Black Cat Dinner, Unknown USA 1909

This 1909 Black Cat menu is a mystery. Try as we might, we haven’t (yet) been able to find out anything about it. Who are the Black Cats, with their officials called the Grand Meower, the Vice Meower, the Scratcher and the Scorekat? Was the Wad Holder another name for the Treasurer? And who was Jimmie Rodriguez, who was the guest-of-honor Black Cat at this farewell dinner, and where was he going?

The Black Cat was also the name of an American fiction magazine launched in 1895 by Herman Umbstaetter. It published short stories and had a reputation for encouraging new writers. This menu could have been a dinner to bid farewell to one of the writers of the magazine.

The event was held at a restaurant called Graf & Graf. Again, we’ve searched and can find no trace of this restaurant or its location.

Graf & Graf was certainly a top quality establishment with dishes like oysters, filet of beef and turkey and ice-cream offered for this dinner, probably held in a private dining room.

At the top of the written menu is a splendid, be-ribboned black cat using an old-fashioned telephone and having an imaginary conversation in Spanish and English.

We will update with more information about this intriguing menu if and when we get it.