The year was 1961... it was a year that:

• Barbie gets a boyfriend - the "Ken" doll is released
• "West Side Story" is released as a film , and wins Best Picture at the Oscars
• Grammy Awards for Record and Song of the Year go to "Moon River", by Henry Mancini
• Six Flags Over Texas, the first of the Six Flags amusement parks, opens
• The Pulitzer prize for fiction is awarded to "To Kill A Mockingbird", by Harper Lee
• Russian Yuri Gagarin is the first human in space
• Construction began on the Berlin Wall

Measuring just 6" x 9", the yearbook was again a soft-cover, spiral-bound book, sold for the cost of $1.00. It had xx pages, and ads from xx 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:

• The Territory of Hawaii was removed from the Northwest Region, and the State of Hawaii added to the Southwest Region.
   
• Blue tabbies are recognized as a new color, and accepted.
   
• The various shades of Cameo colored cats are accepted as part of the Persian colors.
   
• Registration rules were passed which required the word "of" to be placed in front of any cattery name suffix in the cats registered name.

1961 Show Season

The show season of 1960-61 had a total of 148 judging rings held. The first show of the season was held in August 1960, and the last show of the season was held in March, 1961 - a month longer than the previous show season lasted.

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	48
Shorthair Specialty	41
Longhair Specialty	43
Siamese Specialty	2
Tabby & Tortie Specialty	3
Silver Specialty	3
Solid Color Specialty	3
All Short Hair (Except Siamese)	2
Domestic Shorthair Specialty	5
Foreign Short Hair	2

1961 Grand Parade

There were a total of 27 cats that earned their Grand Championship title during this show season - and the very first Grand Premier, a Persian - two years after the title was first added!!

Persian were by far the largest percentage that season, with 13 of the 28 grands being Persian!

