Jellicle Cats

Jellicle Cats are the protagonist of Cats. Throughout the musical, we are introduced to their world as we meet different Jellicles and follow their exploits. A "Jellicle" is a fictional type of domestic cat, depicted as being the same size as real-life cats, with the set and props in the musical generally scaled up four times.

Origins
The concept of a Jellicle Cat was first introduced by T S Eliot in the 1930s. It is the feline counterpart to Eliot's Pollicle Dog. There are two claims for the origins of the terms "Jellicle Cat" and "Pollicle Dog". The popular explanation is that "Jellicle Cat" is a corruption of "dear little cat" and "Pollicle Dog" of "poor little dog". However, Eliot's secretary wrote in a 1959 letter that "Jellicle" is a diminutive of "Jellylorum" (the name of Eliot's cat), with the Jellicle Cat descriptions given in Eliot's poem "The Song of the Jellicles" being based on said cat. In the same vein, "Pollicle" is then presumably a diminutive of "Polly" (the name of Eliot's first wife's dog).

Letter to Tom Faber (1931)
Eliot first referenced Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats in a letter to his godson, Tom Faber, on 5 April 1931:

 Dear Tom,

I believe that you are to have a Birthday soon, and I think that you will then be Four Years Old (I am not Clever at Arithmetic) but that is a Great Age, so I thought we might send out this

INVITATION TO ALL POLLICLE DOGS & JELLICLE CATS TO COME TO THE BIRTHDAY PARTY OF THOMAS FABER

Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats! Come from your Kennels & Houses & Flats; Pollicle Dogs & Cats, draw near; Jellicle Cats & Dogs, Appear; Come with your Ears & your Whiskers & Tails Over the Mountains & Valleys of Wales. This is your ONLY CHANCE THIS YEAR, Your ONLY CHANCE to - what do you spose? - Brush Up your Coats and Turn out your Toes, And come with a Hop & a Skip & a Dance - Because, for this year, it's your ONLY CHANCE To come with your Whiskers & Tails & Hair on To Ty Glyn Aeron Ciliau Aeron - Because you are INVITED to Come With a Flute & a Fife & a Fiddle & Drum, With a Fiddle, a Fife, & a Drum & a Tabor (A Musicle [sic] Instrument that makes a Joyful Noise) To the Birthday Party of THOMAS ERLE FABER!

Oh But P.S. we musn't send out this Invitation after All, Because, if All the Pollicle Dogs & Jellicle Cats came (and of course they all would come) then all the roads would be blocked up, and what's more, they would track muddy feet into the House, and your Mother wouldn't Like that at ALL, and what's More Still, you would have to give them ALL a Piece of your Birthday Cake, and there would be so Many that there wouldn't be any Cake left for you, and that would be Dreadful, so we won't send out this invitation, so no more for the Present from your

Silly Uncle

Tom.

Five-Finger Exercises (1933)
The first published mention of Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats came in a poem titled "Lines to a Yorkshire Terrier" from Eliot's short collection of poems, Five-Finger Exercises (1933):

 "Lines to a Yorkshire Terrier"

In a brown field stood a tree And the tree was crookt and dry. In a black sky, from a green cloud Natural forces shriek'd aloud, Screamed, rattled, muttered endlessly. Little dog was safe and warm Under a cretonne eiderdown, Yet the field was cracked and brown And the tree was cramped and dry. Pollicle dogs and cats all must Jellicle cats and dogs all must Like undertakers, come to dust. Here a little dog I pause Heaving up my prior paws, Pause, and sleep endlessly.

Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats (1936)
In a letter to Geoffrey Faber dated 6 March 1936, Eliot included a poem title "Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats". This poem was set to music by Andrew Lloyd Webber during the initial development of the musical Cats. A demo of this song was recorded by Lloyd Webber in 1979 and was released in the 2001 compilation album Andrew Lloyd Webber: Now & Forever. The poem was later used as the model for "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats".

 "Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats"

I was lunching on day at The Princess Louise, When I passed some remark to a man in white spats Who had ordered a plate of fried gammon and peas, So we soon fell to talking of thisses and thats - Such as Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats.

I have been, he confided, a jack of all trades, A true rolling stone that has gathered no moss, I have seen much of life, in its various shades, And the fat and the lean, and the profit and loss; I have done everything and I've been everywhere, (I'm at present an agent for small furnished flats) - But the one thing that's made life worth while, I declare, Is Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats.

I have been, he continued, involved with the Turf In the work of Accountant, in quite a small way, I invented an excellent specific for scurf, I bought second-hand goods, and I once wrote a play; I have acted as guide, on a Levantine Tour, And at one time I travelled (from Luton) in hats: And for all my misfortunes I've found but one cure - And that's Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats.

Now my sister, for instance, who lives in the hills, That lie on the border of Shropshire and Wales, In a comfortable house where her husband fulfils His vocation of retail purveyor of ales, She says, and for me I've no reason to doubt Her opinion, repeated in dozens of chats - She says there is one thing she can't do without And that's Pollicle dogs and Jellicle Cats.

