HOLLYWOOD CAT TALE

CAT BIKER

Teaching your cat a really unusual behavior can be a ticket to animal-training success, as my friend Karl Mitchell proved with his remarkable cat.

The first time I saw his cat, I was headed for the parking area on the upper lot at Universal Studios. A motorcycle roared by me up the hill with the rider hunched over against the wind. Between the handle bars in front of him was a small black cat. Hi ears were flattened against his head and he leaned skillfully with the turns.

"How the heck does the fellow have that cat tied on?" I wondered.

They skidded to a stop. The cat adjusted his position and began purring and licking the base of one of his own back legs that was pointing straight up in the air. It was evident that he hadn't been tied on at all - the cat had been holding himself in position on the bike!

The young man introduced himself as Karl. I realized he was the young man who had been phoning me persistently for several days - the same one I had just as persistently been avoiding. He wanted met to help him become a professional trainer.

He and Mitten, his cat, had finally decided to try to surprise me with a performance in the parking lot.

I liked the fellow's pleasant smile and his open admission that he had engineered this meeting. I held and examined Mitten. He was gentle and friendly - a very good cat - but he had one big disadvantage. "Black cats aren't all the rage for television and movies," I said. "They're hard to light."

Geel, I never thought of that. I thought Mitten was something special. I'm sorry I bothered you, Mr. Berwick. I won't waste any more of your time." Karl's shoulders slumped in dejection as he turned away.

"Hang on a minute," I said. "Black cats are not exactly in demand, but..." The shoulders quickly straightened - a touch of hope.

"But a black cat on a motorcycle, that may be something else," I finished.

"I was hoping you'd say that," Karl said, smiling and turning back to me. "Would you show me how to train my cat for the movies?

"Well, now, let's make a deal," I countered. "You show me how you got him to ride that motorcycle and I'll show you how to train him to perform on camera."

Karl's gamble paid off. Motivation and persistence can be far more valuable that "lucky breaks." Karl soon became a regular trainer on the Universal Studios tour, and within months, Mitten was a first-rate actor. He subsequently appeared in two movies and several television series, including "Fantasy Island."

- Ray Berwick

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