Cleveland Amory (September 2, 1917 – October 14, 1998) was an American author, reporter, television critic, commentator and
animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
activist. He originally was known for writing a series of popular books poking fun at the pretensions and customs of society, starting with ''The Proper Bostonians'' in 1947. From the 1950s through the 1990s, he had a long career as a reporter and writer for national magazines and as a television and radio commentator. In the late 1980s and 1990s, he was best known for his bestselling books about his adopted cat, Polar Bear, starting with ''
The Cat Who Came for Christmas
''The Cat Who Came for Christmas'' is the first book in a trilogy written by Cleveland Amory, an American author who wrote extensively about animal rights. Amory recounts his rescue and adoption of Polar Bear, a cat he featured in two future book ...
'' (1987). Amory devoted much of his life to promoting animal rights, particularly protection of animals from hunting and
vivisection
Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experiment ...
; the executive director of the
Humane Society of the United States
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is an American nonprofit organization that focuses on animal welfare and opposes animal-related cruelties of national scope. It uses strategies that are beyond the abilities of local organizations. ...
described Amory as "the founding father of the modern animal protection movement."
Early life
Amory was born September 2, 1917, into a privileged and established
Boston Brahmin
The Boston Brahmins or Boston elite are members of Boston's traditional upper class. They are often associated with Harvard University; Anglicanism; and traditional Anglo-American customs and clothing. Descendants of the earliest English colonis ...
family; his parents were Robert Amory and Leonore Cobb Amory, daughter of Chicago architect
Henry Ives Cobb
Henry Ives Cobb (August 19, 1859 – March 27, 1931) was an architect from the United States. Based in Chicago in the last decades of the 19th century, he was known for his designs in the Richardsonian Romanesque and Victorian Gothic styles. ...
.
[Bernard, Unti. "Cleveland Amory."The Animals' Agenda 18.6 (1998): 12.] During his childhood, he had a great affection for his aunt Lucy "Lu" Creshore, who took in many stray animals and was instrumental in helping Amory get his first puppy as a child, an event that Amory remembered seventy years later as the most memorable moment of his childhood.
In 1936, when he was 18, Amory held a summer job as tutor and companion to 13-year-old
William Zinsser
William Knowlton Zinsser (October 7, 1922 – May 12, 2015) was an American writer, editor, literary critic, and teacher. He began his career as a journalist for the '' New York Herald Tribune'', where he worked as a feature writer, drama edito ...
, who grew up to be a notable writer and editor. Zinsser later recalled that they had many discussions about their shared interest in journalism, which at that time was not considered a suitable profession for upper-class young men. After attending
Milton Academy
Milton Academy (also known as Milton) is a highly selective, coeducational, independent preparatory, boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts consisting of a grade 9–12 Upper School and a grade K–8 Lower School. Boarding is offered ...
, Amory went to
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
where he was president of ''
The Harvard Crimson
''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...
''.
Career
Early career and social history trilogy
After graduating from Harvard in 1939, Amory became the youngest editor ever hired by ''
The Saturday Evening Post
''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...
'', a position he held until 1941 when he left to serve in the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Amory served in
military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
from 1941 to 1943. Upon returning, he worked as a writer and reporter for various publications. Around 1945, Amory witnessed a bullfight in
Nogales,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
which strongly influenced him to become an activist for animal rights.
Starting in the late 1940s, Amory gained fame for writing a series of bestselling social history books, starting with ''The Proper Bostonians'' (1947) and continuing through ''The Last Resorts'' (1952) and ''Who Killed Society?'' (1960), that satirized the pretensions of the upper class society, particularly in Boston, where he had grown up. In 1952, he became a regular columnist for the weekly magazine ''
Saturday Review''. He continued to write the column for 20 years, until 1972. He also wrote articles for many other publications. In the spring of 1955, he traveled to France with his then-wife Martha for an assignment with the
Duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...
and
Duchess of Windsor
Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused a ...
.
[Greenwald, Marilyn. "" A Pen as Sharp as a Stiletto": Cleveland Amory as Critic and Activist." Journalism history 32.1 (2006): 13–21.] Amory agreed to ghostwrite the Duchess' autobiography, but after realizing that she wanted him to sugar-coat her life, he quickly left the project.
[
]
''Today'' show commentator
In 1952, Amory was hired as a commentator on the NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
morning news and talk television program ''Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now''
* Current era, present
* The current calendar date
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...
