The year was 1959... it was a year that:

• The Barbie Doll was created
• The first color photograph of Earth from outer space is seen
• "Gigi" wins Best Picture at the Oscars
• "Bonanza" premieres on NBC-TV, the first weekly television series broadcast completely in color
• Hawaii is admitted as the 50th State
• The original Mini, designed by Sir Alec Issigonis is launched, at the price of £500

With the success of their first ever yearbook, in 1958, CFA published another edition.

Measuring just 6" x 9", it was a soft-cover, spiral-bound book, sold for the cost of $1.25. It had 122 pages, and ads from 47 catteries.

Only about 500 copies were ever printed - which combined with the fragility of a paperback publication with plastic spiral binding - makes it a very hard find these days!

Some notable items from the minutes of the Board Meetings that year were:

• San Diego Cat Fanciers proposed that CFA allow neuters and spays to compete for Premier Points in a like manner in which intact cats compete for Champion Points. The resolution passed, and this was the first year that alters were allowed to compete in CFA shows for titles.
• In addition to adding Premiership competition, new color class numbers were added to allow Household Pets to compete at the shows.

1959 Show Season

The show season of 1958-59 had a total of 96 judging rings held. The first show of the season was held October 4-5, 1958, and the last show of the season was held March 7-8, 1959.

There was quite a large variety of formats at that time, and most shows only had a couple of rings each day. Often there was 1 Allbreed ring, 1 Longhair ring, and 1 Shorthair ring. For the few 2-day shows, one club would sponsor the rings on the first day, and a separate club would sponsor the rings on a second day. The breakdown of rings for this show season was:

Allbreed	30
Shorthair Specialty	25
Longhair Specialty	26
Siamese Specialty	4
Tabby & Tortie Specialty	2
Silver Specialty	2
Solid Color Specialty	3
All Short Hair (Except Siamese)	2
Domestic Shorthair Specialty	2

1959 Grand Parade

There were a total of 23 cats that earned their Grand Championship title during this show season - and no Grand Premiers, as that title had just barely come into existence.

Persian were by far the largest percentage that season, with 11 of the 23 grands being Persian! The remaining grands consisted of 8 Siamese, 2 Domestic Shorthairs (what we now call the American Shorthair), 1 Manx, and 1 Abyssinian. These cats are listed/pictured below - only the cats' name and owner was actually listed in the Yearbook itself, all other registration information has been added based on Stud Book entries.

 

GC Career Girl of Nor-Mont Born: 7/19/1956 Reg number: 92-SB-816 Blue Persian Female S: GC Nor-Mont Applause D: Nor-Mont Blue Ruffles	GC Khyber’s Lari of Birch Haven Born: 5/1/1951 Reg number: 57-SB-965, v57 Blue Persian Male S: CH Khyber’s Boris II D: Pyrola of Khyber	GC Longhill Michael II of Castilia Born: 7/17/1955 Reg number: 88-SB-350, v84 Cream Persian Male S: GC Longhill’s Michael D: Longhill’s Mazda
GC Minqua’s Punxsutawney Born: 7/20/1955 Reg number: 86-SB-619 Blue-Cream Persian Female S: GC Renown of Dunesk D: Calvert Loyalhanna of Minqua	GC Nor-Mont Applause Born: 1/27/1955 Reg number: 87-SB-617, v83 Blue Persian Male S: CH Dixi-Land’s Wycliffe Encore D: GC West Allis Annette	GC Nor-Mont Blue Parader Born: 7/26/1956 Reg number: 93-SB-450, v91 Blue Persian Male S: Nor-Mont Newsboy D: Nor-Mont Tina Marie
GC Nor-Mont Jubilee II of West Allis Born: 1/27/1955 Reg number: 93-SB-321, v84 Blue Persian Male S: CH Dixi-Land’s Wycliffe Encore D: GC West Allis Annette	GC Ru-Ling Rusty of Birch Haven Born: 6/24/1951 Reg number: 58-SB-144, v58 Red Persian Male S: Phyreside Minute Man of Ru-Ling D: CH Maybank Almina of Ru-Ling	GC Shawnee Moonflower Born: 6/25/1955 Reg number: 58-443, v84 Copper-Eyed White Persian Female S: Moonraker of Gaylands D: CH Rosedere Fleur of Arlington
GC Silver Mesa Miss Katrina Born: 7/8/1952 Reg number: 63-SB-146, v63 Chinchilla Silver Persian Female S: CH Sir Bedford O’Pickford D: Pandora Silver of Silver Mesa	GC Silver Mesa Sir Valiant Born: 6/10/1953 Reg number: 69-SB-535, v69 Chinchilla Silver Persian Male S: CH Sir Pixie of Silver Mesa D: Cecilia Scotia of Silver Mesa	GC Chirn Sa-Hai Twenty Carats Born: 7/7/1954 Reg number: 84-SB-602-A, v84 Ruddy Abyssinian Male S: GC Chirn Sa-Hai Ricki D: CH Mao Qui Vive of Chirn Sa-Hai
GC Boren’s Little Lady Lylac Born: 5/4/1956 Reg number: 94-SB-254, v88 Lilac Point Siamese Female S: CH Frost-E-Lad of Boren D: CH Bograe’s Laven Dear Lady of Boren	GC Bult'h Hex Born: 6/8/1954 Reg number: 78-SB-246, v78 Blue Point Siamese Male S: Spotlight Ptolemy of Caithness D: CH Caithness Maliwan	GC Medicine Lake Kyo-Ko of Nor-Mont Born: 5/9/1957 Reg number: 57-61, v85 Seal Point Siamese Female S: CH Medicine Lake Wee-Zano Kitti D: CH Wee-Sal of Medicine Lake
GC Medicine Lake Sakie of Nor-Mont Born: 5/9/1957 Reg number: 57-60, v85 Seal Point Siamese Male S: CH Medicine Lake Wee-Zano Kitti D: CH Wee-Sal of Medicine Lake	GC My-Lo’s Cococil Born: 2/20/1957 Reg number: 98-SB-052, v87 Chocolate Point Siamese Female S: Medicine Lake Seal Boy of My-Lo D: CH Medicine Lake Cocodoll of My-Lo	GC Quinn’s Blue Nite of Fan-T-Cee Born: 4/3/1956 Reg number: 95-SB-410, v84 Blue Point Siamese Male S: CH Fan-T-Cee Tee Cee D: Mandarin’s Destiny Quinn
GC Singa Penelope Born: 1/4/1957 Reg number: 99-SB-427, v87 Seal Point Siamese Female S: Holmesdale Caraban of Wu D: CH Singa Lindette	GC Ven Oriental Boy of Dalai Born: 11/3/1953 Reg number: 73-FR-336, v73 Seal Point Siamese Male S: CH Dalai Jakki D: Nancy of Ven	GC Xantha’s Candice of Tra-Mar Born: 3/21/1956 Reg number: 92-FR-140-M, v87 Black Manx Female S: CH The Churches Bosun of Xantha D: CH Xantha’s Velda
GC Shawnee Startler Born: 6/16/1954 Reg number: 80-FR-440-2-D, v80 Silver Tabby Domestic (American) Shorthair Male S: No record D: No record	GC Vikiri Red Kelley Born: March 1955 Reg number: 88-FR-834-2-D, v84 Red Tabby Domestic (American) Shorthair Male S: Unknown D: Unknown