[397] in Humor
HUMOR: Kitty Video
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (abennett@MIT.EDU)
Tue Aug 9 09:25:59 1994
From: abennett@MIT.EDU
To: humor@MIT.EDU
Date: Tue, 09 Aug 94 09:22:26 EDT
Why should you be the only couch potato?
-Drew
Date: Tue, 02 Aug 1994 17:43:37 -0600 (MDT)
From: Espacionaute Spiff domine! <MATOSSIAN%ARIES@VAXF.Colorado.EDU>
From: bostic@CS.Berkeley.EDU (Keith Bostic)
Forwarded-by: cate3@netcom.com (Henry Cate)
"Kitty Video" idea landed on its feet
("There are 56 million cats in America and no videos for them.")
Author: Diana White, a Boston Globe columnist, appearing in the
San Jose News.
I had doubts about "Kitty Video," the first entertainment video
strictly for cats. It had to be a joke.
And if it wasn't a joke, did Killer really need a high-tech cat
toy?
The tape was on sale at Killer's veterinarian's, whose staff could
have taught the ancient Egyptians a thing or two about cat worship.
The receptionist was enthusiastic about "Kitty Video." Cats love
it, she said. Video catnip, she said. I handed over $20 and brought
it home.
The tape came with instructions: "How to Teach Your Cat to Watch
TV." Is this necessary, I wondered? Killer watches TV all the time.
"Most cats are not accustomed to watching television and will need
some assistance to learn this human skill," the instructions began.
"First, make sure your cat will not be distracted when watching the
video. Loud music, too many people in the room, and other animals can
be disrupting and can cause a lack of concentration on the cat's part."
I ordered my husband out of the room.
There was a warning among the instructions. "Caution: Do not leave
your cat alone while the video is playing. If the cat should leap at
the screen it could cause damage both to furnishings and to the cat."
Following the instructions, I placed Killer on my lap and started the
tape. Birds appeared, cheeping, twittering, fluttering, eating worms.
They were small birds - sparrows, larks - but they looked huge on the
TV screen, the size of 12-pound turkeys. That didn't faze Killer at
all. He was fascinated. He jumped out of my lap and sat transfixed in
front of the television for a full 20 minutes until, ignoring
instructions, I left him alone and went into the kitchen. Killer
followed. He has his priorities.
So, while "Kitty Video" may be a joke in one sense, it's a joke that
works. It amuses cats. Whose idea was it? Who would think of such a
thing? I called Lazy Cat Productions, in Stillwater, Okla., and spoke
with the producer, Jane Talkington.
She said, modestly, that she couldn't take credit for "Kitty Video"
concept. It was her cat's idea. Of course. Kitty, her cat, loves to
watch wildlife specials, but loses interest when the background music
and voice-overs are intrusive. Talkington made the rounds of local
video stores asking if they had any wildlife tapes aimed at cats.
"They looked at me like I was crazy," she said.
So she decided to produce one. "I thought: There are 56 million cats
in America and no videos for them," said Talkington, who was a
marketing major at Oklahoma State when "Kitty Video" began to take
shape. "Here was a market waiting to be tapped."
She hired a wildlife photographer who videotaped hours of bird action
in a local sanctuary. Then they tested the tapes on cats. "They
responded best to small, quick birds, a lot of movement," Talkington
said. "And they seemed to like it best when the birds' backs were
turned."
Talkington marketed the tape through cat magazines, veterinarians'
offices, pet stores and catalogs. Last Christmas it was one of the
hottest selling items in the Nieman-Marcus catalog, she said.
The financial return on "Kitty Video" has been "fabulous," Talkington
said, although she wouldn't say how fabulous. It hasn't been fabulous
enough to enable her to quit her job demonstrating computers. But
she's made enough to invest in a sequel, "Kitty Video II," a bird,
mouse and maybe even fish-filled extravaganza coming soon to a pet
store or veterinarian's office near you.
