24 Cat Dads From The Past

Cat ladies? Who needs 'em.

Frank Praytor, a Marine who rescued a kitten in Korea, 1952

usni.org

He named her Miss Hap and hand-reared her. More here.

Via the U.S. Naval Institute's Cats in the Sea Services page.

Guy Bogart, mayor of Beaumont, California, 1955

content.cdlib.org

My dream man? My dream office? BOTH.

Source: Beaumont Library District, via Calisphere.

Mr. Baker, a railroad traffic director in South Carolina, 1942

gstatic.com

Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt for LIFE. © Time Inc. Via the LIFE photo archive.

Poet Rod McKuen, 1967

images.google.com

Photo by Ralph Crane for LIFE. © Time Inc. Via the LIFE photo archive.

THIS f*ckin' guy.

images.google.com

At the black cat auditions for Tales of Terror, 1961. Photo by Ralph Crane for LIFE. © Time Inc. Via the LIFE photo archive.

This Chicago firefighter with his station's mascots, 1928

hdl.loc.gov

DN-0086445, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. Via the Library of Congress American Memory site.

The Beastie Boys

reviler.org

Facts: The liner notes to Check Your Head feature a bunch of cats, including a kitten in a snug-fitting sweater. There’s also a cat in the video for "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun."

Unknown photographer and source. Via Reviler.

This passed-out patron of Sammy's Bowery Follies, 1947

Flickr: usnationalarchives

More about Sammy's, an old New York fleabag saloon and "alcoholic haven," here.

Source: U.S. National Archives on Flickr.

This Chinatown opium smoker, early 1900s

content.cdlib.org

Source: California Historical Society, North Baker Research Library, San Francisco. Via Calisphere.

Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Munir Ertegun, 1944

images.google.com

Jowls on the left; cat lips on the right.

Photo by George Skadding for LIFE. © Time Inc. Via the LIFE photo archive.

French artist Balthus, 1956

images.google.com

Photo by Loomis Dean for LIFE. © Time Inc. Via the LIFE photo archive.

Harry Edwards, a miller in Bettws Gwerfil Goch, Wales, 1957

llgc.org.uk

Photo by Geoff Charles for Y Cymro. Source: National Library of Wales.

J. Johansson, a farmer in Åslunda, Uppland, Sweden, 1930s

flickr.com

Photo by Einar Erici. Source: Swedish National Heritage Board on Flickr.

Composer Alan Hovhaness, 1955

images.google.com

Photo by Gordon Parks for LIFE. © Time Inc. Via the LIFE photo archive.

Anthropologist Harold Scheffler, late 1960s

content.cdlib.org

Source: Mandeville Special Collections Library, University of California, San Diego, via Calisphere.

Wisconsin hermit Abraham Schmocker outside his log cabin, ca. 1885

wisconsinhistory.org

Photograph by Gerhard Gesell. Source: Wisconsin Historical Society.

Aviator John B. Moisant and Mademoiselle Fifi, 1910

upload.wikimedia.org

Moisant and Mlle Fifi made the first passenger flight across the English Channel on August 23, 1910. More here.

Source: Library of Congress, via Wikipedia.

This cop, who stopped New York traffic for a cat and her kitten, 1925

Via iconicphotos.wordpress.com

There's more to this story here.

Photo by Harry Warnecke for the New York News. Via Iconic Photos.

This guy, ca. 1840-1860

loc.gov

Source: Daguerreotype collection, Library of Congress.

Big band leader Sam Donahue with Hep, 1946

Flickr: library_of_congress

Source: Library of Congress on Flickr.

This long-suffering reader, 1960

openlibrary.org

From the book Siamese Cats by Louise Van der Meid, 1960. Photographs by the author. Source: Open Library.

Lord Frederick Leith-Ross, Britain's Chief Economic Advisor, 1939

images.google.com

You got your pipe and your books and your cat. What the f*ck else do you need?

Photo by Margaret Bourke-White for LIFE. © Time Inc. Via the LIFE photo archive.