This month's featured animal is
...SALEM
the CAT
Salem
is a talking black cat. He generally just sits around
the house and offers up wisecracks to his human
companions Sabrina Spellman, a pretty blond
teenage witch and her aunts Hilda and Zelda.
When not getting into trouble, Salem likes to
play with a rubber mouse. He whimpers when he is
displeased. Salem was once a warlock named Salem Saberhagen who was transformed into a cat
(American shorthair breed) for a period of 100
years by the Witches Council as punishment for
trying to "rule the world." As Salem said, "Like
any young kid, I dreamed of world domination. Of
course, they really crack down when you try to
act upon it." Now, since Salem can no
longer go dancing or play squash, the only thing
that makes him feel alive is the sound of the
can opener. When Salem gets really bored he puts
a pencil in his mouth and types on the family's
laptop computer to access Internet chat rooms
(under the guise of a woman). Salem's family
included a daughter named Annabel who he hadn't
spoke to in a long time; and his mother who is
allergic to him. Among his romantic interests
were Paula Abdul (Salem stalked her); Dreama's cat, Juliet; and his old girlfriend
Shelley who dumped him because he was a cat.
Salem's favorite newspaper is The Economist.
Salem the Cat with his friend Sabrina (Melissa
Joan Hart)
Photograph courtesy of ABC and Warner Brothers
Trivia
Note:
Salem the cat appears on the sitcom SABRINA, THE
TEEN AGE WITCH/ABC/WB/1996+. Nick Bakay provides
the voice to Salem, as well as the voice of
Norbert on the cartoon The Angry Beavers. Salem the Cat appeared regularly in
the Sabrina comic book as a striped tabby cat
from 1971-83 (where his thoughts floated in
traditional comic balloons). There are two versions
of Salem the Cat used on the series: a real live
cat and two animatronic puppets (one lying down
and one sitting up) created by The Animal Makers
and Chiodo Brothers. The facial expressions on
the puppet cats are done with
radio-animatronics; the tail and head movements
are cable-control, and the body movements are
performed with animatronic-rod-controls.
The names of the real cats
who portrayed Salem on the TV are Elvis, Lucy,
Witch and Salem. For
a fun read
try: Salem's Guide to Life With Sabrina the
Teenage Witch : A Spellbinding Trivia Book With
50 Stickers (Sabrina the Teenage Witch) by Kitty
Richards.
Some
Fun 'Salem the Cat' Quotes
Sabrina: Where's my lunch?
Salem: Not half-eaten and hidden in the draw behind me,
that's for sure!
******************************
Salem: I always found the hardest thing was saying no to
pie.
******************************
Zelda: Oh look, the first robin of spring!
Salem: That's him? Devil bird!
******************************
Salem: Paula Abdul really knows how to pick a man. I love her.
Zelda: She doesn’t know you’re alive.
Salem: Well that’s gonna change. I know some people in high places who have some friends who... told me her numbers on the
Internet.
*******************************
Salem: (Sob!) All right! All right! It’s for Paula Abdul. I faked my own kidnapping so she would pay attention to me.
Sabrina: Does she even know who you are?
Salem: Why does everyone think that’s a necessary part of love?
************************
Zelda: What’s wrong?
Salem: I can’t remember what it was like to be human! This voice used to bark orders to a legion of mercenaries, now it begs two old maids for catnip.
Sabrina: I believe the correct term is spinsters.
Hilda: Come on ya big wuss, suck it up. Take it like the man you used to be.
Salem: (Sob!)
Sabrina: I know what you can’t resist.
Zelda: Your favorite cat-toy.
Salem: I don’t need your pity.
Sabrina: This is serious, usually he thrives on our pity.
Zelda: Oh let’s go and see if he wants his tummy rubbed.
