How Catty of You Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bremen

The fairy tale "The Town Musicians of Bremen" starts with the four farm animals gathering after being retired by their respective masters. They decide to go to Bremen, but on their way discover a gang of four robbers looting a cottage. The animals form a pyramid: the dog on the donkey's back, the cat climbing the dog, and of course the rooster on top of them all. When the animals all scream out on the top of their lungs, the robbers panic and flee. Now the animals take over the farm for a little repos. One of the robbers returns at night, but he is fought off by the animals: the cat claws open his face, the dog bites his leg, the donkey hits him by kicking backwards, and the rooster pecks at his eyes.
"Meow! I'm Meryl Streep, JanIQ's favourite feline. I find this story quite interesting, but usually we cats don't associate with those other animals that are far beneath our dignity."
Meryl continues: "Hamelin (Hameln in German) is known for the fairy tale of the Pied Piper hired to catch a plague of rats. Why they chose a piper instead of a number of my companions, is not clear. But in the end they would have fared better with us".
Magdeburg is the site of the experiment with the vacuum hemispheres. Nuremberg (in German Nürnberg) is another German city, best known for the Nazi party rallies and the Nazi trials. "Phew", says Meryl, "why aren't there any cats involved with these cities? It's so boring."

Answer: Berlioz

The movie starts with an elderly lady changing her last will and testament in favour of her pet cats: Duchesse, the white mother and three kittens: Marie (white with a yellow hair band), Toulouse (ginger, wearing a blue bow tie) and Berlioz (grey/black, wearing a red bow tie). But Edgar, the butler, decides to get rid of the cats, and collect the inheritance himself. Edgar's schemes are thwarted by the intervention of various other animals, such as Thomas O'Malley the alley cat.
Duchesse teaches her kittens various artistic pastimes: Marie sings, Toulouse paints and Berlioz plays the piano. Soon after their encounter with Thomas O'Malley and his gang, Duchesse falls in love with Thomas.
Meryl Streep (JanIQ's pet cat) has some comments too. "I'm so sorry JanIQ doesn't own a piano, I'd love to play such an instrument. But I have to limit myself on retyping JanIQ's quiz questions."

Answer: Carice Van Houten

The movie to which I refer, is "Minoes" - a Dutch movie based upon a story by Annie MG Schmidt. Minoes is a stray cat who turns into a gracious young woman after licking some toxic waste, but still presents some feline habits. She informs the journalist Tibbe of a sinister plot.
Carice Van Houten, who played Minoes, was born in 1976. She started her acting career in 1997 in the TV series "Het Labyrint". Highlights in her international career are the role of Nina von Stauffenberg in "Valkyrie" (2008) and the role of Melisandre in the TV series "Game of Thrones" (starting in 2012).
By the way, Catwoman (played by Halle Berry and by Michelle Pfeiffer) starts out as a young woman and adopts some feline traits. And Minerva McGonagall (role by Maggie Smith) is not young at all.
"Meow!" That's Meryl Streep once more, my pet cat. "I don't quite like the way Halle Berry and Michelle Pfeiffer play Catwoman, they don't even lick their armpits. They're so unclean, a true disgrace for all cat kind. Maggie Smith as Professor Minerva McGonagall or her alter ego of a tabby cat is far better, although Minerva's feline alter ego doesn't wash up either - in none of the Harry Potter movies."

