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Flowers for Marzipan
Mar. 26th, 2013 06:52 pmOne of the finest art deco buildings in Melbourne is the Astor Theatre, which has really picked a great niche for film goers, appealing to fans of cult and arthouse as well as classics. A feature of the cinema has been a calico cat, Marzipan, originally a stray who has lived at the cinema for some twenty-one years, or so the story goes. Naturally enough Marzipan was much loved by the cinema visitors, including myself, taking every opportunity to visit her (I once sneaked into the ladies powder room just for a chance to say 'hello').
But Marzipan is no more, and the Melbourne's Astor fans have reacted with expected sympathy (FB). Arguably, the reaction is irrational. After all, Marzipan neither knows nor cares of the response. But funerals are for the living, and Marzipan did know that there was an enormous quantity of people who would visit her and would quietly watch flickering lights on a screen. Her death has brought that community gather in mutual recognition that she was a valued member.
So it is not flowers that I shall send to the Astor, nor even a card. Rather, I shall provide something that she would have not even been aware of. It is through the anonymous and forgotten animals, far from the pampering of the developed world that I shall express my sadness and solidarity; the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Please donate generously, in remembrance of Marzipan Astorcat.
But Marzipan is no more, and the Melbourne's Astor fans have reacted with expected sympathy (FB). Arguably, the reaction is irrational. After all, Marzipan neither knows nor cares of the response. But funerals are for the living, and Marzipan did know that there was an enormous quantity of people who would visit her and would quietly watch flickering lights on a screen. Her death has brought that community gather in mutual recognition that she was a valued member.
So it is not flowers that I shall send to the Astor, nor even a card. Rather, I shall provide something that she would have not even been aware of. It is through the anonymous and forgotten animals, far from the pampering of the developed world that I shall express my sadness and solidarity; the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Please donate generously, in remembrance of Marzipan Astorcat.
