Celluloid and Canvas - James Mason

November 27, 2011



As part of my lifelong mission to convince the world that James Mason was a lovable sweetheart in real life, and not at all like the creeps he portrayed in movies such as Lolita and Georgy Girl, I present this fact: James Mason loved cats. So much so that he wrote a book about them with his wife. (Cue simultaneous aww's!) "The Cats in Our Lives" is a little tribute to all of the cats that Mason & his wife, Pamela Kellino, had known. Mason actually illustrated the book, as well!

It's been out of print for some time, and sat on my amazon wishlist for years without ever ending up in my shopping cart. Its rarity seemed to always go hand in hand with a pretty steep price. So I was absolutely over-the-moon with excitement when my brother gifted me a copy for my birthday this month!! I didn't even know until I opened the book that Mason had illustrated it! As soon as I saw all of the beautiful pen & ink drawings of furry felines, I blurted out "I have to scan this for my blog!"

And so here they are, all of the illustrations in "The Cats in Our Lives" by James Mason! If this doesn't convince you that he was a sweet old chap, I don't know what will! ;)

















































5 comments:

Wendymoon said...

Aw, how sweet! I like his style. Thanks for sharing these.

DKoren said...

AWESOME! I have wanted to see this book for ages, being a cat fan and a James Mason fan! There's a couple of his pics I'd love on my wall!

Thanks for posting this! What a cool birthday present!

6 Reels of Joy said...

I love these cat illustrations! They show the real personality of cats.

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing! These are really nice!

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing this - these are really nice!