The year was 1961… it was a year that:
- Barbie gets a boyfriend – the “Ken” doll is released
- “West Side Story” is released as a film, and wins Best Picture at the Oscars
- Grammy Awards for Record and Song of the Year go to “Moon River”, by Henry Mancini
- Six Flags Over Texas, the first of the Six Flags amusement parks, opens
- The Pulitzer prize for fiction is awarded to “To Kill A Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee
- Russian Yuri Gagarin is the first human in space
- Construction begins on the Berlin Wall
Measuring just 6″ x 9″, the yearbook was again a soft-cover, spiral-bound book, sold for the cost of $1.00. It had 105 pages, and ads from 35 catteries.
Only about 500 copies were ever printed – which combined with the fragility of a paperback publication with plastic spiral binding – makes it a very hard find these days!
Some notable items from the minutes of the Board Meetings that year were:
- The Territory of Hawaii was removed from the Northwest Region, and the State of Hawaii added to the Southwest Region.
- Blue tabbies are recognized as a new color, and accepted.
- The various shades of Cameo colored cats are accepted as part of the Persian colors.
- Registration rules were passed which required the word “of” to be placed in front of any cattery name suffix in the cats registered name.
1961 Show Season
The show season of 1960-61 had a total of 148 judging rings held. The first show of the season was held in August 1960, and the last show of the season was held in March, 1961 – a month longer than the previous show season lasted.
There was quite a large variety of formats at that time, and most shows only had a couple of rings each day. Often there was 1 Allbreed ring, 1 Longhair ring, and 1 Shorthair ring. For the few 2-day shows, one club would sponsor the rings on the first day, and a separate club would sponsor the rings on a second day. The breakdown of rings for this show season was:
| Allbreed | 48 |
| Shorthair Specialty | 41 |
| Longhair Specialty | 43 |
| Siamese Specialty | 2 |
| Tabby & Tortie Specialty | 3 |
| Silver Specialty | 3 |
| Solid Color Specialty | 3 |
| All Short Hair (Except Siamese) | 2 |
| Domestic Shorthair Specialty | 5 |
| Foreign Short Hair | 2 |
1961 Grand Parade
There were a total of 27 cats that earned their Grand Championship title during this show season – and the very first Grand Premier, a Persian – two years after the title was first added!!
Persian were by far the largest percentage that season, with 13 of the 28 grands being Persian.
The remaining grands consisted of 7 Siamese, 2 Burmese, 2 Abyssinians, 2 Manx, 1 Domestic Shorthairs (what we now call the American Shorthair), and 1 Russian Blue. These cats are listed/pictured below – only the cats’ name and owner was actually listed in the Yearbook itself, all other registration information has been added based on Stud Book entries.
GC Ben-Mar Minuet
Born: 5/22/1959
Reg number: 115-0088
Cream Persian Female
S: CH Nor-Mont Simone’s Randy
D: CH Willowood Sapphire of Ben-Mar
GC Bloemhill Pekoe
Born: 5/6/1958
Reg number: 114-0008, v88
Cream Persian Male
S: Nigrette’s Tereus of Bloemhill
D: CH Bloemhill Lorelei
CH, GP Cathay’s Katinka
Born: 4/15/1955
Reg number: 84-SB-259
Cream Persian Female
S: CH Longhill’s Lightning of Rosegate
D: CH Kathe Chickadee of Longhill
GC Las Montanas Silver Thistle
Born: 6/28/1952
Reg number: 64-SB-165, v64
Chinchilla Silver Persian Male
S: Las Montanas Flying Cloud
D: Kini’s Rag Doll de Las Montanas
GC Nor-Mont Confection
Born: 6/30/1958
Reg number: 58-5224
Blue Persian Female
S: GC Nor-Mont Applause