Answer: Felix the Cat

Pat Sullivan studios started the series of "Felix the Cat" cartoon movies in 1919. There is a little controversy whether Pat Sullivan himself or his chief animator Otto Messmer invented the character.
Between 1919 and 1928 a total of 168 silent cartoon movies were released, with titles such as "Feline Follies" (1919), "Felix in Hollywood" (1923), "Felix Brings Home the Bacon" (1924) and "Felix the Cat Misses His Swiss" (1926).
With the arrival of sound movies, the silent cartoons lost much of their popularity. But the sound cartoons didn't pan out either. About 15 sound cartoons were made, with titles as "Romeeow" (1929) and "Felix the Cat Woos Whoopee" (1930). The three Technicolor sound movies made in 1936 (including "The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg") were the last efforts to distribute the Felix empire.
"Meow! I'm Jessica Lange, JanIQ's very shy pet cat. I just popped in to say I don't quite fancy the TV cartoons "Tom and Jerry" (1940-1967) or "Tweety and Sylvester" (1945-1966). After all, which cat would be lured by a mouse or a caged bird? We are far better than these tiny preys."
"Meow too! This is Meryl Streep, JanIQ's prime pet cat. I quite like Garfield, although there haven't been any theatrical releases of cartoons. The first full length movie was in 2004, just before my birthday". JanIQ adds that there were about a dozen "Garfield" cartoons aired from 1980 onwards.

Answer: Erin Hunter

In 2003, the editing company HarperCollins asked Victoria Holmes to start a fantasy series involving feral cats. Victoria created the outline, but the actual writing was done by Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Tui Sutherland, Gillian Philip, Inbali Iserles and Rosie Best.
To assure that the series would be available at one single spot in libraries and bookstores, Victoria Holmes and the other authors chose to share the pseudonym Erin Hunter. All these ladies writing under the name Erin Hunter describe the fortunes and tribulations of four different clans of wild hunting cats, and this from their point of view. For instance, humans are consistently named "twolegs".
Besides the main series, there have also appeared several manga stories, some field guides (explaining the backdrop of the story), and some super editions (books of about double the length of one instalment from the main series.
"Meow!" Meryl Streep, my prime pet cat, has to say something. "I don't consider humans as twolegs, but only as potential pet slaves. Whoever is around each and every day and gives me food (preferably salmon, tuna or smoked trout) and shelter, can count on some cuddles."
"Meow too!" That's Jessica Lange speaking, my other pet cat. "Those big smelly creatures remind me of King Kong, that huge ape. And they don't wash themselves as frequently as we do."
I'll add that Suzanne Collins wrote the "Hunger Games" trilogy, that Rick Riordan started the series "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" and that JK Rowling found fame and fortune after publishing the "Harry Potter" series. 

Answer: Maurice Ravel

The composition to which I refer is "L'enfant et les sortilèges" ("The Child and the Spells") by Maurice Ravel. It sketches a young mischievous child, who doesn't want to do homework ("J'ai pas envie de faire ma page"). Then by some unexplained magic the furniture comes to life, and various animals and plants join in to the complaints uttered by the furniture about how rude they all were treated by the child.
"Meow!" That's Jessica Lange, my shy cat speaking. "With this duo, Ravel has contributed to the misperception that we cats don't like harmonious music. But I like to have some romantic opera accompanying my supper."
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was a French composer, best remembered for his ballet "Bolero" (1928) and his orchestral works "Pavane pour une enfante défunte" (1910) and "Le tombeau de Couperin" (1919). But he left us also an opera ("L'heure espagnole", 1907), two complete ballets ("Daphnis et Chloe" and "Ma mère l'oie", both premiered in 1912), and the piano concerto in D for the left hand (1930).
Mozart did join forces with four other composers in 1790 for a singspiel titled "Der Stein der Weisen" ("The Philosopher's Stone"). One of the arias in this rarely performed work (and indeed composed by Mozart himself) was the cat duet "Nun liebes Weibchen".
The most famous cat duet is the one attributed to Gioacchino Rossini, based upon his opera "Otello".
Saint-Saens started his "Carnival des Animaux" with a lion roaring on two pianos.

