Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a 1951 film adapted from the 1946 novel Rhubarb by humorist, H. Allen Smith. Directed by Arthur Lubin, the screwball noir comedy stars the cat Orangey, Jan Sterling and Ray Milland.

Characters and story

A rich eccentric bequeaths ownership of a baseball team to a cat named Rhubarb (in baseball slang, the word "rhubarb" is a term for an argument or fight on the field), played by Orangey. A millionaire finds a stray cat and takes him into his home, making him his one true friend. When the millionaire dies, Rhubarb is his sole beneficiary.

When the team finds out they are owned by a cat they protest. Their publicist Eric Yeager (Milland) convinces them that Rhubarb is good luck. But Eric's fiancée Polly, played by Jan Sterling, seems to be allergic to cats, and the team's success may mean new hazards for Rhubarb, including gangsters, a disgruntled daughter who was left out of the will of her millionaire father, and thwarted romances.

Reception

The film grossed $1,450,000 in the US on original release.^[1]

Awards

Orangey won PATSY Awards (Picture Animal Top Star of the Year, the animal version of an Oscar) for his appearances in both Rhubarb and Breakfast at Tiffany's, the only cat so far to win more than once.

Strother Martin and Leonard Nimoy have uncredited roles in this film. (Martin and Nimoy share the same birthday, March 26th; Martin in 1919 and Nimoy in 1931.)

The film was released on DVD by Legend Films on July 1, 2008.

References

External links

• Rhubarb (1951 film) at the Internet Movie Database