The Book, Cat, & Cat Book Lovers Almanac

of historical trivia regarding books, cats, and other animals. Actually this blog has evolved so that it is described better as a blog about cats in history and culture. And we take as a theme the advice of Aldous Huxley: If you want to be a writer, get some cats. Don't forget to see the archived articles linked at the bottom of the page.

December 16, 2019

December 17, 1887

Josef Lada (December 17, 1887 to December 14, 1957) was a Czech illustrator who is still well-known in his home country. His pictures have a certain sweetness and often feature a black cat who dresses like a person, and has adventures on his own. It is hard to interpret from the outside how Josef Lada survived under a soviet government. Here is a blurb from a tourist site:



Czech painter, cartoonist and writer, the creator of the famous tomcat Mikeš and other animal characters, ruthless caricaturist and illustrator of many fairytales, as well as books for adults. Hašek’s good soldier Švejk could not have wished for a better companion and interpreter. Some of Lada’s unforgettable creations include illustrations that accompanied poems by Jaroslav Seifert and fairytales by Jiří Mahen or stage and setting for theatre plays and films, such as “Teasing the Devil” according to Jan Drda. Josef Lada was a poet, yet also a humorist. He was a poet of the landscape surrounding his birthplace Hrusice and we are all familiar with Lada’s countryside thanks to pictures we have come across frequently since very early childhood.

Hills and slopes covered in green forest, the Sázava river, small village churches and ruins of old castles. Perhaps this romantic landscape is home to nymphs, fairies, water sprites and white angels to this day.


Here is a picture of his best remembered creation:




And a list of Mike the cat films:

The Adventure of the Magic Stick
Expedition to Hrusice
The Fairy Tale about Kokes the Goat
Grandmother Tells a Fairy Tale
How Herod Recovered
How Mike the Cat Saved Bobes
Lysaj's Dream
Mike The Cat - A Hero
Mike The Cat and His Magic Stick
Mike The Cat and the Circus
Mike The Cat at a Fair
Mike The Cat at Home
Mike The Cat Gets Lost
Mike The Cat Learns to Speak
Mike The Cat Picks Pears
Mike The Cat Practises Sorcery
Mike The Cat Tells a Fairy-Tale
The Mysterious Tom-Cat
Nacicek Goes Shopping
The Organ-Grinder's Fairy Tale
Pepik the Painter
Scary Mike The Cat
Sultan the Detective
Surprise in Hrusice
What Uncle Malinovsky Said
Worries About Granny

and to close we have m
ore Mikeš

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