Cats Blackie and Brownie catching squirts of milk during milking at Arch Badertscher's dairy farm. 1954.Nat Farbman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
The above gallery features some familiar feline-friendly faces: There’s a 1959 photo of writer Ernest Hemingway, who collected six-toed cats, with a cat helping itself to a glass of water. (Hemingway’s cats may have drunk more than water, with one letter suggesting the author fed one named “Friendless” whisky and milk when he was feeling lonely and wanted to drink with somebody.) And there’s Fred Astaire palling around in 1962 with the Siamese cat that fellow film star Kim Novak, also pictured, had given him. “Animals loved Daddy,” his daughter Ava later told Vanity Fair‘s editor-at-large, Sarah Giles.
But it’s also clear that a cat can be a star whether or not its owner is famous. For example, in 1958, when Navy doctor Dietrich Beischer used magnet boots to train a kitten to chase a mouse upside-down, to get a sense of how humans would deal with weightlessness, the cat played an important role in the history of space travel. And as for a cat in a funny hat or a cat eating corn on the cob — well, some things never change. After all, every day is cat day in the age of social media.
For the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s International Cat Day this Tuesday — a purrfect excuse for such a gallery — here’s a look at 25 of the best feline photos in LIFE’s iconic archive of 20th century photography.
Kitten emerging from pot of milk after falling into it, 1940.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesAspiring ballerina Edwina Seaver relaxing on sofa at home with Siamese cat Ting Ling, 1940.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesA cat in a carrier during an air raid, 1941.John Phillips—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesPortrait of Blackie, LIFE photographer Gjon Mili's cat, 1943.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesA husky Persian cat posing with his ribbions and trophy at the Atlantic City Cat Show, 1945.Jerry Cooke—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty ImagesRudy the Dachshund and Trudy the cat engaged in hide and seek or"pounce on the dog" in prelude to friendly roughhousing wrestling match between the pet housemates. 1946.Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesBaby the Seeing Eye Cat, 1947.Loran F. Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCat on Wheels, 1948.Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesA cat named Monkey with a large hat collection, circa 1948/1949.James Whitmore—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNipper, the corn loving cat, 1951.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesRussian-born American operatic mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel sings as a cat named Blackie sits on a piano, 1952.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesSharon Adams, 10, playing in a snow drift as her cat maintains its comfortable perch atop her head, 1952.A. Y. Owen—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty ImagesDutch billiards prodigy Renske Quax feeding cream to his cat, 1953.Nat Farbman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCats Blackie and Brownie catching squirts of milk during milking at Arch Badertscher's dairy farm. 1954.Nat Farbman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesPets of the Lyng family, Mitten the cat, Tosen the dog and an unnamed mouse, 1955.Jytte Bjerregaard Muller—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty ImagesComposer Alan Hovhaness, working in score-littered studio with a black cat nestling amongst the papers on the piano, 1955.Gordon Parks—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesKim Novak playing with some Siamese cats that were used in one of her movies, "Bell, Book and Candle," 1958.Eliot Elisofon—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNaval researcher Dr. Dietrich Beischer testing effects of being upside-down for prolonged periods of time on a cat and mouse, 1958.Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesErnest Hemingway sitting while a cat drinks out of a water glass on the table, 1959.Tore Johnson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesOtto Preminger looking at stray cats on Venice street while attending Venice Film Festival at which his film "Anatomy of a Murder" was shown, 1959.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesBlack cats and their owners in line for audition and casting for the film "Tales of Terror," 1961.Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesOrdinary striped tabby cats waiting on beach as a man goes out into the water to catch fish, 1962.Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesFred Astaire dancing with his Siamese cat on his shoulder, 1962.John Swope—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty ImagesManipulation of light to create emotive and visual effects with a cat, 1963.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesPoet Rod McKuen playing record on stereo set while pet Siamese cat nuzzles his face affectionately, 1967.Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
