Skimbleshanks is a cat

Cat

The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...

 character in T. S. Eliot

T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...

's book of poetry Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats is a collection of whimsical poems by T. S. Eliot about feline psychology and sociology, published by Faber and Faber. It is the basis for the record-setting musical Cats....

and in Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

's musical Cats

Cats (musical)

Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...

.

The T. S Eliot poem begins as a parody

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

 of Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...

's poem l'Envoi (also known as The Long Trail) from Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses. Compare the first few lines of Kipling's

There's a whisper down the field where the year has shot her yield,

And the ricks stand grey to the sun,

Singing:--'Over then, come over, for the bee has quit the clover,

And your English summer's done.'

You have heard the beat of the off-shore wind,

And the thresh of the deep-sea rain;

You have heard the song--how long! how long?

Pull out on the trail again!

with Eliot's

There's a whisper down the line at 11.39

When the Night Mail's ready to depart,

Saying `Skimble where is Skimble has he gone to hunt the thimble?

We must find him or the train can't start.'

All the guards and all the porters and the stationmaster's daughters

They are searching high and low,

Saying `Skimble where is Skimble for unless he's very nimble

Then the Night Mail just can't go.'

Skimbleshanks is described as living on the night mail train that travels on the British West Coast Main Line

West Coast Main Line

The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...

. In the musical Cats he is depicted as an orange tabby cat. He is a figure of great importance in the train's operation; it will not leave without him, and he frequently looks in on the passengers and crew to ensure that everything is running smoothly.

Skimbleshanks is seen on the stage throughout the musical without his railway outfit until his song. When it is time for his number, he wears a brown vest with a pocketwatch chain.

The role of Skimbleshanks was originated in London by Kenn Wells and on Broadway by Reed Jones

Reed Jones

Reed Jones was a dancer and choreographer whose credits included Skimbleshanks in the original cast of CATS and Big Deal in the Jerome Robbins revival of WEST SIDE STORY...

. Geoffrey Garratt plays him in the 1998 video version of the musical. Felix Hess played the part in the Worldwide Tour from 2007-2008. In the worldwide tour at the moment he is played by Louie Napoleon.

External links

Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat (poem)