January 2008 Newsletter - United Burmese Cat Fanciers

Rock-Land cattery and begged her for a kitten, although I
had no extra money with me at the time, as the New York
show proved quite expensive. The cats in the kitten’s pedigree
were not familiar, but I did acquire the kitten, which
I named Rock-Land’s Sand and Sable, on a trade. When
I got home and traced the pedigree, my eyes bugged out
because she went back to GC Brierwood’s Babe, who was
a national winner and not seen in many pedigrees. Sandy
had huge eyes like saucers and could go from placid to fight
in three seconds or less.
I made a wonderful friend with Susan Beshears of
WhoDat in the 80’s, and we maintain that friendship
today although she is no longer in cats. Susan and Ralph
Beshears had many winners in UBCF in past years, and I
was lucky enough to acquire some of their lines going back
to Puma Lair, Shawnee, and old Midwestern lines as well.
A cat from Susan Mundell of Risu cattery and some lines
from Dodie Granger of Yasmin blended in with lines I had
acquired from Pat Swihart, who also ran a traditional breeding
program as well as her contemporary program. Pat had
some lovely Jeske lines as well as Tse Mau from Eileen
Dunn in California, but the lines I loved the most were the
lines coming from GC Koro’s Beau Brummel. His type
was so deeply ingrained in the lines that it reappeared generations
later. He was the key male in my early breeding
years in my lines, and I thrilled to see GC Fongin Chop Soy
through several different descending cats in his pedigree.
The nineties were a time of pedigree research for me.
I met Claudia LaGrippe, through Pat, who had developed
the initial database sold with Compuped. I acquired some
of her old pedigrees . . . quite a few actually, and made my
own data base inputting the data by hand. The notes on the
pedigrees were very interesting. Some of the old cats listed
as sable were not really “sable” but colors, which were
considered disreputable at that time so they were listed as
sable. During this time I visited a friend in Arizona and
while there met Marie Zeiner, one of the pioneers in dilute
breeding. She told me that at one time she had a chart
of the colors of Siamese used in the Burmese breeding
program with Wong Mau, but a flood had destroyed much
of her personal effects including this chart. Marie was a
wonderful hostess and entertained me with explanations on
the definite difference between the champagnes originating
from the Brierwood cats and the ones from the Pomona
lines. I got to see her Pomona male, and my only regret is
I didn’t use him but at the time it was just so far to ship. I
think he was the last of the Pomona males.
I had a wonderful database on my computer in the late
90’s and early 2000’s, and about four or five different Burmese
files on pedigrees. And, one year in the 90’s I won the
Linechaser’s Ribbon for researching the most pedigrees for
that club (in Europe). I made friends with Rosemary Hale
and other Europeans through Linechasers and eventually
sold Hilde Frank cats for her traditional Bombay breeding
program in Germany. I also worked with Anni Hemme of
Chandigarah and received two gorgeous cats back from her
from cats that had gone to Germany. I took a pale platinum
male to Silvia Roll-Becker for Martha McMillan of Ineedakat
cattery in Pittsburgh, although I almost had to fold
up Ineedakat’s Lover Boy to fit him in the carrier he was
so large. Eventually I was the happy recipient
of one of his offspring Vom Silvan’s Silverado
of Stagelight. I was very happy to have these
lines of Martha’s as I don’t think too many got
them.
I showed a good bit in the 80’s and 90’s,
but haven’t of late because of my stressful
job, some health issues of my own, and my
mother’s advanced age. However, I would like
to do a bit more showing in the next few years.
I have been working on outcrossing lines and
acquiring type so that my cats are competitive
with what is being shown in the Southern
Region.
CH Stagelight’s Daniel My Brother
© Twisted River Photography
Shirley D. Storey
Stagelight Cattery
UBCF January 2008 Page 11