Photograph portrait of the American actress with Pyewacket, the beautiful siamese seal point cat who was the other star of the 1958 film ‘Bell, Book and Candle’, boldly signed and inscribed to Paul McMahon. Together with five original promotional images from the film, two of which also include co-star James Stewart. Copyright is listed along the lower edge of each "1958 Columbia Pictures," but the title of the film is not mentioned. 10 x 8 inches (25.5 x 20.4 cm). In fine condition.

In ‘Bell, Book and Candle’, Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak) is a witch who uses her powers and her familiar, a Siamese cat named Pyewacket, to bewitch Shepherd Henderson (Jimmy Stewart) into falling in love with her. Producers of the film were looking for a trained Siamese cat “with an Ava Gardner personality” and Pyewacket soon became one of the most famous cat actors in cinema. Producers chose a trained cat by Hollywood animal trainer Frank Inn to play the role, and up to 9 to 11 more cats helped play the role. Unfortunately the film crew would scare Pyewacket to get him to jump from cabinets and move around, and this really stressed him out, which he apparently never got over. Pyewacket received lots of press even before filming, and won the coveted PATSY (Picture Animal Top Star of the Year) award afterwards. Some Los Angeles Siamese Cat fanciers called for a “cat-cott” of the film because Pyewacket’s melodious voice was dubbed over with a raucous alley cat meow. The filmmakers defended the choice, saying they didn’t know cat breeds made different noises.

From the collection of Paul McMahon, a critic, photographer and artist who worked for more than 13 years touring with Marlene Dietrich as the icon’s stage manager, announcer, dresser, secretary and escort, and later spent 25 years as an arts and entertainment reviewer and photographer with Gay Community News, Esplanade, Tommy’s Connection, The Mirror, Bay Windows and other publications.