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Dogs Are Smart – How about Cats?

Your Pet May Be too Proud to Learn—or Just Stupid. Science Is After the Truth

By PRESCOTT LECKY

Department of Psychology, Columbia University

Are cats as smart as dogs? Judging from the experimental evidence so far secured, the answer is an emphatic “No.” In many scientific tests the dog has proved his superior intelligence. And if the question were put to a popular vote, there is small doubt that the dog would score an overwhelming victory.

But science is not yet ready to hand the dog the palm. The reason is that the cat possibly has not had a fair show. Because the dog is a gregarious, sociable animal that loves its master, is eager to please him, and is fond of praise, it is much easier for it to demonstrate its intelligence than it is for the cat. Solitary by nature and habit, indifferent to its master’s attitude and praise, the cat is difficult to “draw out.”

Now, however, the cat is going to have its day. In the psychology laboratory of Columbia University, New York City, experiments are under way to find out how smart cats really are. Novel and ingenious, the apparatus used in the elaborate tests resembles the combination of a safe in principle. The question is: Can a cat learn to “open the safe” and, if so, in how many tries?

This is how it is done: Three round, flat, wooden plates are set in the floor. They are wired so as to act like electric buttons. Arranged like a safe combination, they open the door of a food box when stepped upon in the right order. For example, the “combination” may be set so that, to get at the milk in the box, the hungry cat must step first on plate No. 1, then on No. 2, then on No. 3. The combination may be 3, 2, 1 or 3, 1, 2.

The tests are conducted in the Columbia animal laboratory under the direction of Professor Carl J. Warden, of the psychology department. It is planned to use the same type of device later for experiments with dogs, monkeys, and other animals.

In previous comparative tests of cats and dogs, the cat has always lost out.

There was, for instance, the experiment made some years ago by Dr. Edward L. Thorndike, a pioneer in animal experimentation, who is now professor of educa-tion in Columbia. Professor Thorndike tried to find out which animal could manage to escape most quickly from a box. Food in sight but out of reach was placed outside the bars. Each hungry animal could release itself from the box when, by random efforts, it happened to strike the latch that operated the door. Though this comes under the head of a mechanical problem, in the solution of which cats have shown some aptitude, dogs turned in a better performance in practically every test.

A wholly different type of experiment, devised by Dr. Walter S. Hunter, professor of psychology in Clark University, Worcester, Mass., aims to determine how long the animal can stick to a fixed plan of action. The apparatus consists of an entrance chamber facing three food boxes. First the animal is put through a training period in which it learns that the box with a light at the entrance is the one that will open. After the connection between light and food is thoroughly established, the real test begins.

THE light is turned on and the animal, seeing it through a wire netting, prepares to run to the proper box as soon as it is released. But now the light is turned off and the animal kept waiting for a short while. How long can it remember which box was the lighted one? Cats remembered for sixteen to eighteen seconds; dogs for one to three minutes. Moreover, in order to remember at all, the cat must keep its head and body pointed toward the box. A dog can turn away and still, in the majority of cases, choose correctly.

Apparently the difficulty for the cat lies in the use of a signal, which requires abstract reasoning. In more recent experiments, the cat saw the food itself placed in the box and the signal was discarded. Now she could remember the right door 67 times out of 100 for periods up to sixteen hours. Unfortunately for the sake of comparison, this modified method was not tried on dogs.

IX ANOTHER still more complicated test, worked out by the well-known animal psychologist, C. V. Hamilton, the dog also defeated the cat. Four doors are provided in the apparatus used in this experiment, all of them leading to food. These doors are kept shut, but one is unlocked for each trial. In no case, however, is the same door unlocked twice in succession. Therefore, the correct method of solution is to try the three remaining doors one after the other. The incorrect way is to try the door that was open before, or to try any door more than once. How did the dog and cat compare in their ability to solve this puzzle? In an equal number of attempts, the dog required 313 trials and the cat 352. Incidentally, the monkey proved smarter than either dog or cat, with a score of 291. That the test is not as easy as it may seem was shown by the fact that a mature person needed 201 trials.

Then there is the question of learning to understand human speech. In this respect, the dog’s superiority is unmistakable, though whether this is due to intelligence or is merely a reflection of the greater interest that dogs take in people has not yet been settled. After sixty trials, Professor Thorndike succeeded in teaching a cat to climb to the top of her cage for food when he said: “I must feed that cat.” To teach it not to climb at the words “I will not feed her” required 380 trials. But even so, the cat would climb in response to any other remark that was uttered, such as “Nice weather we are having,” or “Tomorrow is Tuesday.”

On the other hand, Professor Warden and Dr. L. H. Warner, experimenting with the famous dog Fellow in the Columbia psychology laboratory (P. S. M., Feb. ‘29, p. 25), found that he was able to carry out fifty-three simple commands without a single error.

SO MUCH for scientific experimentation, in which neither animal ever comes up to its popular reputation for smartness. The reason for this may be that a good many laboratory tests, especially the earlier ones, failed to give either dog or cat a fair chance to demonstrate its real ability.

It is outside the laboratory that both dog and cat give their most impressive demonstrations of cleverness. And in the mass of anecdotes gathered by reliable investigators, the dog again comes out an easy winner.

