One of my numerous former employers has for years tantalized us with the possibility of a massive exhibition of items from its collection related to dogs and/or cats. I never had anything to do with that branch of the place, but I would bet anything that one of the reasons this has never happened is because the cat people want a cats-only display and the dog people…remind me to tell you some day about the staff barbecue which included a Cutest Pet contest, in which the two halves of staff immediately chose up sides and staked out their territories. (This never reached the level of food fight, because on our salaries we were not going to waste a single hot dog bun.) They COULD mount an exhibition of dogs AND cats, but that would require careful counting, since neither side would allow the other to have an advantage and there would need to be exactly the same number of kitties and puppies in the exhibit.
It occurred to me, while cogitating on that ancient feud, that although I have treated of dogs in this space, AND cats, I have never considered the postcards which show both. Those of us who grew up with classic animated cartoons, particularly Tom and Jerry but also the works of Disney, Warner Brothers, and similar artists’ studios, MIGHT assume the majority of dog and cat postcards involve the eternal chase: Dog after Cat (after Mouse.)
But this doesn’t seem to be the case. My inventory, as well as a look at the offerings of other postcard mavens online, suggests that the two cartoon animals are more often involved with romance.
It’s another one of those dissertation topics I keep tossing out to my readers that society observes certain conventions in the portrayal of the sexes. Paintings from ancient Egypt and other cultures, for example, show women as being lighter skinned than men, though presumably both had to work out in the sun. It has also long been a convention in art and cinema that the hero is always taller than the heroine (really tall actresses were generally relegated to comic relief.) And in these romantic dramas featuring cats and dogs, the dog is almost always the boyfriend, while the cat is the girlfriend. (Cats are always grooming their hair and dogs pee in public: I get it.)
The pairing was ideal for postcard cartoonists of course. Not only did it offer comic possibilities, but there was a Romeo and Juliet touch of forbidden affection underlying your story. (Of course, Romeo and Juliet itself is centimeters away from turning into a comedy, with those preposterous parents, the messages that go astray, the “we’ll pretend you’re dead” plot…I think Shakespeare made the right choice, but what if…where were we?)
In effect, of course, in the “boy chases girl” teen romance fashion, we DO have dogs chasing cats in these postcards.
Although we are pretty close here to a dog chasing a dog gag (or dog AND cat chasing a dog. THAT would have been a new twist on…excuse me, I have to go send a note to a movie studio. Hallmark, here we come.)
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