or more years of speculation. Those who were hopefuly that their one-eyed cats might become the next big Hollywood thing fortunately didn’t have to wait that long to have their dreams dashed. Less than a month after her original article, Aline Mosby followed up with another more cynical piece, copied here from the June 4, 1948 issue of The Salt Lake Tribune. If she sounds a bit bitter, it might be that she felt a bit used. After all, this makes it sound as if Maxwell Shane made a complete 180-degree pivot from what he originally said he wanted! (Note that a majority of open casting calls for cat actors are little more than publicity stunts, as appears to be the case here.)

Hollywood Producer Cancels Search for One-Eyed Cats

    HOLLYWOOD, June 2 (UP) — Well, sir, they’ll do it every time. Another Hollywood nation-wide talent search has ended with the searcher settling for local talent. Even a hunt for a one-eyed cat.
    Producer Maxwell Shane put every cat-lover in near hysterics when we reported he was on the prowl for a one-eyed kitty to star in his movie.
    He has decided to turn a local two-eyed pussy into Hollywood’s first cat star.
    He has found four trained felines right here, any one of which he could use. Why import one? He’s sorry, but you umpteen thousand people will have to leave your aspiring cats on the back porch.
    This has a familiar ring. Paramount scoured the world for a second Shirley Temple. It signed a moppet from Pasadena, 15 miles away. An “unknown amateur” was wanted for “Miracle of the Bells.” The winner was Valli. She acted in 110 Italian pictures before she came to Hollywood.
    For the benefit of folks who came in late, Mr. Shane wanted a yowler for the John Jennings sea epic, “The Salem Frigate.” He wanted a tough cat. With one-eye, he said.
    There isn’t one cat star in the movies, so Shane started from — pardon the expression — scratch.
    People phoned. They rapped on his back door. They sent cats to the studio. He couldn’t see ’em. He’s allergic to cat fur. He sneezes. His eyes water. So an assistant peered over the one-eyed cats.
    He reported: they weren’t pretty.
    “I don’t think people enjoy looking at a cat with a bad eye,” Shane explained. “We decided to hire a two-eyed cat and put a black patent leather patch over one eye. That will be cuter, anyway.”

    With the search widened to two-blinkered cats, it was a cinch. Four tough, trained two-eyed tomcats showed up. Shane’s giving ’em screen tests any day now.
    Meantime the rest of the country hauled battle-scarred cats off the back fence and began writing letters. Rose Greenburg of Baltimore wanted Shane to hire her one-eyed cat who chases dogs, probably why it’s one-eyed. Mrs. Barbara Drago of Brooklyn wrote she has two one-eyed cats.
    Mrs. Ruth Langer, a New Yorker, advised the producer he was off his trolley. She said get a trained cat and forget about the alley kind; they’re too stubborn. He agreed.
    Wrote George Hall of Homosassa Springs, Fla.: “I have a cat with seven toes on each front foot.”
    Dave Woods, a 16-year-old from San Jose, Cal, bragged his tomcat had a “flair for the dramatic.” Mrs. J.E. Williams wired from New York she gladly would send her one-eyed sailor cat who was the mascot on her husband’s ship.
    We were fascinated by the entry of Joseph Olano of New York City. He has a cat, two-eyed, named Princess Mickey. This cat, according to the clippings he sent us, is a Conover model. She wears diamond tiaras and long white gowns at cat shows. She is a ham and loves to pose for pictures, Mr. Olano, who knows his Hollywood, added.

It should be noted that Princess Mickey was featured in the British Pathé newsreel New American Fashions for Pets as well as the educational short film Alphabet Antics. Just think, if she had won the role of Skipper and ended up playing a scroungy one-eyed cat it might have been the greatest animal performance of all time! Ah, what might have been . . . .