December 7, 1888

We remember Heywood Broun (December 7, 1888 to December 18, 1939) as a member of the Algonquin Round Table. He in fact came up with the description of it as "the vicious circle." But his story is much more interesting, Here is one summary:

'Rabble-rousing reporter and columnist Heywood Broun covered World War I as a foreign correspondent in France, then became famous as a columnist for the New York World, writing frequently about the injustice of racism and censorship, and in support of Americans persecuted for their views from Margaret Sanger to John T. Scopes. He ran for Congress on the Socialist ticket in 1930, unsuccessfully, and was expelled from the party in 1933 for speaking at a Communist Party rally. He founded the Newspaper Guild and served as that press union's first president.

'Broun was briefly engaged to ballerina Lydia Lopokova, who later married economist John Maynard Keynes. His wife, Ruth Hale, was America's first widely-read female movie critic, made headlines for her refusal to adopt her husband's last name, and served as first president of the feminist Lucy Stone League, of which Broun was also a member. They were divorced in 1933 but continued living together until her death. His second wife, Connie Madison, had previously been married to vaudeville and silent screen star Johnny Dooley.....'

Among Broun's books is a collection of articles: It Seems to Me, 1925-1935  (1935)

and there we find this story, "Marion The Cat," which starts:

'Marion, the cat, has come back, and I don't know exactly what to think about it. Since she is about to give hostages to fortune, I can't say exactly that I am glad, and yet she arouses my admiration. Not because she is going to have kittens. In the feline world such accomplishments are both common and casual, but I must say that she does know her way around the big city. One week ago I appealed to a soft-hearted female and said, "Take that damn cat away from here ...'