Still, there are a number of apparently well-authenticated stories relating amazing instances of the smartness of cats. The English naturalist George J. Romanes, zoological secretary of the Lin-nean Society of London, England, tells of a cat whose master was in the habit of throwing out crumbs for the birds. The cat would hide in the shrubbery and attempt to pounce upon the birds as they ate. On one occasion, the crumbs were strewn in the evening. During the night they were covered by a light fall of snow. In the morning the owner saw the cat brushing away the snow and removing the crumbs to another spot, where it put them on top of the snow! Then it hid in the bushes and waited for the birds. This trick for the pack, it follows him faithfully and grieves in his absence. A cat that would follow its master would be a rare exception, though it sticks to familiar territory and hates a change of scene.

This also explains the obedience of the dog and its sense of responsibility. Being a gregarious animal, it seems to accept an outside standard of right and wrong conduct and to understand what is expected of it. When it breaks a rule, instead of being indifferent, it reveals its guilt unmistakably and will bear punishment. Even if the punishment is severe, it is so dependent upon its master’s company that it is usually willing and even anxious to be friendly again. The cat seems to have no ability to accept responsibility, and if punishment is attempted will either fight or flee.

THE emotional expression of the two animals also is almost exactly reversed, so that the same act may have quite a different meaning depending on which animal is studied. For example, a dog wags its tail as a sign of friendliness, but a cat wags or lashes its tail only when it is angry. Erection of the tail means excitement for the dog, as in pointing game or meeting a challenge, but the cat’s tail goes up when it seems most amiable, as when rubbing against its master’s leg.

Caress a dog and it sinks down with tail lowered, but stroke a cat and it stands upright. In fear, the dog goes flat to the ground, while the cat arches its back to such an angle that the fore and hind feet almost touch. In hunting, the dog prefers daylight, roams freely, and covers a wide territory; the cat as a rule lies silently in wait to pounce on its prey as it passes.

One physical characteristic the dog and cat seem to have in common—there is strong evidence that both are color blind. Though they can very often distinguish between colored objects, this is due not to the difference in color but to difference in brightness. The dog also is handicapped in vision by farsightedness. Since the retina of both animals lacks a fovea, or area of clear vision, it is probable that they see only vague shapes without the sharp outlines of human vision. If there is any advantage as to vision, it seems to lie with the cat. In hearing, however, and also in the ability to distinguish between faint odors, the dog is markedly superior.

THE dog has a larger brain than the cat, but it is the larger animal. In terms of capacity for training, such as minding sheep, carrying packages, standing guard, doing tricks, and so on, the dog again has a marked advantage. But is this due to greater intelligence or merely to a greater willingness to cooperate? The cat may not be interested in jumping through a hoop to please the teacher. On the other hand, it simply may not be smart enough. The present experiments at Columbia may furnish a definite answer.

Slick Chick plays a tune on the piano—a slick trick that’s been taught her by Prof. Keller Breland, psychologist, as part of his studies in chicken behavior. He’s taught another chicken to tap dance in special shoes!
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Kitten Kast. This little feline needed a bit of human help to keep her nine lives intact. Toffy (that’s her name) caught her paw in the door, and a modern vet prescribed a type of “airplane swing” just like the one used on human patients with broken limbs. Purpose is to stretch muscles so that bone can knit easily.

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Things I Learned from TEN THOUSAND CATS

By A. J. Adamson

ONLY by dealing patiently and kindly with a cat, particularly during its early life, may you develop the sort of animal everyone wants as a companion and pet. Unlike dogs, cats will respond only to kindness. Punish them and they grow surly and spiteful. I speak from rich experience, having bred fully 10,000 cats during the last quarter of a century.

The old idea was that every animal should be punished when caught in a wrongful act, but cats do not understand the meaning of a whipping. They are weak-willed and easily tempted and must, therefore, be guided in paths of righteousness.

Once a mistake is made, a kitten is likely to continue repeating the error until death overtakes him. On the other hand, if you detect the offense early enough you not only can correct it, but guide him into developing lovely traits and teach him one or two tricks that delight the children and visitors.

To get him to jump over your hand or through a ring, for instance, first actually lift him over or through. Put him through the routine half a dozen times the first day and twelve times daily thereafter. After a week, try coaxing him through by holding a morsel of his favorite food on the far side. He may yet require help a few times, but after a while he will get the idea. Later he will jump without thought of reward, but this point is important: never promise a cat anything you do not intend to give him. Cats are unforgiving.

In teaching him to sit up, force him gently back on his haunches in a corner of the room. Do this for only a few seconds, several times daily if possible. Little by little, keep him longer in the corner until at last he will sit there alone for half a minute. Then move him away from the corner, bracing him with your hands, gradually withdrawing them as you repeat the instructions, “Sit up.” Whenever he is successful, “give him a bit of meat.

By constant coaxing, some cats will learn to play dead. First, lay the animal on a rug, on his back, and stroke his body until he falls asleep. After a few days of this, say the words, “Dead cat,” as you repeat the process. After a dozen tries, he should play dead on command.

Since some cats are inclined to timidity, get your pet while young, coax him to be friendly, and when other people are around permit him to spend some time in the room. This contact will tend to overcome timidity, as well as any tendencies that might otherwise develop toward spitting and striking. Once any of these habits gets set, it is virtually impossible to change it.

Cats sometimes become spitey and hold grudges. This is an additional reason for taking kittens only, especially where you have other pets in the house. I have known cats to permit birds to fly onto their back and ride around the room. By starting early, introducing the pets to each other, talking to them with a kindly voice, you can achieve a calm among your dumb pets that rivals that of a happy human family. If you study your cat, you soon will come to understand his reactions and learn to respect his wishes.

Cats may be bathed, but not more often than three times yearly, for bathing takes a large quantity of the natural oil from the coat. Use soapsuds. Never subject them to carbolic, tar, or other strong solutions. These things can kill a cat by being absorbed. I have known a cat’s pores to close, ending in death within five hours, after such unwise treatment.

