Bettie Boop

GP, GC Laki's Bettie Boop of Gray Mark, DM

"I will never forget the first time I saw Bettie Boop; she had a litter of kittens and I knew immediately why she was named for this particular cartoon character. Like her name sake Bettie Boop (Boopsy to her friends) has the most incredibly large eyes and they were the most intense golden color I had ever seen. They and her beautiful sable color mesmerized me. Little did I realize then that her owners, Barbara and Richard Kish, would need to place Bettie Boop in another home in less than a year's time because Barbara would need knee replacement surgery. When the call came asking if we would like Boopsy, we never thought of anything but yes, yes we would love to have her.

When she arrived, Boopsy was already a grand champion and had produced a national winning dilute Burmese in 1996, GC Laki's Angelica, a lovely typey platinum whom I had also fallen in love with when we saw her at five months. We had the perfect male to breed Boopsy to: Ch Laki's Diabolique of Gray Mark (Bobby). All the rest, as they say, is history. Boopsy's very first breeding produced a fabulous litter of five sables and one platinum. We could not decide which ones to keep; they were all so good. We finally decided on four female kittens, three sables and one platinum. Several breeders told us we were crazy to keep so many from one litter, what would we do with so many cats with the same blood lines. Well, we knew, a Distinguished Merit for Boopsy.

One by one, we granded those cats from the same litter. Gray Mark's Annie Oakley of Codicat was the first of the sables, shown to her grand championship by Barbara. The offspring we are most proud of is GC, RW Gray Mark's Bonnie Dune, the only platinum in that litter. Bonnie was a regional winner as a kitten, and then a one-show grand at eight months and two weeks. I'll never forget when Wain Harding finalled Bonnie in his ring at San Diego's Food and Water Bowl and she was a one show baby grand! Bonnie was also a national breed winner that same year like her sister, Angel, before her. Once more, this past year, Bonnie was a regional winner as an adult and a national winning dilute Burmese. In fact, she ended her show career as a grand champion with more points than the best national sable, not a regular occurrence for the dilutes in our breed. In addition to Annie and Bonnie, there are also Gray Mark's Melody and Gray Mark's Maggie May, all grand champions. Then, when Maggie granded last year, Boopsy had her DM, the first for both Barbara's and our cattery.

One might think that was enough for Boopsy but no she gave us a couple more grands and several of her offspring are in breeding programs all over the country. We then decided to show her as a premier as she still had her lovely eyes, coat, and body. So at almost six years Boopsy was spayed and we started all over with her show career. She was like her daughter, Bonnie, a one-show grand, but Boopsy did it at six years of age. To make this achievement even more memorable, she got the last final that granded her on her sixth birthday, August 8, 1999. She surprised us all with that triumph but I guess we should have known she had it in her. Boopsy is a double grand and is a DM cat. Four of those grand champions came from one litter and she has produced two national breed winners. She still has her wonderful Burmese temperament, the short solid cobby body, the glossy and silky close lying sable coat, a beautiful head and, of course, her beautiful eyes that still mesmerize me. Now she can rest on her laurels and let her daughters carry on for her; I believe she certainly has left her mark on the breed. Boopsy comes from Concho lines among others, but Lynn Thomas and Barbara Kish bred her and showed her to her grand championship. Thank you Barbara and Richard for trusting us with Boopsy, you are indeed friends, as Bettie Boop has enriched our lives beyond measure."

Margaret Stevens