OkcPets Magazine January 2024

8 OKC Pets • January / February 2024 FOCUS ON FELINES John Lennon makes friends with a tuxedo cat at a barn in the Missouri Ozarks in September 1964. Both look dapper in black jacket and white pants. Photo courtesy of the West Plains (Missouri) Gazette. J ohn Lennon (1940–1980) achieved spectacular international musical suc- cess and lasting fame with the Beatles, but he is also still known for his lifelong love of cats. Lennon was born in Liver- pool, England, on October 9, 1940. As a boy, he cycled to the fishmonger’s shop to buy hake for his cat. For a while after his father died, Lennon lived with his cat-loving Aunt Mimi and her husband. Lennon’s musical group the Quarrymen, formed in 1956, eventually included Paul McCartney and George Harrison. It evolved into the Beatles by 1960. Ringo Starr joined the group in 1962. Lennon married Cynthia Powell in 1962, and their son, Julian Lennon, was born in 1963. Lennon and his wife had as many as 10 cats. The first one was named Mimi for his aunt. The Beatles achieved success in 1963 and toured extensively, and 1964 was a banner year for them, with three huge accomplish- ments. Among their travels were their first two tours to the United States. Their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show drew 73 million television viewers. Their first movie, A Hard Day’s Night, was released in the summer. And in September 1964, the Beatles found themselves on a ranch in the Missou- ri Ozarks for part of a weekend. Reed Pigman, a Texas airline magnate, had been hired to fly the Beatles around on their second U.S. tour, which included 23 cities and 30 concerts within a month. After the group played a Friday night concert in Dallas, Texas, on September 18, Pigman flew them to Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, and then to an airstrip at his 12,000-acre ranch near Alton, Missouri. They arrived at 3 a.m. and played poker for the rest of the night. At the ranch that Saturday, they rode horses (a new experience for most of them), drove a car and Go-Kart around the barn, and played more poker. Starr also toyed with Woolworth cap guns while wearing a gun belt that Elvis Presley had given him. McCartney and Starr fished in the pond, but Harrison and Lennon hung out at the barn, where Lennon made friends with a black-and-white tuxedo cat. The Beatles and their crew flew out of the ranch at about noon Sunday to finish their tour in New York. The Beatles’ respite at the ranch was not generally known, but word leaked out. Some fans showed up at the gate to catch a glimpse. Some local newspapers and Time magazine reported on the visit. Their tale was recapped in a magazine article by Barbara Williams, “The Beatles Slept Here,” West Plains (Missou- ri) Gazette, No. 27, 1985, p. 91–94. In 1966, the Beatles stopped touring and concentrated on studio recordings, which was also phenomenally successful. The group disbanded in 1970. Lennon married Yoko Ono in 1969. They moved to Manhattan in 1971 and settled at the Dakota Apartments west of Central Park. They had a cat named Pepper. Their son, Sean Lennon, was born in 1975. Len- non often sketched cats and taught Sean to do the same. Although Lennon and McCartney, whose songwriting partnership remains the most successful in history, were estranged for some time, they had some cordial contact later. McCartney recalled that they talked about cats and other topics in phone con- versations late in Lennon’s life. On December 8, 1980, Beatles fan Mark David Chapman fatally shot Lennon at the entrance of the Dakota, a few hours after Lennon had signed an album for him. Lennon’s musical legacy is still stupen- dous. And his fondness for felines reverber- ates through the years too. A Hard Day’s Weekend John Lennon Connected with Cats Even on Tour by Rowena Mills