Always wash the head before placing the cat in a tub. This will drive any fleas down on his body. When finished with the head, plunge the cat quickly into the water. If he will not permit this type of bathing, you can only sponge him to the best of your ability. After removing him from the bath, roll him in a blanket, but do not rub. In cool weather finish the drying with a second blanket, then keep him in a warm room until he is thoroughly dry. In warm weather, you may turn him out in the sunshine.

Before he is thoroughly dry, comb him with a coarse comb. This will make the hair stand out. Finally, wipe his eyes and dust a little dry boric acid into his ears. This helps avoid ear canker. Combing and brushing alone do not produce a good coat. This comes from a combination of causes, including good food, cleanliness of both the cat and the premises, and freedom from fleas. Brushing and combing daily will provide the finishing touches on an otherwise sound coat. Whether you use a soft- or stiff-bristle brush is of little consequence. Many people prefer combs.

No two cats can be held alike for combing. Some will sit and submit peacefully while others stand, back arched, as though in protest. I find it easier to place the cat on a table and brush him while standing. In this way I can control him.

For a heavy coat, a soft brush is best. During shedding time a combination comb and brush proves effective. The comb takes out the loose hair while the brush, follows along to smooth down the coat. In fact, it is always better to comb first if the cat is in full coat, following with the brush. Some people do not like brushes, and their attitude is rather supported by the fact that combs alone will produce a shinier coat. After each brushing, take a fine comb through for dirt and fleas.

I have found it good policy to deposit the hair collecting on combs and brushes in kerosene. This will destroy fleas. This method is usually adequate to meet the menace of fleas, excepting during a time of epidemic. Then a good powder should be rubbed daily into the coat. Good powders will not injure a one-day-old kitten, though care should be taken to keep them away from the nostrils. Place the powder back of the ears and over the entire body, especially under the front legs and on the stomach. In combing, either when dressing or de-fleaing, start on the head. With long and firm but gentle strokes comb the back and body. Then grasp the cat by the back of the neck to comb the stomach.

Males and females should be accorded the same kind of treatment, including food, except during breeding season, when the male should be fed more meat than he ordinarily would receive. At other times cats should be fed twice a day. Some people think a single feeding is sufficient, but I have found cats to be greedy. In many cases the one-meal-a-day schedule results in indigestion due to their over-eating. Some cats cannot take milk or raw eggs. If you find your animal does not thrive on either of these foods, do not force it on him, for biliousness usually results. Barley water mixed with canned milk in equal parts proves a good substitute, or in extreme cases barley water alone. I always prefer canned to fresh milk. I have found too, that some cats thrive on buttermilk.

Raw carrots, raw spinach and lettuce provide enough roughage and answer the need for green grass, which is denied many city-bred pets. During mating time, the male requires some milk and egg, while many of the prepared foods are good, especially the vitamin-containing meats and fish. It is best, if possible, to give them some grass. It is an excellent tonic. In cities this may be provided, even in apartments, by planting rape bird seed in dirt, contained in a box. Grass from these seed grows rapidly.

Particular attention should be paid to the diet during the breeding season. After breeding, permit the expectant mother to live as before, except that she should have plenty of raw meat, which is nourishing but not fattening. During the last two weeks before the young arrive, give her plenty of milk if you find it agrees with her. This for the benefit of the young.

If you have no male at home and desire to breed your female, it will be perfectly safe to take her to a cattery for breeding.

She may be bred easily with a male of her acquaintance, or if a strange male is brought in for the purpose place them in separate cages separated only by a wire mesh. Usually they will become acquainted in two hours. When it becomes apparent that they will not fight, open a door permitting them to meet at their own free will and convenience. Never force them together.

A CAT of good breed should always be color-bred. If you have a blue female Persian, breed her only to a blue Persian. I know of few cases where colors were satisfactorily crossed. One color, the rare and exquisite tortoise shell, is confined to the female Persians. This color is best bred to red, from which union you may expect tortoise, black, red, and sometimes cream kittens. Bred to any other color, the tortoise-shell likely will produce an unlovely offspring. Black, for instance, generally gives a rusty black, as common in appearance as any alley cat.

Kittens may be expected from sixty to sixty-six days after mating. During that period keep the prospective mother quiet and do not permit strangers to excite her. It is better, in fact, if she is kept quite alone. Give her, not a soft pillow, but a few layers of newspapers covered by a section of blanket. About a week before the litter is expected, decide for yourself where you desire the event to take place, then make the bed there. This may be in a clothes closet, on the back porch, or during warm weather, in the garage or barn.

If you select some place exposed to the sun, it is important to curtain off the direct light during the first two or three weeks of the kittens’ lives to protect their eyes.

If more than five kittens arrive, the mother will need help in feeding them. If you cannot find a foster mother, you can hand feed them either through a medicine dropper or a doll bottle and nipple. You will find they will take food in this manner as easily as will a human baby. For food dilute any good brand of canned milk with an equal amount of water. Give it warm three or four times daily. Although litters will average not more than five, I have had as many as ten arrive; it pays to anticipate a large family.

After the kittens arrive the mother requires, to keep up her strength, two solid meals every day, including two generous helpings of milk. I always prefer canned milk, diluted one-half. The solid portion of the meal may consist of raw beef, cooked liver occasionally, or tripe well done. If the mother appears run down, give her ten drops of good codliver oil twice daily. Be careful not to increase the dose, for it will upset her digestion.

