THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT

The Owl and the Pussycat



The Owl and the Pussycat

Introduction

The Owl and the Pussycat began life as a two-character Broadway play by Bill Manhoff, about a stuffy author who entered into an explosive relationship with his neighbor, a foulmouthed, freewheeling prostitute. Manhoff wrote the part of the hooker for a black actress, but all that changed when Barbra Streisand was cast in the role for the film version. George Segal portrays the male lead, and the play's two-character austerity was expanded to a cast of 19 speaking parts. Beyond the added characters (including Robert Klein as Segal's swinging roommate), the heart and soul of the film is the Segal-Streisand relationship; he is utterly appalled by her lifestyle, she is turned off by his prudishness, and both are made for each other. The Owl and the Pussycat was adapted for the screen by Buck Henry, who shows up in a cameo role in one of the bookstore scenes.

"The Owl and the Pussycat" is a famous nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1871. Lear wrote the poem for a young girl, Janet Symonds, the daughter of Lear's friend, the poet John Addington Symonds and his wife Catherine. Its most notable historical feature is the coinage of the term runcible spoon. It features four anthropomorphised animals (the owl, the pussycat, the 'piggy-wig' and a turkey) and revolves around the love between the title characters, who are married by the turkey in the third and final stanza. Portions of an unfinished sequel, "The Children of the Owl and the Pussycat," were first published posthumously in 1938.

British poet Edward Lear (1812-1888) is widely recognized as the father of the limerick form of poetry and is well known for his nonsense poems. In this lesson, which focuses on Lear's nonsense poem "The Owl and the Pussy Cat," students learn about nonsense poetry as well as the various poetic techniques and devices that poets use to help their readers create a mental picture while reading or hearing poems. The title characters famously go to sea in "a beautiful pea-green boat". The phrase "pea-green" occurs several times in Lear's writings including his surviving diaries.

Discussion

The Owl and the Pussycat, Barbra Streisand's first foray into non-musical territory, is in that tradition, and while it is not a film for the ages, it is still a very professional, well-made, and enjoyable film. Somewhat notorious at the time for its very salty language (much of which is edited in some versions) and for the attention-grabbing lingerie that Streisand wears, it feels a bit dated now. However, Buck Henry's screenplay from Bill Manhoff's play has enough zingers and pulls the right strings to make up for this. Most importantly, Streisand and George Segal have a very definite chemistry; as they are in practically every frame of the film, this is crucial. As the more outrageous character, Streisand tends to steal focus, but Segal is powerful enough -- even within the limits of his character's wimpiness -- ...