Puns, pundits and Molly the cat

Why is it? There's nothing like a cat story to bring out the puns. Now that Molly has been rescued, the puns and the punditry have gone worldwide. Molly, an 11-month-old cat that was trapped behind a wall in a New York City deli, was rescued last night and made the headlines from My favorite is the tabloid New York Post, which reported in today's online edition:

PURR-FECT END

By BRIGITTE WILLIAMS, BRIAN HAMACHER and HEIDI SINGER

April 15, 2006 -- Meow-alleluia!

Curiosity did not kill the cat after all as Molly was finally rescued last night from inside a brick wall after being stuck in the basement of a Greenwich Village store for two weeks.

The miracle feline - looking slightly dehydrated and dirty - was freed at 10:15 p.m. after a group of volunteer rescue workers dismantled the wall of the landmark building, guided by her meows and an acoustics expert.

"It feels like I won the lottery," her proud owner, Peter Myers declared after giving his prized purrer a big cuddle.

"She needs something to drink. I know I do," he added, before feeding the famished feline a plate of roast pork and sardines marinated in oil and water.

What's not to like in this story? Pungent puns, a lot of alliteration. Even the cutlines began: "FELINE GROOVY ..."

The story was carried by news outlets worldwide, including stories in Mainichi Daily News of Japan, almost all the national British papers, The Independent in South Africa, The Age in Sydney, Australia, The Washington Post and TV networks including CNN, ABC, CBS and BBC News. Even Forbes, the business wire service, carried this bulletin last night: "Update 1: Day 14: NYC Cat Finally Rescued From Wall. ... 04.14.2006, 11:00 PM.:

Not to be outdone by its sister tab (and competitor) for the hearts of New Yorkers if not necessarily their minds, The New York Daily News weighed in with "Ending is Cat's Meow" in the headline and "In a purr-fect ending, a miner with a heart of gold searched until he rescued Molly the cat last night" in the lede. Alliteration, too, as The Daily News went on to report the city's "famous fur ball was safe and sound and eating sardines" after her ordeal. Even The New York Times, ever the gray lady, weighed in with "The Fraidy-Cat of Hudson Street Is Yanked to Safety."

So it went worldwide. The Chicago Tribune, ever on the alert for a good (or not-so-good) pun, headlined, "NYC rescuers' best-laid plans no match so far for trapped cat." And icWales.co.uk, which bills itself as the Welsh national website, had, "Deli-cat mouser safe and sound." Alliteration, too, hit the headlines as The Independent of South Africa proclaimed "Rescuers team up to save plucky pussy," and The Times of London chronicled the weeklong "Bid to save Molly the mouser."

In the end it fell to The New York Times to put it all in historical context. No doubt taking seriously its role as the nation's newspaper of record, The Times searched its morgue, along with clips from its competitors, and reported Sunday:

It is easy to hide in New York City. Sometimes it is even easy to get trapped. Ask the cats.

One October day in 1941, a black Persian named Mickey climbed out of his owner's apartment at 178 Fifth Avenue, went as high as he could and fell five stories down an inaccessible part of the chimney, the start of a 24-hour ordeal that ended when a restaurant owner next door gave rescuers permission to break through his storeroom to pull Mickey out to safety. In 1947, another cat, Suzie, was trapped for five days under a Brooklyn pier until she was rescued. The bait: milk and doughnuts. The reward: She got her picture in the paper.

The saga of Molly — the black cat freed from the wall of a Greenwich Village deli Friday night after a frenzied two-week spectacle — was merely the latest chapter in a rather old New York story, the Story of the Trapped Cat. No one knows how many cats have gotten stuck in the chimneys, walls and crevices of this city, but one thing is certain: Molly was not the first to cause a scene and attract the attention of onlookers, the authorities and reporters.

The story, by staff writer Manny Fernandez, was headlined "Want to Captivate New Yorkers? Try the Story of the (Latest) Trapped Cat." In its thoroughness, if nothing else, it was fully worthy of the Sunday Times.