YOU may start feeding the kittens when they are four weeks old, or earlier if they fail to thrive on their natural food. Start with milk. Since it is difficult for them to unlearn habits once fixed, it is better to start right. Place a bowl of milk before them. Dip your finger in the milk, rub it on their noses and immediately nature tells them to lick it off. They discover they have encountered the taste somewhere before and begin to explore —in the bowl directly before their eyes. Beyond giving them this little start, leave

the kittens strictly alone. They open their eyes from seven to twelve days after arrival. Most of them thrive without personal attention. If one appears to be weaker than his brothers, give him one drop of codliver oil twice a day.

ALTHOUGH cats are subject to many ailments, those kept under sanitary conditions will require little attention. Their troubles may be narrowed to these five: hairballs, gastritis, ringworm, eye trouble, and ear trouble. Fortunately, all may be cured.

If you think your cat has accumulated hairballs in the stomach, which usually occurs during the spring and summer, when he is shedding, give him a teaspoonful of white vaseline, placed against the roof of the mouth. Do not melt the vaseline. He will lick away the solid vaseline and as it reaches the stomach it softens the hair and enables him to eliminate it. Hairballs may produce dire results since they clog the digestive tract.

Gastritis is very dangerous and should be attacked immediately. It usually develops during hot weather, possibly a combination of heat and over, or wrong, feeding. I have found it effective to give milk of magnesia. Dosage may vary from one half to a tea-spoonful, given only once, followed by one fourth of a teaspoonful of milk of bismuth every two hours as long as needed, for five-weeks-old kittens, to four times as much for full-grown cats.

Ringworm or eczema, oddly, is highly contagious. The cause? A debatable question. Some think it comes from wrong feeding. I am convinced that people who keep their cats away from contact with other diseased animals will save them trouble of this kind. I know from experience it occurs largely from contact. Troublesome as it is, the cure may be effected rather simply by applying iodine, full strength, to the affected part; three treatments, given every other day, usually suffice.

EAR MITES, which are contagious, are a principal cause of illness. In a severe case remove the bulk of the dirt with a hairpin. Wipe out the remainder with a cotton-wrapped toothpick or match. Sprinkle with dry boric acid once daily for five days if necessary.

If any tartar appears on the cat’s teeth, take him to a veterinarian for cleaning. Otherwise, you may clean his teeth by rubbing with a baby’s tooth brush dipped in salt water. When nearly through, dip the brush in magnesia. This is good for gums and digestion.

These animals, fortunately, are naturally clean. If you have a sand box with sides low-enough to permit the kitten to climb over, you will find he will go to it as soon as he leaves his bed. It is important to make the box easily accessible because the mother refuses to care for her young as soon as they begin to eat.

Exercise and sunshine are important. If you live in a city, build a miniature balcony with two or three short boards outside a window, screening it to keep the animal safe. With the window open he can range around the room and sun himself on the balcony whenever he desires. By suspending the balcony from the casement, you can shut the window with the cat outside.

If your cat is kept indoors, place a scratching board upright on the back porch. These may be purchased at pet shops. But do not think that this solves the scratching problem. Always keep the points of the toe nails cut off to save the furniture. Hold the cat facing away from your body, grasp the paw firmly in one hand to spread the toes and clip with small scissors or pincers.

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Cats Are Fun to Photograph

An expert reveals tricks that help you get good pictures of Tabby. Patience is the biggest requirement.

By Walter Chandoha

CATS are easy to photograph—if you can tap an unlimited supply of patience. Beyond that, all you need is a camera (I prefer a reflex) with flash attachment. An assistant, portrait lenses, a tripod and a flash extension are helpful, but by no means essential.

The best place to work is a spot the cat likes best and the best time is just after he has eaten. When the cat gets down to the business of washing, you can start clicking. Set up your equipment beforehand and keep backgrounds plain. If the cat happens to like a spot in front of a cluttered background, stretch a sheet behind him.

Make silly noises to get Tabby’s attention: miaowing, barking, hissing, squeaking, crumpling paper, or whatever you think might work. If the cat is uncooperative, a morsel of shrimp, liver, catnip, ground beef or sardines will bring him around. Shoot while he is looking for more.

You can use flood or daylight, but I favor flash bulbs. Their strong light enables you to use a small aperture and a high shutter speed—both requisites for getting good pictures.

An aperture of f/22 will give you sufficient depth of field so that any slight error in focus will automatically be corrected. And if your focus is right on the nose (you should take that literally—focus on the nose and whiskers rather than on the eyes) you’ll get an over-all sharpness that is desirable. As for shutter speed, remember that the closer you get to a moving object the faster your shutter will have to be. Working about three feet from a cat, I find that 1/250 second stops all but the fastest motion.

Baby Goes for a Buggy Ride with Trained Cat for Nurse

Here is a buggy rated at one catpower. All dressed up in her Sunday best, “Bum,” the trained cat, poses at the “controls” ready to take the baby for an afternoon’s outing in the pram.

CAT PICTURES USED TO SCARE AWAY BIRDS
If live cats will scare birds away, why not use imitation cats as scarecrows? Acting on this unconventional idea, a farmer of Warwickshire, England, is decorating his property with painted likenesses of cats like those illustrated above. Stoppers from mineral water bottles supplied the eyes. Now it remains to be seen whether the birds will be terrified.