D: CH Nigrette Trublu of Nor-Mont
GC Nor-Mont Duchess
Born: 6/13/1957
Reg number: 57-1246, v88
Tortoiseshell Persian Female
S: GC Nor-Mont Applause
D: Longhill’s Matilda of Nor-Mont
GC Nor-Mont Saucy
Born: 6/21/1958
Reg number: 58-5174
Blue Persian Female
S: CH Nor-Mont Blue Legend
D: CH Ardith Ann of Nor-Mont
GC Nor-Mont White Chalk
Born: 5/25/1959
Reg number: 103-0148, v88
Copper-Eyed White Persian Female
S: CH Klinkhammer Topper of Castilia
D: Nigrette’s Trublu of Nor-Mont
GC Shawnee Moondance
Born: 8/1/1958
Reg number: 102-0044, v89
Copper-Eyed White Persian Male
S: CH Klinkhammer Topper of Castilia
D: CH Shawnee Moonflower
GC Sheromar’s Masterpiece
Born: 6/21/1956
Reg number: 93-SB-962
Chinchilla Silver Persian Male
S: CH Sheromar’s Shawn
D: CH Shawnee Dawnalea of Sheromar
GC Shy Pines Shy Guy
Born: 4/17/1955
Reg number: 92-SB-753, v86
Blue Persian Male
S: CH Windibank Solitaire
D: Flagstone’s Cutest Miss
GC Silver Mesa Miss Pixyanne
Born: 6/10/1953
Reg number: 69-SB-537, v69
Chinchilla Silver Persian Female
S: CH Sir Pixie of Silver Mesa
D: Cecilia Scotia of Silver Mesa
GC Southland’s Hit Parade
Born: 6/24/1958
Reg number: 106-0273, v89
Blue Persian Male
S: CH Southland’s Ensign
D: Southland’s Felice
GC Mizpah’s Anitra
Born: 2/27/1958
Reg number: 401-0042-3, v87
Sable Burmese Female
S: CH Ghirardelli Alla Mizpah
D: CH Antonica Pamphula of Mizpah
GC Mizpah’s Clancy
Born: 3/6/1959
Reg number: 400-0078-3, v88
Sable Burmese Male
S: CH Ghirardelli Alla Mizpah
D: CH Antonica Pamphula of Mizpah
GC Bridle Trail’s Sprite of Astra
Born: 3/29/1959
Reg number: 277-0323, v91
Blue Point Siamese Female
S: Bridle Trail Ping Mo
D: Singa Godiva of Bridle Trail
GC Fan-T-Cee’s Will-O-Wee of Tap Toe
Born: 2/27/1957
Reg number: 58-802, v87
Blue Point Siamese Female
S: Kabar Will o’the Wisp of Fan-T-Cee
D: Zagazig Chun Moi
GC Fan-T-Cee’s Enchantress
Born: 8/31/1957
Reg number: 273-0666, v87
Seal Point Siamese Female
S: Kabar Alexander The Great
D: Fatima of Fan-T-Cee
GC Green Lane Chulalongkorn
Born: 3/14/1958
Reg number: 272-0363, v87
Seal Point Siamese Male
S: CH Green Lane Vance
D: Green Lane Miranda
GC Kalyan Cha Mo
Born: 12/20/1957
Reg number: 58-2441, v87
Seal Point Siamese Male
S: Medicine Lake Pryns of Dalai
D: Kalyan Moka-Mo
GC Van-Lyn’s Dilly Boy
Born: 8/6/1958
Reg number: 274-0062-3, v88
Lilac Point Siamese Male
S: Van-Lyn’s Laddie of Town Point
D: Van-Lyn’s Adilli
GC Wewan Horatio of Pur-Ami
Born: 10/8/1958
Reg number: 272-0851, v87
Seal Point Siamese Male
S: Killdown Monty of Wewan
D: Ly-Lee Lee Kim of Wewan
GC Selene’s Firefly
Born: 1/10/1956
Reg number: 98-SB-947-A, v85
Ruddy Abyssinian Male
S: CH Ta-Lee-Ho’s Ipo of Ell-Mar
D: CH Caper Cat Trinket of Selene
GC Selene’s Tammy of Aberdeen
Born: 9/17/1957
Reg number: 58-151, v88
Ruddy Abyssinian Female
S: GC Selene’s Vignette of Willouise
D: CH Caper Cat Idyllwild of Selene
GC Akanta Mr. Quarternote of Far-Fin
Born: 3/2/1953
Reg number: 73-FR-300-2-M, v73
Black Manx Male
S: Mr Kelly
D: Mrs Kelly
GC Wila-Blite Zenith of JB
Born: 1/25/1959
Reg number: 605-0005-2, v88
Odd-Eyed White Manx Female
S: Be Sam Bo of Wila-Blite
D: Truantail Asure-Lee of Wila-Blite
GC Shawnee Marksman
Born: 3/31/1959
Reg number: 736-0030-3, v88
Silver Tabby American Shorthair Male
S: GC Gray Horse Farm’s Jentleman
D: CH Shawnee Sparkler
GC Casa Gatos Zarena O’Bograe
Born: 10/3/1952
Reg number: 69-SB-437-R, v69
Russian Blue Female
S: Casa Gatos Tsar
D: El Rosario’s Sonia de Casa Gatos
Related Articles
- Excerpts from the 1961 CFA Yearbook, Part 1 (Overview and Grand Parade)
- Excerpts from the 1961 CFA Yearbook, Part 2 (Blue Tabbies Accepted)
