Tabby adopted by school became national celebrityBy Roger Vargo, Staff Writer Article Last Updated: 04/01/2008 11:04:23 PM PDT
Click photo to enlarge  Miss Beverly Mason and Room 8. Undated photo.   For some of the kids at Eylsian Heights Elementary, he was the pet they never had, a portly cat dubbed Room 8 by the kids in, yes, Room 8. The gray-striped tabby roamed the halls of the Echo Park school for 16 years, sauntering in and out of classrooms, sleeping on kids' desks and, to a teacher's dismay, wiping out a chalked lesson with his fur as he crept along the eraser tray below the blackboard. Room 8 became a celebrity, arguably the most famous cat in Los Angeles. And his renown spread after he was featured in national magazines, appeared on TV and was the subject of a biography. "I was lucky to be one of the sixth-graders who got to feed the cat in the teachers' room every day," recalled former student Julie (O'Neal) Hines. "We weren't allowed to have pets in my home, so a quick cuddle of Room 8's fat furry body was always a welcome thing." I became acquainted with Room 8 as a kindergartener in 1956. Our teacher, Miss Allen, told us about the cat, but I thought she called him "Roommate" -- a name that made sense as the cat was a roommate to all the school's students. Former student Angie (Medrano) Nicolai recalled a similar speech given then-Principal Beverly Mason, who became the cat's benefactor and alter ego. "My first recollection of Room 8 was Miss Mason introducing him to our kindergarten class," Nicolai said. "I remember thinking that he was a big cat in her arms. She wanted us to know that he belonged to the school and that there may be times
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he would come into our classroom to visit. "She put him down and he immediately jumped up on the desk next to the window to take a nap in the warm sun." Mason and teacher Virginia Finley eventually published "A Cat Called Room 8," a biography that's still read today by teachers and students at Elysian Heights. "It was 1952 when a cat walked into the school," they wrote. "He jumped up and walked on the desks. Hands reached out and petted him. Someone said, 'This I the skinniest cat I've ever seen.'" The children gave the cat some milk and went out for recess." The book goes on to detail the feline's first day at school, and how he came to be adopted and named by the students in Room 8. The character of Miss White in the book is widely believed to be Finley herself, the teacher who took in the skinny tomcat that first day. According to the book, Room 8 was born in 1947, and ran away after being mistreated by a border in the home where he lived. "No one knew where he went at night or during vacation. Like the swallows of Capistrano, he returned every September for the opening of school to sleep on the desks of children." The local news media began to take notice of his annual autumnal return to school. His renown spread after Look magazine ran a three-page spread in November 1962 titled "Room 8: The School Cat." Weekly Reader, a national magazine for elementary school pupils, featured the feline in January 1967. Art Linkletter had the cat as a guest on TV's "House Party," and Room 8 also was featured on "Big Cats, Little Cats," a television documentary that aired in 1968. According to his biography, Room 8 received more than 10,000 fan letters from 47 states and several foreign countries _ sometimes more than 100 letters in one day. Profits from the Room 8 biography paid the postage to respond to his fan mail. The volume of mail created an educational opportunity of sorts for fifth- and sixth-graders who were conscripted to be Room 8's "secretaries." They answered each piece of mail and signed it with a rubber stamp of Room 8's paw print. Some of the sixth-graders also were tapped for the most prestigious of all positions - that of Room 8's feeder. Not only did they get access to the teachers' lounge, the secret and restricted area where Room 8 dined, but they also got to hold our unofficial mascot for the annual class portrait. The feline's paw prints were imbedded in wet cement in the front of the school on June 11, 1964, an event re-created by Mason and Finley in their biography. "Everyone cheered! Television cameras rolled as he walked across the wet cement with his tail and head high." Years later, guitarist Leo Kottke saw the imprints and inscription _ "Room 8-School Cat" _ outside the school. That inspired him to compose an instrumental called "Room 8," a song that included in his 1971 album, "Mudlark." "It is an unusual tune because of the way it moves," said Kottke, "It took about a month to write." Room 8 was hurt in a cat fight in November 1963, and began to have health problems as he aged. After recuperating from a bout of pneumonia in December 1964, he spent nights and vacations with the Nakano family who lived near the school. "As he grew older he waited for me to carry him to the Nakanos at night," custodian Sam Ross recalled years later. "He knew I'd see him safely across the street." Room 8 was 22 when he died on Aug. 13, 1968. In an obituary published the next day, the Long Beach Press Telegram noted, "The cat with the funny name is survived by pupils who have attended Elysian Heights School since 1953, the year he decided to make the school his home and the children his mascots." Wrote the Valley News and Green Sheet, the predecessor of the Daily News: "There will be a familiar face missing from Classroom 8 at Elysian Heights Elementary School in September. The cat had become an international celebrity through the 15 years of his schooling." After a funeral attended by about a dozen people, Room 8 was laid to rest at the Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park in Calabasas, where a 3-foot granite headstone marks his grave. In the 40 years since the beloved tabby died, all of the principle individuals connected to the book have passed on, too. Dr. Ted Haskell, Room 8's long time veterinarian died in 1975. Mason died in a vehicle accident in 1991, and Finley died in 2000. Valerie Martin, who illustrated the book, died in 1993. Ross, the school custodian, died in 2004. Room 8 left a long and lasting legacy. A couple months after Room 8 died, students at Elysian Heights created a memorial fund in his name at Orthopedic Hospital. It eventually raised $10,000. At the school where he made his home, two paintings greet visitors in the hall next to a large version of his memorial medallion and a bronze statue. He is the centerpiece of a triptych in the school library. A fading image of him adorns the outside wall of a classroom building. A 2005 mural by Yuriko Etue features the gray feline walking through California history on the side of the school auditorium. "Elysian Heights School. Home of Room 8. School Cat 1952-1968" is inscribed in foot-high letters in concrete at Baxter Street and Echo Park Avenue. And each year, Elysian Heights teachers like Sheryl Gallo read the biography of Room 8 to their students. "Room 8 taught us kindness to all beings and respect for life," she said. roger.vargo@dailynews.com 818-713-3785 | 
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