The Great Depression was a very difficult time for our parents and grandparents to go through. Times were bleak, and there just wasn’t very much to laugh about.
A designer at the California Clock Company thought that what the world needed was a clock that would bring a smile every time you looked at it. Thus was born the Kit-Cat clock.
The cat, in case you didn’t know, is Felix, who was a popular comic strip character during that era. The original Kit-Cat clock is black and white, just like Felix himself.
Anyhow, many of us remember the Kit-Cats hanging up in the homes our grandparents. Many of these clocks no doubt dated back to the 1930’s decade. The clocks indeed brought good cheer to their owners, as advertised.
The clock has a bit of an art deco look to it, appropriate to a design of the era. Eventually, Kit-cats were produced in different colors and designs. The gaudiest were covered in jewels and produced in limited editions.
The Kit-Cat was one of those things we didn’t have in our house, but we knew lots of others who had the perennially eye-rolling and tail-wagging timekeepers. I always got a kick out of seeing them.
Despite the fact that Kit-Cats continue to be marketed, and in fact claim great sales, it seems that you don’t see them around like you used to.
So many of the companies who manufactured the products we bought have gone out of business or been absorbed, it’s a refreshing change to talk about the California Clock Company. They have been cranking out hundreds of thousands of Kit-Cat clocks since the Depression. And they still make them here in the USA. In fact, you can order yourself a Kit-Cat online at their website.