Undercover Cat, written by Mildred and Gordon Gordon and published in June of 1963 is Spokane Cat Club’s pick for February 15, 2012. It is very entertaining, captivating, charming and a great book to read out loud to your children. It is also a book you will want to keep on your bookshelf to read again.
Pancho, aka Darn Cat or DC, is in the custom of prowling the neighborhood at when the sun goes down. One night he comes home with a wristwatch around his neck. It is resolve that the watch belongs to the bank teller who is being held captive by bank robbers. The FBI places surveillance on the cat in the hope he will guide them to the kidnappers. They are assisted and hindered by D. C.’s human family as well their neighbors.
Two sequels followed this book: Catnapped and Undercover Cat Prowls Again
In 1965 this novel was made into a movie called That Darn Cat. The screenplay was penned by Mildred and Gordon Gordon. D.C. is a sly, audacious Siamese tomcat who lives with two young Ingrid played by Dorothy Provine and Patti played by Haley Mills Randall. Their parents are traveling abroad when the story takes place. One special night, as Darn Cat makes his usual rounds around town, bantering Blitzy the bulldog, as to start the evening adventures, he follows Iggy (Frank Gorshin), a bank robber to the apartment where he lives with his partner in crime Dan (Neville Brand), meanly calling her ‘mom’ in the process. Iggy lets D.C. in the house for a bite to eat. When Margaret is alone, for a tiny moment, she scratches the word tries to scratch the work help, but only gets the first three letters scratched out when she hears footsteps and quickly slips the wristwatch over the cat’s head and sets him free outside. Once home, Patti At home, Patti notices the watch and calls the FBI. Supervisor Newton (Richard Eastman) consigns Zeke Kelso Dean Jones) to follow DC hoping he will lead them back to the robbers' hideaway. Kelso sets up headquarters in the Randall’s home and dispenses a team to keep the cat under close surveillance, but DC figures out ways to evade them. Ultimately a bugging device is implanted in DC's collar and the cat leads Zeke into a side-splitting pursuit at a drive-in movie and several backyards. Finally, Patti and Zeke rescue Margaret and bring the robbers to justice with the help of D.C.
A remake to this movie came out in 1997 and Dean Jones made a cameo appearance.
Mildred Gordon was born in 1912 in Kansas. She attended the University of Arizona where she met her husband, Gordon (born Nixon Gordon) Gordon who was born in 1906 in Indiana
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