The remaining grands consisted of 7 Siamese, 2 Burmese, 2 Abyssinians, 2 Manx, 1 Domestic Shorthairs (what we now call the American Shorthair), and 1 Russian Blue. 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 Ben-Mar Minuet Born: ?? Reg number: 115-0088 Cream Persian Female S: CH Nor-Mont Simone’s Randy D: CH Willowood Sapphire of Ben-Mar	GC Bloemhill Pekoe Born: 5/6/1958 Reg number: 114-0008, v88 Cream Persian Male S: Nigrette’s Tereus of Bloemhill D: CH Bloemhill Lorelei	CH, GP Cathay’s Katinka Born: 4/15/1955 Reg number: 84-SB-259 Cream Persian Female S: CH Longhill’s Lightning of Rosegate D: CH Kathe Chickadee of Longhill
GC Las Montanas Silver Thistle Born: 6/28/1952 Reg number: 64-SB-165, v64 Chinchilla Silver Persian Male S: Las Montanas Flying Cloud D: Kini’s Rag Doll de Las Montanas	GC Nor-Mont Confection Born: 6/30/1958 Reg number: 58-5224 Blue Persian Female S: GC Nor-Mont Applause D: CH Nigrette Trublu of Nor-Mont	GC Nor-Mont Duchess Born: 6/13/1957 Reg number: 57-1246, v88 Tortoiseshell Persian Female S: GC Nor-Mont Applause D: Longhill's Matilda of Nor-Mont
GC Nor-Mont Saucy Born: 6/21/1958 Reg number: 58-5174 Blue Persian Female S: CH Nor-Mont Blue Legend D: CH Ardith Ann of Nor-Mont	GC Nor-Mont White Chalk Born: 5/25/1959 Reg number: 103-0148, v88 Copper-Eyed White Persian Female S: CH Klinkhammer Topper of Castilia D: Nigrette’s Trublu of Nor-Mont	GC Shawnee Moondance Born: 8/1/1958 Reg number: 102-0044, v89 Copper-Eyed White Persian Male S: CH Klinkhammer Topper of Castilia D: CH Shawnee Moonflower
GC Sheromar’s Masterpiece Born: ?? Reg number: ?? ?? S: ?? D: ??	GC Shy Pines Shy Guy Born: 4/17/1955 Reg number: 92-SB-753, v86 Blue Persian Male S: CH Windibank Solitaire D: Flagstone’s Cutest Miss	GC Silver Mesa Miss Pixyanne Born: 6/10/1953 Reg number: 69-SB-537, v69 Chinchilla Silver Persian Female S: CH Sir Pixie of Silver Mesa D: Cecilia Scotia of Silver Mesa
GC Southland’s Hit Parade Born: 6/24/1958 Reg number: 106-0273, v89 Blue Persian Male S: CH Southland’s Ensign D: Southland’s Felice	GC Mizpah’s Anitra Born: 2/27/1958 Reg number: 401-0042-3, v87 Sable Burmese Female S: CH Ghirardelli Alla Mizpah D: CH Antonica Pamphula of Mizpah	GC Mizpah’s Clancy Born: 3/6/1959 Reg number: 400-0078-3, v88 Sable Burmese Male S: CH Ghirardelli Alla Mizpah D: CH Antonica Pamphula of Mizpah
GC Bridle Trail’s Sprite of Astra Born: 3/29/1959 Reg number: 277-0323, v91 Blue Point Siamese Female S: Bridle Trail Ping Mo D: Singa Godiva of Bridle Trail	GC Fan-T-Cee’s Will-O-Wee of Tap Toe Born: 2/27/1957 Reg number: 58-802, v87 Blue Point Siamese Female S: Kabar Will o’the Wisp of Fan-T-Cee D: Zagazig Chun Moi	GC Fan-T-Cee’s Enchantress Born: 8/31/1957 Reg number: 273-0666, v87 Seal Point Siamese Female S: Kabar Alexander The Great D: Fatima of Fan-T-Cee
GC Green Lane Chulalongkorn Born: 3/14/1958 Reg number: 272-0363, v87 Seal Point Siamese Male S: CH Green Lane Vance D: Green Lane Miranda	GC Kalyan Cha Mo Born: 12/20/1957 Reg number: 58-2441, v87 Seal Point Siamese Male S: Medicine Lake Pryns of Dalai D: Kalyan Moka-Mo	GC Van-Lyn’s Dilly Boy Born: 8/6/1958 Reg number: 274-0062-3, v88 Lilac Point Siamese Male S: Van-Lyn’s Laddie of Town Point D: Van-Lyn’s Adilli
GC Wewan Horatio of Pur-Ami Born: 10/8/1958 Reg number: 272-0851, v87 Seal Point Siamese Male S: Killdown Monty of Wewan D: Ly-Lee Lee Kim of Wewan	GC Selene’s Firefly Born: 1/10/1956 Reg number: 98-SB-947-A, v85 Ruddy Abyssinian Male S: CH Ta-Lee-Ho’s Ipo of Ell-Mar D: CH Caper Cat Trinket of Selene	GC Selene’s Tammy of Aberdeen Born: 9/17/1957 Reg number: 58-151, v88 Ruddy Abyssinian Female S: GC Selene’s Vignette of Willouise D: CH Caper Cat Idyllwild of Selene
GC Akanta Mr. Quarternote of Far-Fin Born: 3/2/1953 Reg number: 73-FR-300-2-M, v73 Black Manx Male S: Mr Kelly D: Mrs Kelly	GC Wila-Blite Zenith of JB Born: 1/25/1959 Reg number: 605-0005-2, v88 Odd-Eyed White Manx Female S: Be Sam Bo of Wila-Blite D: Truantail Asure-Lee of Wila-Blite	GC Shawnee Marksman Born: 3/31/1959 Reg number: 736-0030-3, v88 Silver Tabby American Shorthair Male S: GC Gray Horse Farm’s Jentleman D: CH Shawnee Sparkler
GC Casa Gatos Zarena O’Bograe Born: 10/3/1952 Reg number: 69-SB-437-R, v69 Russian Blue Female S: Casa Gatos Tsar D: El Rosario’s Sonia de Casa Gatos