Street Roots • June July 7-13, 2017
News
Page 4
A day at
the movies
Street Roots vendors and their pets
gather fo r a screening o f “A Street Cat
N am ed Bob, ” a story that resonates
with people on the streets with
four-legged companions o f their own
BY JASON COHEN
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
ets are always welcome at the Street
Roots vendor office, but on this
particular Wednesday at the close of
business, the animals are taking over.
There’s a floofy black feline by the name of
Mr. Beauregard wandering as far as his red
leash will let him - much to the growling
consternation of Dude, another black cat
who is cocooned inside a blanket on a lap.
Nearby, a dog named J.J. lolls on the floor,
curious but unperturbed by the meows.
Less impressed by all of this activity is Ms.
Holly Jolly Hanesy - “Ms H” for short - who
chooses to keep her elegantly grey-furred
self inside the red wagon-mounted carrier
she shares with her more adventurous
brother (who also goes by “Mr. B”).
The occasion is a Netflix screening of the
British film “A Street Cat Named Bob,”
which is based on the true story of James
Bowen, a former vendor of the U.K. street
newspaper The Big Issue, and Bob, who,
well - is a cat. A pretty special cat, mind
you: the full title of Bowen’s best-selling
memoir about
busking,
homelessness,
addiction and
recovery was “A
Street Cat Named
Bob: And How He
Saved My Life.” The
little ginger fellow
even plays himself,
assisted by a half-
dozen formally trained
cats, while James is
played by Luke
Treadaway, who is
also formally trained
(he’s best-known for
his roles in the
National Theatre
productions of War
P H O T O BY COLE M ER K EL
Horse and The
Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time).
Our animal menagerie gathered around a
computer monitor with their humans, all of
whom are Street Roots vendors. Mr. B and
Ms. H are kept in food and litter by Loretta
Shirley Horn and her husband, Andy; the
lap that Dude calls home belongs to Mistie
Shaw, and J.J. can be found selling papers in
the Pearl District with Rick Phillips.
P
Mistie Shaw and
her cat Dude snack
popcorn before the
movie, which was
shown in the Street
Roots office.
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A Street Cat
Named Bob is a
predictably feel
good movie that still
has a bit of grit in its
depiction of drugs,
poverty, the street and
social services. James is just* /
coming out of homelessness and
into subsidized housing and a
methadone program when he meets
the ragged, injured Bob, who turns up
in his flat one night. “One night,” is also
how long James swears the cat will stay,
much to the amusement of the vendors
watching the film.
“It always starts with one night!,” Loretta
said.
She and Andy were occasionally crashing
at Loretta’s sister’s in California when they
came upon an abandoned black cat who
turned out to be pregnant. Mr. B and Ms. H
were two of the kittens, and they spent the
first months of their lives as van cats. “Have
you ever seen that shirt that said, ‘who
rescued whom?,”’ said Loretta. “That was
us.”
The bond between James and Bob will be
recognizable to any animal lover. One of the
first things James has to do is take Bob to
the vet, where he’s immediately faced with
the choice of either paying for his own food
or paying for the cat’s care. Whatever one’s
job or housing situation, everyone with a pet
can relate to that. In James’ case, he has
nothing but a £20 note that his estranged
father slipped him on the street. It goes to
kitty antibiotics.
“It’s kind of cool that he’s like, ‘Oh, it’s
not my cat, it’s not my cat,’ and then he’s
like paying all these bills for the cat,” said
Mistie. “I wish more people were like that. I
think a lot of people find a stray cat or a
Rick,
who lost his
previous canine companion, Randy, in 2015.
“He worked here too.” (See the July 3, 2015
issue of Street Roots).
Rick originally got Randy for emotional
support after both his parents died, and
credits Randy and J.J. with keeping his life
stable. “I’ve lived in the same apartment for
12 years now,” he said. “[Before], I’d only
last two years. The dog keeps me out of
trouble. If I were to go to jail or anything,
I’d lose him.”
J.J. never barks, but he wants to be
around his person 24 hours a day, and also
wants constant petting, which Street Roots
readers around Powell’s and Whole Foods
are happy to provide.
“He’s part of the neighborhood,” said
Rick. “ If they’re having a bad day, it
changes their day. People look forward to
seeing him. I know some of my sales are
more than they should be. They give me
extra money: ‘This is for JJ!’ They buy him
treats all the time.”
This phenomenon is also on display in “A
Street Cat Named Bob.” When James began
See MOVIE, page 5
&
a second
chance dog from
California, was
rescued by Street
Roots vendor Rick
Phillips, who
credits J.J. with
keeping his life
stable.