Le Beer Noir T-shirt

by Tom Warin
(Salem, MA)

Le Beer Noir T-shirt

1890s Paris was a city under siege by rampaging mobs of unruly artists, poets, writers and philosophers. Her gutters were clogged with charming lithographs of skinny dancers, her banks were forced to accept rhyming couplets as legal currency and everyday citizens found their world-views shaken by passing philosophers, high on absinthe and the fundamental duality of nature.

After the city was saved by Mittens O'Leary, the stout-drinking cat of County Offaly, the grateful city fathers commissioned Theophile Steinlen to produce a poster to commemorate the works of the brave feline.

However, fearing that the prominence given to an ale-loving cat would undermine the French people's faith in wine, they censored his original design. Thus "Le Chat Du Bière Noir" became "Tournee Du Chat Noir".

Thankfully, the Le Beer Noir T-shirt restores Steinlein's original vision. When they ask you why the black cat on your shirt is sitting next to a pint of stout, with a mischievous look on his face, tell them: "That's Mittens O'Leary. He was the stout-lovingest cat in all of Ireland and he looks mischievous because he's a cat. That's what cats do when they're done terrorizing bohemians."