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Amazing Snapshots of Animals

Bring Fame to Desert Photographer

IN A desert shack that cost less than fifty cents to build, Fred V. Sampson, of Barstow, Calif., has found not only contentment but a curious road to fame. Three years ago, he left his job as a commercial artist in Los Angeles and built the low, one-room hut on the edge of the Mohave Desert. Three wails are made of mud and stones, the fourth is formed of the gold-bearing rock of a steep hillside. Here, Sampson spends his days doing what he wants most to do, making friends with curious creatures of the desert and snapping pictures of the animals in action. These photographs—some of the most remarkable wildlife pictures ever made—are attracting wide attention.

Chipmunks, deer mice, pack rats, chuckwalla lizards, skunks, jack rabbits, and other humble creatures of the bleak region come fearlessly to Sampson’s door and perform before his camera. Near the shack, “NO HUNTING” signs bear the following words: ”The animals near this ridge have been tamed so they may be photographed.

You are welcome to use your camera but kindly do not use guns or otherwise cause the animals to fear you.” The only time Sampson uses a gun himself is to shoot hawks, wildcats, and rattlesnakes that prey on his desert friends. So tame have some of the rabbits and chipmunks become that he can fire directly over them without frightening them away.

At sunrise, every morning, Sampson is out sprinkling grain and other food about the shack to attract the animals. Of all the creatures that come within range of his camera, the little striped chipmunks are his most lively subjects. They have provided the action for some of his most striking pictures.

When he noticed that they often stood up on their hind legs and pushed and cuffed each other in scuffles over the scattered grain, Sampson built a miniature boxing arena in which they could perform. After he has placed grain inside the ropes, he focuses his camera on the center of the ring and waits for the fight to begin. Soon, two of the “squatties,” as he calls the desert rodents, begin squabbling over the food. They rear up, slap, spar, feint, while Sampson follows their movements on the ground glass of his reflex camera. Using split-second exposures, he records the various stages of the battle.

Some days, he will shoot half a dozen pictures in as many minutes; other days, he will sit for hours and not get a snapshot. But when this nature photographer trips the shutter he often records pictures such as have never been taken before. Sometimes, the result is a surprise even to him. Once, for example, he snapped the shutter just as two long-eared jack rabbits faced each other across a bunch of carrots. When he developed the negative, he discovered that two chipmunks he had not seen had moved into the scene below the rabbits and were squared off for a battle. Some of the little rodents have become so friendly that they will wag their tails like dogs when Sampson approaches.

While he is taking his pictures, the desert photographer is careful to make no quick movements. He warns his subjects when he plans to change his position and they seem to understand the inflections of his voice. Sometimes, he has to trick timid creatures into assuming the poses he wants. For example, when he discovered that three deer mice were visiting his shack late at night, he sprinkled grain on a narrow ledge over the stove and focused his camera on the spot. About midnight, when the three rodents were in single file on a ledge, he set off a flash and got the picture.

Two of Sampson’s oddest visitors are a pair of skunks. They have become so much at home in the shack that sometimes he has to put them out because their scuffling under the bed keeps him awake! One midnight, he was awakened by a noise among the rafters overhead. Peering upward, he saw two gleaming eyes in the dark. With his rifle aimed between the glowing eyeballs, he pulled the trigger and a dead wildcat fell to the floor. Another time, he awoke suddenly to find a skunk combing his hair with its forepaws.

To learn how a skunk sucks an egg, Sampson recently gave one of the animals a hen’s egg and, with camera ready, waited to see what would happen. The animal bent down, grasped the egg in its forepaws and, just as a football center passes the pigskin to the quarterback, tossed it back against a rock and smashed the shell. Then, it calmly licked up the white and yolk like a cat lapping up cream!

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From Cats to Cataclysms

LLOYD’S OF LONDON WILL INSURE EVERYTHING

By Lester David

THE owner of a private zoo in England recently offered a huge cash reward to anyone who brought him the legendary Loch Ness monster, dead or alive. But he isn’t worried about paying up if the elusive horror is ever hooked—he’s insured.

Last year a golfer had to pay $37 for a round of drinks in the clubhouse after making a hole-in-one. But it actually didn’t cost him a cent— he was insured.

Dozens of men in the U. S. who become the proud fathers of twins don’t wring their hands at the prospect of the added expense—they’re insured.

These strange policies were issued by under-writers for Lloyd’s of London, the fabulous, centuries-old British institution which will insure anything from cats to cataclysms, from actress’ bosoms to the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge (for a record-breaking $40,000,000). Lloyd’s has issued policies on actors’ beards, dancers’ legs, models’ backs, surgeons’ hands and musicians’ lips. It will protect you, for a premium, against almost any eventuality which might cause you to lose money— volcanoes, tidal waves, wars, foot-and-mouth disease, drought, snow, rain, insect plagues, sprinkler system leakage. You name it and they’ll write you a policy at Lloyd’s.

If you’re rich and afraid kidnapers might snatch your child, Lloyd’s will insure you for up to 90 per cent of any ransom money you might have to pay.

If you own a skiing resort and a mild winter keeps your slopes barren of snow, Lloyd’s will make sure you don’t lose money because of the adverse weather.

If you confidently expected your well-heeled maiden aunt to remember you generously in her will and you are struck suddenly by the horrible thought that she might marry and nudge you out of your inheritance, Lloyd’s will insure you against that dire possibility.

If you own anything that floats, from an ocean liner to a skiff, Lloyd’s will insure your vessel and its cargo.