'', which at that time was new and the first of its genre in the world. He provided a televised commentary every few weeks, usually containing light humor or satire. Because his subject matter tended to be light, the network did not review his planned commentaries in advance. Amory continued as a popular regular commentator for eleven years until 1963, when he was fired in one of his first controversial moments relating to his views on animal rights.
In 1963, Amory learned that the American Legion
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...
in Harmony, North Carolina
Harmony is a town in Iredell County, North Carolina, United States. The town was incorporated in 1927 and is located in northeastern Iredell County and lies in the eastern portion of the North Carolina High Country. It is primarily located in Tu ...
, planned to sponsor a "bunny bop" rabbit killing contest. At that time, wild rabbits in the United States were widely regarded as both agricultural pests and game animals for hunting and eating. After learning of the "bunny bop," Amory and his assistant traveled to Harmony to engage in a debate with its planners.[ When he returned, instead of the usual lighthearted commentary expected by the ''Today'' show management, Amory proposed, on air and during viewers' breakfast hour, the formation of a hunt club where human hunters would be tracked down and killed for sport, arguing that killing hunters in cold blood would be humane and kind owing to their overpopulation.][ Viewer response was overwhelmingly negative and Amory was quickly reprimanded by NBC President ]Julian Goodman
Julian Byrn Goodman (May 1, 1922 – July 2, 2012) was an American broadcasting executive and journalist.
Personal
He was born in Glasgow, Kentucky and graduated from Glasgow High School. Goodman took a hard stance in support of the first amend ...
.[ Just a few months later, Amory again voiced controversial animal rights opinions during his ''Today'' show segment by speaking at length about the evils of vivisection—the abuse of animals in laboratory experiments.][ Although Amory did not entirely oppose the scientific use of animals, he strongly believed that many of them were being inhumanely and needlessly mistreated.][ His commentary drew opposition from a number of scientists, and he was abruptly fired from the ''Today'' show with no warning or reprimand.][
]
Later career and ''Cat'' trilogy
As time went by, the subject matter of Amory's published work increasingly focused on animal rights. From 1963 to 1976, Amory was a television critic for ''TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' magazine, where he drew the ire of hunters for his biting criticisms of sports hunting programs. His book ''Man Kind? Our Incredible War on Wildlife'' (1974) detailed inhumane hunting practices, sparking an editorial in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and a CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
documentary on hunting, ''The Guns of Autumn''. Amory also presented a daily radio essay called "Curmudgeon at Large". Later he wrote a syndicated column called "Animail" and served as a senior contributing editor of ''Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...
'' magazine from 1980 to 1998.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Amory wrote another series of bestselling nonfiction books about Polar Bear, a stray, starving white cat whom he had rescued from a Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
street on Christmas Eve 1977. ''The Cat Who Came for Christmas
''The Cat Who Came for Christmas'' is the first book in a trilogy written by Cleveland Amory, an American author who wrote extensively about animal rights. Amory recounts his rescue and adoption of Polar Bear, a cat he featured in two future book ...
'' (1987) spent twelve weeks at #1 on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list. Its sequels, ''The Cat and the Curmudgeon'' (1990) and ''The Best Cat Ever'' (1993, published after Polar Bear's death), also were bestsellers.
In 1988, Amory made his only feature film appearance in the role of "Mr. Danforth" in the comedy-drama ''Mr. North
''Mr. North'' is a 1988 American comedy-drama film starring Anthony Edwards and featuring Robert Mitchum and Lauren Bacall, based on the novel '' Theophilus North'' (1973) by Thornton Wilder.
Directed by Danny Huston, the film became a family ...
'', starring Anthony Edwards.
Animal rights work
Director and president of organizations
Beginning in the early 1960s, Amory, while maintaining his career as an outspoken reporter and commentator, began to devote an increasing amount of his time to animal rights organizations. In 1962, he joined the board of directors of the Humane Society of the United States
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is an American nonprofit organization that focuses on animal welfare and opposes animal-related cruelties of national scope. It uses strategies that are beyond the abilities of local organizations. ...
(HSUS), remaining there until 1970. Amory also served as president of the New England Anti-Vivisection Society
The New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS) is a national, registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization "dedicated to ending the use of animals in research, testing, and science education" and replacing them with "modern alternatives that are ...
(NEAVS) from 1987 until his death in 1998.
