{"id":94315,"date":"2016-02-10T14:38:03","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T19:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=94315"},"modified":"2016-02-10T15:00:25","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T20:00:25","slug":"cat-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Cat Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

From \u201cProfessor Welton\u2019s Boxing Cats.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

Once, some years ago, I went with a good friend to see that Russian cat circus. It was my friend\u2019s birthday, and seeing said cat circus was a long and dearly held dream of hers. If memory serves, the cat circus took place at a college of criminal justice, but why would that be true?\u00a0<\/p>\n

This cat circus has periodically been accused of animal cruelty\u2014just sort of on the grounds of existing\u2014but the proprietors purport to be very affronted by these charges. They\u2019ve said in interviews that they consider the cats talented performers and respect them as such. All I can say for sure is that the cats\u2019 act was sort of underwhelming. With the full understanding that herding cats is proverbially difficult\u2014and so getting them to, like, go down ramps is presumably that much harder\u2014it didn\u2019t seem like it would have required any abuse. In any case, the cats were petted and given treats every time they jumped onto a box or something. For someone who\u2019s been dubious about Sean Penn\u2019s journalistic rigor, I\u2019ll admit this is a very lazy stance to take, but these are at any rate my impressions of the cat circus. I remember I bought a particularly terrifying lapel pin that pictured the wild-eyed trainer\/ringmaster and a bored-looking feline, and kept it affixed to my purse for some months. But I was young then.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I have more qualms about \u201cProfessor Welton\u2019s Boxing Cats<\/a>,\u201d a circus act that was captured in an early film. Considering that the performers routinely walked through fire (and that in the nineteenth century, kittens were routinely drowned) I\u2019m guessing these feline pugilists were nonunion. Professor Welton wears the Mephistophelean, wild-eyed look I associate with cat circus proprietors. As should be obvious, this film arose from\u00a0the chamber of horrors otherwise known as the Edison Labs<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sadie Stein is contributing editor of <\/em>The Paris Review, and the <\/em>Daily\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once, some years ago, I went with a good friend to see that Russian cat circus. It was my friend\u2019s birthday, and seeing said cat circus was a long and dearly held dream of hers. If memory serves, the cat circus took place at a college of criminal justice, but why would that be true?\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[21114,21110,8017,14847,81,21113,21112,21111],"class_list":["post-94315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-animal-cruelty","tag-cat-circuses","tag-cats","tag-felines","tag-movies","tag-old-films","tag-professor-weltons-boxing-cats","tag-russian-cat-circus"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThat Time I Went to the Russian Cat Circus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"February 10, 2016 \u2013 Once, some years ago, I went with a good friend to see that Russian cat circus. It was my friend\u2019s birthday, and seeing said cat circus was a long and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cat Fight by Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"February 10, 2016 \u2013 Once, some years ago, I went with a good friend to see that Russian cat circus. It was my friend\u2019s birthday, and seeing said cat circus was a long and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-10T19:38:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-02-10T20:00:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/boxingcats.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1408\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"938\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\"},\"headline\":\"Cat Fight\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-10T19:38:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-10T20:00:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/\"},\"wordCount\":346,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/boxingcats.png\",\"keywords\":[\"animal cruelty\",\"cat circuses\",\"cats\",\"felines\",\"movies\",\"old films\",\"Professor Welton's Boxing Cats\",\"Russian cat circus\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Our Daily Correspondent\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/\",\"name\":\"That Time I Went to the Russian Cat Circus\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/boxingcats.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-10T19:38:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-10T20:00:25+00:00\",\"description\":\"February 10, 2016 \u2013 Once, some years ago, I went with a good friend to see that Russian cat circus. It was my friend\u2019s birthday, and seeing said cat circus was a long and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/boxingcats.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/boxingcats.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cat Fight\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\",\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sadie Stein\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"That Time I Went to the Russian Cat Circus","description":"February 10, 2016 \u2013 Once, some years ago, I went with a good friend to see that Russian cat circus. It was my friend\u2019s birthday, and seeing said cat circus was a long and","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cat Fight by Sadie Stein","og_description":"February 10, 2016 \u2013 Once, some years ago, I went with a good friend to see that Russian cat circus. It was my friend\u2019s birthday, and seeing said cat circus was a long and","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2016-02-10T19:38:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-02-10T20:00:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1408,"height":938,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/boxingcats.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Sadie Stein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sadie Stein","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/"},"author":{"name":"Sadie Stein","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9"},"headline":"Cat Fight","datePublished":"2016-02-10T19:38:03+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-10T20:00:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/"},"wordCount":346,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/boxingcats.png","keywords":["animal cruelty","cat circuses","cats","felines","movies","old films","Professor Welton's Boxing Cats","Russian cat circus"],"articleSection":["Our Daily Correspondent"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/","name":"That Time I Went to the Russian Cat Circus","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/boxingcats.png","datePublished":"2016-02-10T19:38:03+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-10T20:00:25+00:00","description":"February 10, 2016 \u2013 Once, some years ago, I went with a good friend to see that Russian cat circus. It was my friend\u2019s birthday, and seeing said cat circus was a long and","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/boxingcats.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/boxingcats.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/cat-fight\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cat Fight"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9","name":"Sadie Stein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sadie Stein"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94315"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94323,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94315\/revisions\/94323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}