ABSTRACT

America's love affair with Davis's cartoon creation, Garfield, began amidst a nationwide feline fetish which first became apparent in 1973, when George Gately's Heathcliff was introduced to newspaper readers. Davis created Garfield in 1976, after spending seven years as an assistant for Tom Ryan, creator of the comic strip Tumbleweeds, and after five years of rejection slips for his strip, Gnorm the Gnat. While Davis portrayed himself as Jon Arbuckle, Garfield's owner, the average guy who was the butt of all the jokes, others have seen some of the cat in its creator. During the two years before Davis accepted a deal with United Features Syndicate leading to Garfield's newspaper debut, the physical make-up of the feline underwent considerable modification. Arlene Scanlan of United Media Enterprises, the company licensing Garfield products, underscored this point: Mothers between the ages of 18 and 34 are cat lovers, so one targeted their marketing to that audience.