The Fund for Animals
In 1967, Amory founded the Fund for Animals with a planned focus on protecting animals from hunters and creating animal sanctuaries. The Fund struggled during the first years of its existence but became known in 1979 for sponsoring a removal by air and land of 580 Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...
burro
The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
s slated for destruction by the National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
.[ Amory later fought a similar battle to prevent the killing of San Clemente Island's goats by the ]Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philippin ...
.[ By the time Amory died in 1998, the Fund had a "$2 million budget, more than 200,000 members, and three animal sanctuaries, and had initiated several high profile animal rescues, including the organic 'painting' of baby ]harp seal
The harp seal (''Pagophilus groenlandicus''), also known as Saddleback Seal or Greenland Seal, is a species of earless seal, or true seal, native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. Originally in the genus ''Phoca'' with a number ...
s off the Magdalen Islands
The Magdalen Islands (french: Îles de la Madeleine ) are a small archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with a land area of . While part of the Province of Quebec, the islands are in fact closer to the Maritime provinces and Newfoundland th ...
in Canada to ensure that their fur was worthless to hunters."[
In 2005, a few years after Amory's death, HSUS formed a corporate combination with the Fund for Animals.]
Black Beauty Ranch
Inspired by Anna Sewell
Anna Sewell (; 30 March 1820 – 25 April 1878)''The Oxford guide to British women writers'' by Joanne Shattock. p. 385, Oxford University Press. (1993) was an English novelist. She is known as the author of the 1877 novel ''Black Beauty'', her ...
's novel ''Black Beauty
''Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse'' is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she was bedridden and seriously ill.Merriam-Webster (1995). ...
'', Amory established the Black Beauty Ranch, a 1,460-acre sanctuary that sheltered various abused animals, including chimpanzees, burros and elephants.[Wand, Kelly. The Animal Rights Movement. Greenhaven Press: 2003.] Located in Murchison, Texas
Murchison is a city in Henderson County, Texas, United States. The population was 594 at the 2010 census.
Geography
Murchison is located northeast of the center of Henderson County at (32.278405, –95.755179). Texas State Highway 31 passes ...
, this ranch accommodated over 600 resident animals.[ Amory's goal when creating the animal refuge was to "create a sanctuary where its inhabitants would roam unfettered and unbothered by human taskmasters."][ The words on the ranch's gate are taken from the final lines of Sewell's novel: "I have nothing to fear, / and my story ends. / My troubles are all over, / and I am at home."][
The original rationale for creating the ranch was to have a sanctuary for the many burros rescued in 1979 and the early 1980s by the Fund for Animals. The Ranch became the largest sanctuary sponsored by the Fund. One of Black Beauty's most famous residents was a 25-year-old chimp named ]Nim Chimpsky
Neam "Nim" Chimpsky (November 19, 1973 – March 10, 2000) was a chimpanzee and the subject of an extended study of animal language acquisition at Columbia University. The project was led by Herbert S. Terrace with the linguistic analysis head ...
who had been used in language experiments when young and then sold as a laboratory animal.[
The ranch was the fulfillment of a longtime dream for Amory. He explained in his 1997 book ''Ranch of Dreams'': "It was not long after reading Black Beauty for the first time that I had a dream that one day I would have a place which would embody everything Black Beauty loved about his final home. I dreamed that I would go even a step further—at my place none of the horses would ever wear a bit or blinkers or check reins, or in fact have reins at all, because they would never pull a cart, a carriage, a cab, or anything else. Indeed, they would never even be ridden—they would just run free."][
Black Beauty Ranch is currently operated by HSUS.]
Support of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
In 1978, Amory purchased the first oceangoing vessel for Captain Paul Watson
Paul Franklin Watson (born December 2, 1950) is a Canadian-American conservation and environmental movement, environmental activist, who founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an anti-poaching and direct action group focused on marine c ...
, the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation activism organization based in Friday Harbor, Washington, Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. Sea Shepherd employs direct action t ...
. Watson used this boat in his first actions against the Japanese whaling fleet. Amory took part in many campaigns such as the one waged by Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society against whaling and sealing.[
]
Influence on celebrities
Amory, who had many prominent persons and celebrities in his social circle, was noted for influencing celebrities to support animal rights. He reportedly enlisted Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics.
Born and rai ...
, Andy Williams
Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...
and Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956.
Kelly ...
, and he also recruited Doris Day
Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...
, Angie Dickinson
Angeline Dickinson (née Brown; born September 30, 1931) is an American actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough role in ''Gun the Man Down'' (1956) wit ...
