Limelight: The cat's miaow By Lunbna Abdel-Aziz A tubby, chubby, skulking, lazy, cynical, wise- cracking, lasagna-loving cat has finally found his way to celluloid immortality. Garfield, the most popular comic strip character in the world who brought us such catchy phrases as "I would like mornings if they started later", now toplines a live-action computer-generated feature film directed by Pete Hewitt with voice-over by Oscar- nominated comedian Bill Murray, and fans are rushing to see their idol on the big screen. Everyone agrees that it is about time Garfield became a major motion picture star. After so many small screen successes, honours, Emmys and awards, Garfield and his big broad ego are now ready for the big time on the big screen. Created by cartoonist Jim Davis in June 1978 in 41 US newspapers, Garfield has been popular among all age groups for over a quarter of a century. Some months following its debut the Chicago Sun Times cancelled the strip, but quickly re-instated it after receiving thousands of angry letters of protest, and has printed it regularly ever since. Today Garfield is read in 2,570 newspapers by 263 million readers around the globe. Recently, the Guinness World Book of Records named Garfield "The Most Widely Syndicated Comic Strip in the World". Why is Garfield so well loved? Because we all view him with a sense of envy. Whether five or 50, everyone relates to Garfield on some level. Children love his physical humour, teens identify with his resentment of authority. As for adults, who does not relate to an unmotivated, inactive, sleep- loving, over-eating ("I would rather pig-out than work-out"), fat cat?! He speaks for all of us because he has the courage to do what we do not dare do. Who else is more worthy of superstar status? There lies the big, fat, orangy, crotchety, selfish, lazy cat on the largest, most comfortable lounging chair in front of the television hurling insults at his beleaguered owner Jon, while feasting on his favourite food, lasagna, as he surveys the scene. It could not get any better -- but things are about to change drastically for King Garfield. Cats have held centre stage in the universe for over 40 million years. It all started with a small weasel-like animal, the "Miaci" which lived 50 million years ago, believed to be the ancestor of cats as well as other mammals such as bears, dogs and raccoons. Today's domestic cat is a direct descendant of an African wildcat tamed by the Ancient Egyptians, possibly as early as 3,500 BC. Egypt was a good home for cats and those were the best of times. The ancients recognised their worth for killing rats, mice and snakes, thus saving their farms and storehouses. Anyone caught harming a cat was punished by law; they gradually became pampered, revered, and honoured in paintings and sculptures. Worshipped as gods and mummified, archaeologists have uncovered a cat cemetery containing more than 300,000 cat mummies. From the Middle East cats spread to Asia where they were greatly admired for their grace and beauty and became favourite subjects for artists and writers in China and Japan. But their special place of reverence came tumbling down when they journeyed to the continent of Europe. During the Middle Ages cats were considered symbols of evil, associated with the devil and witchcraft. Hundreds of cats were killed, which ultimately led to a huge increase in the rat population and the spread of the bubonic plague that killed 25per cent of Europe's inhabitants during the 1300s. You cannot keep a good cat down-for long. By the 1600s cats were back in favour, travelling on boats to the New World with colonists and explorers to keep rats from getting to their supplies. Today they are on top of the world, old and new. Cats are the number 1 pet, overcoming dogs' popularity. Love them or hate them they generate a multi- billion dollar industry and have become a force to be reckoned with. Though they have not been as popular on the screen as the many Lassies and Black Beauties, the feline community is coming into its own in a string of television shows, films and musicals that celebrate their artful playfulness and mercurial magic. Some of us may still recall the tender closing act in Breakfast at Tiffany's when a wet and weepy Audrey Hepburn frantically seeks, finds, and hugs her drenched pet CAT. Misbehaving, rhyming Cat in the Hat, Dr Seuss's classic creation, finally found his way to the big screen. Hundreds of other books are available, fiction as well as non-fiction, to satisfy feline lovers of all ages. Dozens of cat cartoon characters have thrilled children and their parents from Felix to Sylvester, Burke to Bag Puss. Who doesn't love the elegant Duchess in Disney's The Aristocats, and will Jerry ever escape his nemesis Tom, or does he really want to? Who does not cherish Lewis Carrol's "Cheshire Cat" in Alice in Wonderland appearing and disappearing at will? How about Dick Whittington, that hero who makes a fortune for his owner, just like Puss 'n Boots who fools lords and dukes and steals the show? As for the longest show on Broadway, CATS, ran for over 18 years, dazzling more than 50 million patrons and collecting over $2 billion in ticket sales, it was adapted from TS Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, set to music by Andrew Lloyd Weber. There are of course the lady cats or the cat ladies like Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Nastassja Kinski in Cat People (1982) and coming soon the world awaits the pleasure of seeing Oscar winner Halle Berry as Catwoman or Patience Phillips transformed by a magical twist of fate into a wonder-woman with the strength, speed and agility and ultra-keen feline intuition. It's enough to make you purr! The list of cat lovers is long and impressive: Sir Isaac Newton, Abraham Lincoln, Alexandre Dumas, Charles Dickens and Ernest Hemingway, among many others; Renoir and Monet included them in their paintings. Cats have lived in alleys and on rooftops, at the Vatican and at the White House. Winston Churchill commissioned a painting of his favourite orange tabby cat Jock, who not only attended all the wartime cabinet meetings but slept every night in his bed. Dr Albert Schweitzer 1952 Nobel Prize winner, became ambidextrous because his cat Sizi would fall asleep on the doctor's arm, forcing him to begin writing prescriptions with his other hand. The Prophet Mohamed when called for prayer found his cat Muezza sleeping on the folds of his sleeve. Rather than disturb the sleeping cat, the holy prophet cut the sleeve off his coat. Back to our movie: Garfield's world turns topsy turvy when his owner, hapless, loveless Jon falls for a veterinarian and brings home an adorable tail-wagging dachsund pup to share Garfield's kingdom. The wise-cracking cat is for the first time in his nine lives, left speechless -- and the adventures begin. Cat owners have long been aware of the dual nature of their pets, affectionate domestics one minute, fearless hunters the next. Perhaps because cats' alliance with humans is fairly new (they have been domesticated for only 4,000 years, compared to 14,000 for dogs), they remain aloof and mysterious. That is part of their charm. They keep their distance, and "their behaviour is never removed from that of their cousins in the wild." By day comforting and loving companions for millions of young and old, by night ruthless hunters that stalk their prey with a keen sense of sight and smell. "To share one's life with a cat, is to invite a bit of wilderness indoors." A subconscious fear of their wild side has made me resist the many charms of the feline clan despite having a mother, a sister and a daughter, all of whom are devoted cat lovers. My admiration has been limited to the brilliantly vivid portraits of Nobel Laureate TS Eliot's lyrical, lilting rhymes. Who can resist his parade of dazzling, diverse, intriguing, crafty felines, like the Jellicle cats, Mr Mistoffelees, the Rum Tum Tugger, Asparagus, Old Deuteronomy or my personal favourite, the artful, skilful, shifty, "Macavity, the Mystery Cat"? Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity, He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare, And when you reach the scene of crime -- Macavity's not there TS Eliot, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
