A Visit with Matilda at the Algonquin Hotel

Steve and his female (my humans) are back from their visit to New York City, and as I had hoped, they were granted an audience with Matilda, the house cat at the famous Algonquin Hotel. When Steve and the female entered the hotel and asked to see Matilda, they were told that she was off-duty and not seeing anyone. Fortunately, Steve used his cache as the co-author of The World Is Your Litter Box, and voila… they were led into the inner sanctum at the Algonquin – well, okay, the luggage room – where they found Matilda resting from the rigors of her job running the hotel and looking cute for the guests. That’s Steve in the photo above, giving Matilda a well-deserved petting.

Later, Steve and his female had drinks at the Algonquin (which were ouchie-expensive, but what the hay), and what did they discover right behind their chairs… one of Matilda’s favorite sleeping places, as evidenced by the authentic Matilda kitty hair in the photo below...

Matilda, who is the latest in a long line of house kitties dating back to the 1930s at the Algonquin, is very sweet, so if your humans live in or go to New York City, be sure they stop in and say hello. And tell her Quasi sent you.

The REAL Reason for My Humans' Trip to NYC

Steve and his female (my humans) are going to New York City for a few days to visit friends and just generally goof around in the Big Apple. But the REAL reason for their trip, so they’ve assured me, is to meet Matilda, the famous Algonquin Hotel kitty (shown above), and enlist her help in promoting my books (those would be The World Is Your Litter Box and The World Is STILL Your Litter Box in case you’d forgotten!).

The Algonquin Hotel, which is famous for its writer’s round table of the 1920s, has had a house kitty since the 1930s, with Matilda being the latest. Naturally, Matilda has become a big celebrity in New York, so it will be quite exciting to make her acquaintance, even if it is only through Steve and his female.

Of course, with Steve and the female gone, me and my housemates, Bo Diddley and Piglet, will be left at home alone – well, not actually alone… we’ll be cared for by our wonderful pet sitter.  But still, as always when the humans go away, they will pay dearly for their transgression in the form of household damage. I just might cut them a little slack, though, if they bring me back a pawtographed photo of Matilda.

KITTY FASHION SHOW AT THE ALGONQUIN

The historic Algonquin Hotel in New York City was the site of another very historic event on Thursday…a feline fashion show with actual cats instead of pouty, anorexic human models. The show was held in honor of Matilda, the house cat at the Algonquin, and all proceeds benefited the North Shore Animal League, an adoption shelter on Long Island. The kitty-models were provided by the Westchester Feline Club, and the high-tone fashions were created by Meow Wear.

All you intellectual cats and humans know the Algonquin as the site of Dorothy Parker’s famous Round Table literary luncheons in the 1920s. I personally attended several myself when I was Robert Benchley in a previous life. The fashion show was held in the very dinning room where the Round Table luncheons occurred.

Matilda, shown in the photo above, is the ninth house cat at the Algonquin. The kitty tradition began in the 1930s with Hamlet, a bedraggled stray found by actor John Barrymore. And hey, Matilda… next time I’m in New York, I’ll stop by and we can claw up a chair in the Oak Room together.