Jellicle cats are a fictional type of feline from T. S. Eliot's 1939

light poetry Light poetry or light verse is poetry that attempts to be humorous. Light poems are usually brief, can be on a frivolous or serious subject, and often feature word play including puns, adventurous rhyme, and heavy alliteration. Typically, light ...

book ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats''. Jellicle cats were first mentioned in Eliot's 1933 poem "Five-Finger Exercises" and later developed in ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats''. They were given further characterization in

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...

's 1981 stage musical ''

Cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of t ...

'', which was based on Eliot's book. The large cast of diverse cats is an important part of the

worldbuilding Worldbuilding is the process of constructing a world, originally an imaginary one, sometimes associated with a fictional universe. Developing an imaginary setting with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, and ecology is a key task fo ...

of ''Cats''. Many of these characters originated from Eliot's book, while others are named after characters from other works by Eliot or were invented for the musical.

Background

"Jellicle cats" are briefly mentioned in T. S. Eliot's 1933 poem "Five-Finger Exercises", although they are not described until Eliot's poem "The Song of the Jellicles", where Jellicle cats were depicted as commonly nocturnal black and white, scruffy cats. Specifically, Eliot mentions that they like to gather at an event called the "Jellicle Ball". The name "Jellicle" comes from an unpublished poem by Eliot entitled "Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats", where "Pollicle dogs" is a corruption of "poor little dogs" and "Jellicle cats" of "dear little cats". In contrast with their original poem, the Jellicles in ''

'' possess many kinds of coat-patterns, diverse personalities and individual talents. Many of the ensemble characters were created by the original 1981 London cast through extensive

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

sessions held during the rehearsal process. Musical theatre scholar Vagelis Siropoulos noted that the level of detail given to each character was crucial in fleshing out the fantasy world of ''Cats'', with even the minor cats having established personalities, relationships and hierarchies within the tribe. In the musical, sub-plots involving individual Jellicle cats include the struggle of

Grizabella Grizabella the Glamour Cat is a main character in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical ''Cats''. Lonely and decrepit, Grizabella seeks acceptance from the other Jellicle cats but is initially ostracised. She sings the most famous song from the musical ...

, a former "glamour cat", and the kidnapping of the Jellicle

patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...

Old Deuteronomy Old Deuteronomy is a character in T. S. Eliot's 1939 ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' and its 1981 musical adaptation, '' Cats''. He is a wise and beloved elderly cat, further serving as the Jellicle patriarch in the musical. The role of O ...

. A total of 54 cat names are given in ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'', most of which Eliot derived from British culture, including references to

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

traditions, historic and literary figures, as well as geographical locations. When not taken from a corresponding eponymous poem, many of the character names from the musical are taken from Eliot's poem "

The Naming of Cats "The Naming of Cats" is a poem in T. S. Eliot's 1939 poetry book ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats''. It was adapted into a musical number in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 musical '' Cats'', and has also been quoted in other films, notably '' Lo ...

In popular culture

Although originally published as part of a collection of poems, "The Song of the Jellicles" was published by

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

in 2017 as a standalone

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

titled ''Jellicle Cats''.

Madame Tussauds New York Madame Tussauds New York (UK /təˈsɔːdz/, US /tuːˈsoʊz/; the family themselves pronounce it /ˈtuːsoʊ/) is a tourist attraction located on 42nd Street in the Times Square neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Madame Tussaud ...

features

wax figure A wax sculpture is a depiction made using a waxy substance. Often these are effigies, usually of a notable individual, but there are also death masks and scenes with many figures, mostly in relief. The properties of beeswax make it an excell ...

s of a few of the Jellicle cats from the musical, including one of Grizabella that sings "Memory". In Season 1 Episode 35 of Dungeons and Daddies, titled "The Jellicle Ball", the Daddies play a game of "Throw ball, catch ball, take it to the end of the field" with a team of Jellicle cats. In season 1, episode 2 of Bojack Horseman titled “Bojack Hates the Troops”, jellicles are mentioned in a song when the character Princess Caroline, who is an anthropomorphic cat, makes Bojack hold while calling him. In the 1976 film

Logan's Run ''Logan's Run'' is a science fiction novel by American writers William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Published in 1967, the novel depicts a dystopic Malthusianism future society in which both population and the consumption of resource ...

, the old man at the end offers Logan to trade one of his Jellicle cats to Logan.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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