, and Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore (December 29, 1936 – January 25, 2017) was an American actress, producer, and social advocate. She is best known for her roles on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' (1961–1966) and ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977), which ...
for his campaigns against fur clothing.
Personal life
Amory was married twice. His first wife was Cora Fields Craddock in 1941; they divorced in 1947. His second wife was actress Martha Hodge, whom he married on December 31, 1954. The couple divorced in 1977. Amory had one stepdaughter by his second marriage.
Amory enjoyed playing chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
and was a member of the New York Athletic Club
The New York Athletic Club is a private social club and athletic club in New York state. Founded in 1868, the club has approximately 8,600 members and two facilities: the City House, located at 180 Central Park South in Manhattan, and Travers ...
.
Death
Amory died in 1998 of an abdominal aortic aneurysm
Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a localized enlargement of the abdominal aorta such that the diameter is greater than 3 cm or more than 50% larger than normal. They usually cause no symptoms, except during rupture. Occasionally, abdominal, ...
. He was cremated and his ashes were spread across Black Beauty Ranch by his favorite burro, named Friendly.
Today, on Black Beauty Ranch, a stone monument to Amory stands beside the monument and burial site of his beloved cat, Polar Bear.[
]
Awards and honors
Amory was inducted into the U.S. Animal Rights Hall of Fame
The Animal Rights National Conference is an annual conference in the United States. Started in 1981 under a different name, since 2000 it has been organized by Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM).
History
In the 1970s, Alex Hershaft started not ...
in 2000, for his dedicated work on behalf of animals.
Works
Written
All books are nonfiction, unless noted otherwise.
* ''The Proper Bostonians'' (1947)
* ''Home Town'' (1947) (novel)
* ''The Last Resorts'' (1952)
* ''Who Killed Society?'' (1960)
* ''Celebrity Register'' (1963) (with Earl Blackwell
Samuel Earl Blackwell Jr. (May 3, 1909 – March 1, 1995) was an American businessman who was a celebrity promoter and, later, celebrity tracker. In 1939, he founded Celebrity Service, which spawned '' The Celebrity Bulletin'' in 1952. )
* ''Man Kind? Our Incredible War on Wildlife'' (1974)
* ''Animail'' (1976) (collection of Amory's syndicated columns)
* ''The Trouble With Nowadays: A Curmudgeon Strikes Back'' (1979) (fictional satire)
* ''The Cat Who Came for Christmas
''The Cat Who Came for Christmas'' is the first book in a trilogy written by Cleveland Amory, an American author who wrote extensively about animal rights. Amory recounts his rescue and adoption of Polar Bear, a cat he featured in two future book ...
'' (1987)
* ''The Cat and the Curmudgeon'' (1990) (alternate title: ''The Cat Who Stayed for Christmas'')
* ''The Best Cat Ever'' (1993)
* ''Cleveland Amory's Compleat Cat'' (1995) (collection of all three "Cat" titles)
* ''Ranch of Dreams'' (1997)
Edited
* ''Vanity Fair, A Cavalcade of the 1920s and 1930s'' (1960) (ed. with Frederic Bradlee)
* ''A Treasury of Great Recipes: Famous Specialties of the World's Foremost Restaurants Adapted for the American Kitchen'' (1974) (ed. with Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...
, Mary Price, and Martha Amory)
See also
*List of animal rights advocates
Advocates of animal rights support the philosophy of animal rights. They believe that many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as in avoiding suff ...
References
Further reading
* Marshall, Julie Hoffman. ''Making Burros Fly: Cleveland Amory, Animal Rescue Pioneer''. Johnson Books, Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...
, 2006. .
* Greenwald, Marilyn S. ''Cleveland Amory: Media Curmudgeon & Animal Rights Crusader''. University Press of New England
The University Press of New England (UPNE), located in Lebanon, New Hampshire and founded in 1970, was a university press consortium including Brandeis University, Dartmouth College (its host member), Tufts University, the University of New Hampsh ...
, Lebanon, New Hampshire
Lebanon is a city in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 14,282 at the 2020 census, up from 13,151 at the 2010 census. Lebanon is in western New Hampshire, south of Hanover, near the Connecticut River. It is the home ...
, 2009. .
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amory, Cleveland
1917 births
1998 deaths
20th-century American non-fiction writers
American animal rights activists
American conservationists
American television critics
Anti-vivisectionists
Deaths from abdominal aortic aneurysm
The Harvard Crimson people
Milton Academy alumni