Felina's Jellicle World

WHAT'S A JELLICLE CAT?

So, what is a Jellicle Cat? They don't actually tell you in the song! In the Jellicle Ball, they only tell you what Jellicles look like and what they do. Here's all I can find officially on the subject.

In The Making Of Cats, Andrew Lloyd Webber says "All cats are Jellicle Cats, essentially...and all dogs are Pollicle Dogs."

In Cats, The Book of the Musical, "...John Napier [designer] has followed the hints of T.S. Eliot's text, blending together the cat and human elements."

The basic agreement among fans is that Jellicle Cats are special in every way!

Special Features of T.S Eliot's Jellicles (as opposed to regular cats)

- Black and white, with bright black eyes
- Small
- Lively
- Pleasant to hear when they caterwaul ^_^
- Know how to dance
- Clean/fastidious
- Have three different names; an everyday name, a particular name, and a name that only the cat knows
- Were around in ancient Egypt as well as today
- Can run up walls
- Know how to go to the Heaviside Layer (cat heaven)
- Know spells and witch magic
- Live much longer than normal cats, eg more than 100 years

WHY I THINK JELLICLE CATS LIVE SO LONG

There are several clues in T.S. Eliot's poems to say that Jellicle Cats live longer than normal Cats. One of these is the poem Old Deuteronomy in which says "He was famous in proverb and famous in rhyme / a long while before Queen Victoria's accession". This referrs to Queen Victoria of England's rise to the throne, which was in 1837. T.S. Eliot only wrote his first Cat poem in 1931. Add the supposed years of "a long while before..." and Old Deuteronomy is over 100 years old.

And he's not even the oldest cat in the Junkyard! Gus the Theatre Cat is generally thought to be the oldest of all, and certain clues are given in his poem too. "He has acted with Irving / he has acted with Tree". Both these playwrights lived hundreds of years before Eliot's time. And in the Song of the Jellicles, it says "Jellicle Cats develop slowly" which makes sense, since Jellicle Cats apparently live several years longer than humans and humans only become adults after about 16-20 years.

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