The amazing Lloyd’s does business in the heart of old London in an imposing edifice, a far cry from the coffee house where it all started back in 1689. This is how it operates:

About 300 men sit in small, box-like stalls in a vast chamber which is called simply The Room. These are the underwriters, beside whom betting folk like Nick the Greek pale into insignificance. Their job is to calculate risks and issue policies— they are, in effect, making huge wagers that something will not happen. The underwriters represent brokers and syndicates who put up the cash and do business under the name of Lloyd’s. Lloyd’s itself doesn’t write any insurance—that’s done by the underwriters on behalf of some 2,000 individuals tied loosely together and trading under the world-famed name.

This is what happens when you want to take out an insurance policy at Lloyd’s:

Let’s say you are an inventor and you want to insure your hands. They are your livelihood—if anything happened to them, your income would halt You get in touch with a Lloyd’s correspondent—there are hundreds in American cities. He corresponds with one of the 2,000 Lloyd’s brokers in London, who takes your request into The Room, joins the crowd around one of the underwriters, eventually gets his attention and presents your bid which he has written briefly on a sheet of stiff paper.

The underwriter must make a split-second decision—he has no time to weigh the matter thoroughly. He must be familiar with the hazards of inventors, as well as with the risk element involved in a dancer’s legs, dust-bowl farming, salmon fishing or practically anything anywhere. If he decides to accept the risk, he writes on the slip the amount he is prepared to insure and initials it. Then the policy is made out in Lloyd’s Policy Signing Room, where more than 100 girls turn them out at the rate of hundreds every hour.

The one point which governs the thinking of the underwriters is this: does the applicant have an insurable interest? That is, does he stand to lose something? Will his livelihood be affected if something happens?

Not long ago, for example, Lloyd’s underwriters saw a definite insurable interest in a hole-in-one on the golf course. By custom, in this country and England, anyone who performs golfing’s rarest feat must stand for a round of drinks in the clubhouse for all who happen to be on the premises. In England, the tradition calls for double whiskies, a not inconsiderable sum at the current price of $1.20 per.

Accordingly, underwriters decided that making a hole-in-one is a financial liability, hence insurable. The policy, which remained in force about two years, cost about $2.50 a year, and paid off at the rate of $40 maximum. One British golfer who bought the policy hit the jackpot twice in one season!

Lloyd’s even found an insurable interest in the eyes of Janis Carter, a pretty Hollywood actress, and the bosom of Evelyn West, California showgirl and dancer.

Janis’ studio claimed she possessed a pair of violet orbs which were the sexiest eyes in the world and asked Lloyd’s to insure them for $500,000. The policy was issued.

Evelyn had her comely bosom insured for $50,000, paying an annual premium of $122.22. Her application was accompanied by a number of photographs and the policy specifically described just what changes Evelyn’s figure must undergo as time goes by in order to qualify for a claim.

Paramount Pictures had an insurable interest in the famous movie cat, Rhubarb, Lloyd’s underwriters decided. They wrote a policy, amount undisclosed, insuring it against death or injury. The rules: Rhubarb must fly only on scheduled airlines, stop only at the finest hotels and be accompanied at all times by a trained handler. Attached to the policy are a number of identifying characteristics— his front and side photographs, a print of a paw and a sound track of his meow.

Lloyd’s has issued countless policies on legs over the years. The first to start the trend was Mistinguett, the French singer and dancer who still displays her gams in Parisian music halls, at an age variously estimated between 63 and 84. The shapely limbs of Mar-lene Dietrich are insured for $500,000, too. Gals aren’t the only ones—Fred Astaire, for one, had his legs insured for $800,000.

Monte Wooley, the college professor who turned actor, had his beard insured at Lloyd’s for $20,000 against destruction by fire, theft, hail or tornado. He paid a $25 premium.

Only recently, Lloyd’s actually insured an entire contingent of troops going into battle. The Turkish government decided to send 4,500 officers and men to join the United Nations forces in Korea, but it was faced with a dilemma. The nation was not at war and if an accident occurred on the air trip to the fighting zone, according to Turkish law, the soldiers’ families would not qualify for pensions.

Therefore, Turkey applied to Lloyd’s for a policy covering the entire contingent—and got it.

Many persons ask for policies but are turned down on that insurable interest angle. When a trumpet player had his lips insured for $350,000, his girlfriend wanted to know if she could have her lips insured. Claimed if anything happened to them, her boyfriend would up and leave her. The plan was turned down.

Lloyd’s once received a letter from a man who wanted to have his neck insured. Investigation produced the lamentable fact that said neck was about to be stretched—via the hangman’s noose.

There are a few things that cannot be insured, despite the obvious insurable interest. You cannot insure yourself against divorce, poverty, the loss of your job or killing anyone. Lloyd’s, moreover, will not insure Broadway producers against a flop play or newspaper publishers against dips in circulation. The underwriters do not issue life-insurance policies, but they do insure beneficiaries of such a policy against the possibility that the holder will commit suicide.

The amount of the premium you have to pay under a specific policy depends upon the circumstances of the particular case. Weather insurance comes high, usually between 15 and 20 per cent of the total sum involved, depending on the locality. Insurance against twins costs about four per cent, but may be higher if twins run in the family. You would have to pay about a three per cent premium for insurance against your child being born with a clubfoot or a harelip.

How about payoffs? Lloyd’s underwriters have been hit, and often, for sums ranging from tiny to terrific. They paid $350 to a Salt Lake City man whose son was born with a harelip and wrote checks totalling $5,000,000 after storms devastated large areas in Texas in 1943. The loss of the ill-fated Titanic, which sank after ramming an iceberg on her maiden voyage in 1912, cost the underwriters $4,000,000. When the frigate Lutina went down off the coast of Holland, carrying $6,000,000 in gold bullion, Lloyd’s paid off. Then there was the matter of a $5,000,000 insurance policy covering the cargo of the mer-chantship Egypt, which sank in 1922, its hold jammed with gold and silver.

