A CAT ADVERTISEMENT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2397, 1 March 1915, Page 5

A CAT ADVERTISEMENT

AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.. "Wanted, Iritt-ens for production of 'Seven Little Australians,' previous stage experience unnecessary. Apply stage door between 10 and 11 Saturday morning."' The aboye advertisement in last Friday's Dominion brought a storm of cats about the theatre management's ears. Yellow cats with acrobatic tendencies, mournful black cats, Satanic black cats, white cats, cats no longer white, and cats of an indescribable colour vied with each other to catch the selector's, eye. Never'before had been' gathered together so many stage-struck cats, and. the vocalisation in the neighbourhood of the Grand Opera House startled -the residents considerably. The means of transport used by the youthful cat traders were many and various. A cardboard hat-box .filled with an assortment of kittens was convoyed by a brown-legged youngster of eight, who offered "the lot for a bob." Other cats came in bran-bags .and market baskets. A little lady carried three disconcerted tabbies in her amis, blissfully unconscious that they were struggling to escape from the glamour and excitemont of a theatrical career. Eventually, little Miss Esma Cannon, who plays the baby in "Seven Little Australians," selected the kittens to bo used in the show, and tho purchase price • was fixed without haggling. Then, at. flip instigation of tho publicity manager, the happy band of children marched their cats to a cool-drink establishment, and heartlessly devoured ice creams, whilst tht kittens wailed patiently, and pondered over as strange an episode as will ever occur in the nine lives of tho most adventurous of tilewalkers.