Marilyn Shimmield

🇺🇸 In 1905, Mark Twain’s beloved black cat Bambino lived at his home at 21 Fifth Avenue in New York City. The cat originally belonged to his daughter Clara, who had brought him to a sanatorium before giving him to her father. According to longtime household servant Katy Leary, Twain taught Bambino to put out the small bedside lamp used for lighting his cigars. When Twain bowed twice, Bambino would leap up and touch the lamp with his paw. On April 1, Bambino vanished. Twain prepared notices offering a $5 reward, describing a velvety black cat with a faint white patch on his chest. His secretary, Isabel Lyon, recorded chasing and catching Bambino near Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street that evening. The notices were canceled, but newspapers still reported the affair. On April 9, The New York Times published a humorous interview with Bambino. A photograph taken by Twain’s daughter Jean survives in the Mark Twain Papers.