Only recently, a surgeon in Kansas City stumbled and fell while cleaning a rifle. The gun went off and the bullet penetrated his foot, which had to be amputated. He collected $400,000.

When the famous racehorse Your Host was injured last year, suffering a shattered bone at Santa Anita during the running of the San Pasqual handicap, his owner got a Lloyd’s check for $250,000.

A Detroit laundryman hit the jackpot with twins and was heartened by a check for $1,000 shortly after. A New Orleans saxophone player suffered facial paralysis after an automobile crash and collected $200,000.

In England, during the last general election, the Liberal Party insured itself against the loss of the deposits it had to put up for its candidates. The law says that if a candidate does not ring up a certain number of votes, the party sponsoring him loses the sum it has posted. Well, Winston Churchill’s Conservatives washed out a lot of Liberals, but the party had one consolation—it didn’t lose its deposits. Lloyd’s paid.

Lloyd’s was born in 1689, at the time when Britain’s merchant ships were .beginning to make their world-famed reputation. In Tower St., a genial tavern-owner named Edward Lloyd played host to London town’s more important traders and business men. As an accommodation for his customers, Mr. Lloyd began to gather news of ships reaching and leaving the Thames docks, news from abroad, wrecks and prices of commodities. Soon, the business men began to set up a form of insurance and the tavern was known as a center for marine insurance.

The tavern disappeared from the scene before long, but the merchants and their descendants remained together, moving from place to place, cementing their organization until the world knew that they were one of the most powerful factors in giving Britain’s merchant fleet an international reputation for reliability and safety. From just ship insurance, the underwriters branched out to cover the vast variety of risks they do today.

That’s the fabled Lloyd’s of London, one of the world’s unique institution. It’s the only place which will peel off $2,000,000 for the loss of an airliner without blinking an eye—and the next minute solemnly consider the application of a male model who wants to insure himself against growing bald.

But how about the famous Lloyd’s odds on war? Well, the last policy issued on such an eventuality covered last year. Since that time the War Risk Board of Lloyd’s, which meets periodically to change the schedule of premiums as conditions deteriorate and improve, has issued no new schedules. So the same ones stand. Take ‘em or leave ‘em, the odds on war as quoted by the fabled Lloyd’s of London are 50 to 1.

Blows Glass Globe Around Cats
TO WIN a bet, Dick Manley, California glass blower, performed an unprecedented glass blowing stunt. He placed three kittens in a glass tube and within three minutes fashioned it into a perfect 26-inch globe with the kittens inside and unharmed. A small hole admitted air.

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Mechanical Cues DIRECT Animals in the “BARKIES”

by WALTER A. RASCHICK

When the talkies came in, directors of animal pictures faced a new problem. Before the super-sensitive mike, vocal commands were impossible, so other means of giving “stars” their cues had to be devised. In this unusual article you are taken behind the scenes and shown how directors utilize ingenious mechanical gadgets to make animals perform with keen intelligence before the camera.

“HOW easy it looks to the spectators, to see animals performing in motion pictures. How blissfully unaware are the majority of picture fans of the patience and courage necessary in training animals to face the cameras. What risks are involved, what matching of intelligence with brute cunning is necessary to trick a beast’s subtle brain into passively accepting dull, monotonous routine—these behind-the-scene factors are little known to movie goers.”

Al W. Copeland, Hollywood’s P. T. Barnum, was talking.

He it is who furnishes circuses for pictures. Twelve years ago, Al trouped to Los Angeles from Massachusetts, with a one-ring country circus—seating capacity, 2,200—in auto trucks. At first intending only to make California his winter circus quarters, Al later saw the possibilities in supplying equipment— “from an ant to an elephant” (his slogan)—for pictures.

So he remained in Hollywood. Today he has five fully-equipped circuses, with a seating capacity of 12,000 for one of them alone!

“Since talkies came in,” Mr. Copeland explained, “training animals for picture work has been doubly hard. In the silent days, a trainer had his charges schooled to respond to vocal commands; now, since the microphone picks up all foreign sounds, signs must be used. When this mechanical revolution came, it suddenly became necessary for trainers to drill their skilled animals all over again to new methods.”

Painstaking efforts are required on the part of trainers in first breaking and drilling their charges. This alone takes weeks, sometimes months.

Occasionally directors put in last-minute calls for certain animals, stipulating that the beasts must be familiar with certain definite tricks. Such calls often make it obligatory for trainers to work all night putting their animals through a new routine, so that they will respond perfectly to their cues the next day.

Trainers Are Patient But Firm

Such emergency training quite naturally makes an animal irritable, and it is at such moments when trainers must be keenly on “edge.” The slightest slip often spells disaster. In handling any type of animal before the camera, the trainer must constantly exercise the most extreme firmness, for the moment he relaxes his vigilance, the animal senses it and there is havoc to pay.

Almost every trainer in the picture business swears by his own—and different— method of training. All of them aver that kindness and patience win in the long run. Some believe in rewarding their charges with sweetmeats; others declare that “bribery” is never conducive to best results.

Risks are run, however, even when animals are veteran actors. No matter how thoroughly trained, animals are apt to quake and tremble, run amuck at the slightest change in the routine.

During some night filming in Rain or Shine, Pansy, a lady elephant who had campaigned before the cameras since the early silent days, was sedately shimmying through her role when a newspaper cameraman trained his lens on her for a flash-light picture. “Boom” went the flash gun, and Pansy, in her flashlight-picture debut, became panic-stricken.

