What's New, Pussycat?

What's new, pussycat? Woah, woah

What's new, pussycat? Woah, woah

Pussycat, pussycat, you're delicious

And if my wishes can all come true

I'll soon be kissing your sweet little pussycat lips

Pussycat, pussycat, I love you, yes, I do

You and your pussycat lips

You and your pussycat eyes

You and your pussycat nose

Hal David and Burt Bacharach 

Dressed in little more than an oversized cat skin, black stockings, and heeled pumps, this pulchritudinous pussycat is most likely by the unknown maker responsible for many of the toothsome toothpick tootsies previously featured on this blog.

Of excellent bisque, she is 3 inches long and 4 inches high.  A precolored bisque urn by her knees would have once held matches or toothpicks.  There are no marks.

There is some slight resemblance between this lovely lass in her cat cloak and the cruel, tasteless, and frankly creepy, costume donned by Miss Kate Feering Strong for the Vanderbilt's 1883 fancy dress ball.  Inspired by her nickname, "Puss," Strong had a costume created out of white cat skins, including the taxidermied cat head atop her own.  Her nickname is spelled out on her collar, complete with a bell.  As a cat lover, I think another name for a female animal, beginning with "B" and ending with "H," would have been a far more appropriate emblazoned across her throat.      

On a lighter note, lovely ladies dressed up as pretty pussycats was a popular theme in the music halls and theaters.  The final kittenish coquette is the French actress and writer, Colette, as she appeared in a 1912 revue, "La Chatte Amoureuse."