Archive for April, 2014

1901: The Thespian Horse College at Ben-Hur Stables in Gramercy Park

Posted: 26th April 2014 by The Hatching Cat in Horse Tales
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In the late 1800s and early 1900s, when the use of live horses and other animals in grand productions on the big stage was all the rage, a thespian college for quadruped actors was just what the doctors ordered. Drs. Martin J. Potter and Samuel S. Field, to be specific.

1935: The Peacock That Caused a Standoff at the Plaza Hotel

Posted: 19th April 2014 by The Hatching Cat in Birds and Pigeons
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On November 11, 1935, a blue peacock decided to make his escape from who knows where and lead numerous grown men on a four-hour chase through the streets of New York. It’s a plane! It’s a bird! It’s a peacock! Imagine walking down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on a Monday morning and seeing a peacock […]

1904: Fitzsimmons and the Feline Police Squad of New York’s General Post Office

Posted: 13th April 2014 by The Hatching Cat in Featured Felines
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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States government allocated funds to feed hundreds of cats that were “hired” to catch rats at post offices and other federal buildings.

1871: Rosalie Goodman, the Crazy Cat Lady of New York’s Lower East Side

Posted: 5th April 2014 by The Hatching Cat in Crazy Cat Ladies, Featured Felines
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Before there was a Seward Park on Essex Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, there was a square block of old wooden houses and crumbling brick tenements where hundreds of immigrants and alley cats made their home.There once was a woman named Rosalie Goodman who lived in a dilapidated frame tenement house on […]