She trumpeted furiously, thundered through the open tent flaps and ran amuck toward Burbank’s residential district. Joe Cook, star of the picture, and trained since his boyhood in circus work, leaped upon a horse and galloped in pursuit. When he came abreast of Pansy, she recognized his horse, stopped in her tracks, turned abruptly, and walked meekly back to her tent.

That was a narrow escape—for Pansy as well as for Burbank’s citizenry, for circus animals at large usually finish their runaway jaunts at the sorry end of bullets.

Mechanical Devices Make “Stars” Perform

Subterfuge is often necessary to induce an animal, no matter how intelligent or well trained, to do his stuff when something unusual crops up in his routine.

Spots, a pony born and bred in California, worked in Ruth Chatterton’s picture, Once A Lady. During his part of the action, Spots, was supposed to run through a fog.

The synthetic fog rolled in as per schedule, but Spots refused to budge.

The pony’s owner tried all his tricks, from pleas to threats. But it remained for a prop man to solve the problem by attaching a bunch of alfalfa to an improvised overhead cable carrier out of camera range, and Spots, being allowed one little nibble before the fodder was pulled down the carrier, ran through the fog as nimbly as a coed at a Junior Prom.

In They Had to See Paris, Minou, the black cat, was coaxed, to no avail, to walk along the window sill, until everyone on the set was beside himself. Finally, the expedient of daubing the sill with sardine oil was adopted and Minou complacently walked along the route scheduled for the camera.

Animal actors, trainers say, are not adept at concealing their real feelings before the camera. Take, for instance, the case of the St. Bernard dog in John Barrymore’s picture Moby Dick. The animal was to have appeared in the film, but for some reason known only to himself, he took a dislike to Barrymore.

This was doubly strange in view of the fact that Barrymore’s own pets include four dogs and eleven cats, and he prides himself upon being able to win almost any animal’s confidence and affection. But the St. Bernard hired to work in Moby Dick first balked openly and then went off in a corner and sulked, refusing to move.

John solved the problem by replacing the canine with Peter, his own gigantic St. Bernard. “One of the most intelligent actors in the picture,” said John later, in discussing the incident—and we don’t know to this day whether he was referring to the stubborn one or to Peter.

When the mercury rises too high for the animals’ comfort, they become drowsy and cannot be persuaded to take any interest in film proceedings; when the temperature cools off too much, they shiver and look for warm shelter.

In a dog act, especially, it is vitally necessary to keep the stage cool, as the minute the canines begin to feel warm they stick their tongues out at the camera and begin to pant, which means that the scene must be stopped until they cool off. Thus the problem of proper heating becomes of vast importance in pictures where animals are used.

Roosters are made to crow by being placed before a mirror. When they see the image of another bird in the glass, they ruffle up their feathers and crow lustily, ready for battle.

Mirror Tricks Rooster Into Acting

When the executives of the old Pathe company (now part of RKO-Pathe) first adopted chanticleer for their organization’s trade-mark, trainers had not yet found the mirror system of extracting a tune from a cock’s throat. Technicians finally hit upon the expedient of blindfolding the rooster and putting him into a box. Then, suddenly flashing on bright lights, they removed the blind and tossed the bird out of his box and directly toward the lights.

Never once did chanticleer fail to crow with vim and vigor, for he had been artfully deceived into believing that coming blindfolded out of a box into a flood of lights had been a transition from night to day.

Rennie Renfro, owner and trainer of more than 100 canines, works his dogs almost exclusively in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s all-barkie pictures. Travesties of important pictures they have made include “Trader Airedale,” “The Big Dog House,” and “The Two Barks Brothers.”

What makes dog actors act? Kindness and hamburger for the most part, according to Jules White and Zion Myers, the clever young directors who created the idea and who have directed the series, developing it until today a dog comedy is actually easier to direct than one with human actors.

“As the first step toward training a dog,” says Renfro, “teach him to play with a ball, and when he has a liking for that, then start on some simple trick like ’sitting up,’ using the ball and bits of hamburger as rewards. Some dogs will do more for something to eat—some for a chance to play ball,” Rennie declares.

“The first idea is to build up an understanding with the dog—for dogs can understand you when you tell them something, as soon as you have their confidence. To train a dog, a fellow has to know at least as much as the dog.”

To teach small animals to somersault, a special harness is made, to which is attached two straps, one fastened to a ring on a post about three feet off the ground, the other held by the trainer. At a signal, the animal leaps off the ground and the trainer simultaneously pulls the strap taut, so the animal automatically turns in the air. Once the animal masters the body turn precisely, the harness and straps can be dispensed with.

Every trainer of dogs knows that “mutts” are far easier to train and much more tractable than are pedigreed dogs. Also, the mongrel is cleverer by far—possibly because thoroughbreds, raised more in luxury, have never had to sharpen their wits by hustling for themselves in emergencies. This “hustle” is bred through generations in the mutt. A smart dog is one who has an “edge” on the others in general intelligence which will enable him to master difficult routines in training.

Hearing Aid for Cat
“Unfortunate” heard for the first time recently when the cat’s owner, Mrs. A. H. Cooper of Fort Worth, Tex., had a hearing aid fitted to the feline. The hearing aid is the latest of a series of steps by Mrs. Cooper to improve the life of the unfortunate cat, which was born deaf, crippled in the hind legs and had no teeth until the age of two. The owner massaged the cat’s gums until the teeth finally came through and had a wheeled support built which enables the cat to scoot around the house.