Answer: Spot changes its pattern of spots

Lieutenant Commander Data, the Chief Operations Officer (role by Brent Spiner), is an android eager to explore human emotions. So he takes a pet (or rather, as it is a cat, he is under the spell of a pet). Spot is a recurring character in four different seasons of "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
But whereas Spot is first introduced as a male long-haired Somali cat, later on she appears as a female European shorthair striped tabby, giving birth to a litter of kittens. In the episode "Genesis" (when she delivers a litter of healthy kittens), Spot and many of the crew members have been afflicted by a virus that makes them evolve into more simple creatures. After seeing the kittens are all right, Data can prepare an antidote and save the day.
"Meow! Don't you ever dare touching our kittens!" That's both my cats in unison: Meryl Streep and Jessica Lange. Of course they shouldn't be afraid I would ever touch their kittens, for they're both neutered.

Answer: Siamese

Lilian Jackson Braun (1913-2011) wrote and published 29 novels about Jim Qwilleran, a journalist, and his two Siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum who help him to solve various crimes. The series started with "The Cat Who Could Read Backwards" (1966) and ended with the published novel "The Cat Who Had Sixty Whiskers" (2007). A thirtieth novel was cancelled by the publisher.
Koko and Yum Yum display in each and every novel some remarkable behaviour, which eventually points out the scoundrel.
"Meow ! What is so wondrous about cats who can read and recite Shakespeare? After all, I have demonstrated to understand a soccer game. As you well know, I'm an avid fan of Bayern Munich". That's Meryl Streep, my favourite pet cat, speaking. She has indeed shown her fandom when I watched a match between Bayern Munich and Arsenal: every time Munich was in possession of the ball, Meryl purred loudly. But whenever Arsenal started an attack, Meryl became very twitchy.
While there are many fictional felines in literature, there are only a few whose breed we know. Koko and Yum Yum are Siamese, as well as Tao ("The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford) and Khat ("Midnite" by Randolph Stow). C'Mell ("Alpha Ralpha Boulevard" by Cordwainer Smith) is a Persian, and most other are of unknown breeds. 

Answer: Glee

"Glee" started in 2009 as a show about high school students joining a choir for the interschool competitions. Brittany S. Pierce (role by Heather Morris), the owner of Lord Tubbington, once declared "I'm quite sure my cat's reading my diary".
"Meow!" That's my own pet cat, Jessica Lange, piping up. "If your Lord Tubbington does read your diary, it's your own fault. Don't let a diary lying around where curious cats can snoop in."
Jessica is right of course: a cat who doesn't display some curiosity, is probably ill. Cats love investigating whatever doesn't make too loud noises and isn't too wet.
Mr. Puss is the pet cat of Hunter Clarington (played by Nolan Gerard Funk), the leader of the competing choir named the Dalton Academy Warblers. Rumour has it that Mr. Puss was once the boyfriend of Lord Tubbington.
"Meow too!" That's my pet cat Meryl Streep interrupting. "I don't like Mr. Puss: he has white paws. White paws and especially white socks are ruinous to our reputation."
Miss Kitty Fantastico appears in "Buffy" as the pet cat of Tara. Toonces, "the cat who could drive a car", was a recurring character on "Saturday Night Live". Monkey helped Perry Mason solve three murders.

Answer: Elaine Page

Elaine Page (born 1948) started her musical career with a few operatic roles in the Mozart repertoire while still at school. In the seventies she sang and acted in several West End productions, including the title role in "Evita" (1978-1980). In 1981 she starred as Grizabella, the outcast, in the musical "Cats". Her recording of the song "Memory" was a top 10 hit.
Julie Covington is best known for her record "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" - the main song form the musical "Evita". Sarah Brightman starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "Phantom of the Opera" and his mass "Requiem". Sarah Brightman's "Pie Jesu" from the "Requiem" was a top selling record. Idina Menzel sang Maureen in "Rent" and Elphaba in "Wicked.
"Meow! Meow!" Well, it seems fitting that my pet cats Meryl Streep and Jessica Lange have the last word in this quiz. I'll shut off the feline-human translating device used throughout this quiz. All right, girls, now it's your turn to sing "Memory".
"MEOOOW MEOW! Meow meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow meowww ..."