And my brother, for instance, who lives in the plains That lie on the border of Surrey and Kent, In a house newly built and with adequate drains, You would be quite surprised to know how much he spent On that house - he has actually had to employ Two men snaring rabbits and two catching rats - He says, there is nothing that he can enjory Like Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats.

Now my sister, of whom I have told you before, Is musically gifted, can sing like a bird, She can learn any tune and read any score, She can sing any song that you ever have heard. I have never known anyone had such an ear, And she never goes wrong on the sharps or the flats: She says, there are no voices so pleasant to hear As of Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats.

And my brother, of whom you have just heard me speak, Is a talented artist, I mean amateur; He only has time at the end of the week, But his portraits have made a considerable stir. He can sketch you, in no time, almost anybody, From Lady Godiva to Ingoldsby Oddie - He can draw like Italians, or Frenchmen, or Dutch, But prefers to draw people with whiskers and hates: And he says, there's no subject that suits him so much As Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats.

Well, I said very quickly, that's quite understood, So now let me order a small glass or port - It will set your tongue wagging, and do your heart good, (Any port in a storm, as a final resort): Besides, there's a question I now wish to put, Though I know what is what, and I know that is that. What you've said is exceedingly curious. But What's a Pollicle Dog? and a Jellicle Cat?

Well at that he turned round with a look of surprise, As much as to say, Well now what about that? Do I actually see with my own very eyes A man who's not heard of a Jellicle Cat? And a man who's not heard to a Pollicle Dog Can't know enough even to fall off a log - Well, he said, at the worst there is hope for you yet; It's exceedingly lucky for you that we met. If you do not object to my talking in verse - Not at all, I replied, I enjoy it of all things, It's a good way to put either large things or small things; There is nothing like poetry for real monologues - So with that he began ABOUT POLLICLE DOGS.

The Marching Song of the Pollicle Dogs
 "The Marching Song of the Pollicle Dogs"

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939)
Eliot later wrote a poem about Jellicle Cats titled "The Song of the Jellicles", which was published in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939). In this poem, Jellicles were depicted as commonly nocturnal black and white, scruffy cats. Specifically, Eliot mentions that they like to gather at an event called the "Jellicle Ball".

Cats the Musical
The Jellicles that we meet in the musical are a tribe of cats that, in contrast with "The Song of the Jellicles", possess many kinds of coat-patterns, diverse personalities, individual talents, and even mystical powers. Jellicle cats shown to have magical abilities include Mistoffelees, Macavity, Old Deuteronomy, Coricopat and Tantomile.

The tribe has its own established hierarchy, with Old Deuteronomy as the leader and Munkustrap as his second-in-command, as well as their own belief system, with concepts such as the Heaviside Layer and a god-like figure known as the "Everlasting Cat".

Known Jellicles
Of course, many significant Jellicle Cats are featured in poems describing them -
 * Jennyanydots
 * Rum Tum Tugger
 * Grizabella
 * Bustopher Jones
 * Mungojerrie
 * Rumpleteazer
 * Old Deuteronomy
 * Rumpus Cat
 * Gus
 * Growltiger
 * Griddlebone
 * Skimbleshanks
 * Macavity
 * Mistoffelees

Many of the names used in the ensemble are pulled from the poem "The Naming of Cats" -

 ...First of all, there's the name that the family use daily Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey All of them sensible, everyday names

There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter But all of them sensible everyday names

But I tell you a cat needs a name that's particular A name that's peculiar, and more dignified Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?

Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo or Coricopat Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum Names that never belong to more than one cat

Other Jellicle Cat names are pulled from T.S. Eliot's letters and other works:
 * Carbucketty (a knockabout cat)
 * Murad (A very grand Persian Blue)
 * Noilly Prat (named for a brand of fortified wine)
 * Pouncival (portmanteau of Pounce and Sir Percival)
 * Sillabub (portmanteau of Silly and Beelzebub)
 * Tantomile (a Witches' cat)

Names featured in "Growltiger's Last Stand":
 * Growltiger
 * Griddlebone
 * Grumbuskin
 * Tumblebrutus
 * Gilbert

Additional ensemble names have been used throughout the history of the show, often modelled after the style of the names featured in T.S Eliot's work:


 * Cassandra (Greek, following Plato, Demeter)
 * Etcetera (a play on Electra)
 * Exotica (exotic cat, and a play on Electra)
 * Genghis (the leader of the Siamese, given a more "Asian" name than Gilbert)
 * Jemima (a proper young girl's name, following Peter, James, Victor)
 * Maitre D' (added for the 2019 movie)
 * Olivia (a proper young girl's name, following Peter, James, Victor)
 * Socrates (Greek, Plato's twin in the 2019 movie)
 * Victoria (a proper young girl's name, following Peter, James, Victor)

Fan theories

 * All cats are Jellicle Cats
 * Jellicle Cats refers only to this particular tribe of cats and many other similar cat tribes exist, similar to how the dogs have Pollicles, Pekes, Poms and Pugs
 * Jellicle Cats refers to a special type of cat that possesses human-level intelligence, magical powers etc. Other cats are just normal cats