Cleveland Amory (September 2, 1917 – October 14, 1998) was an American author, reporter, television critic, commentator and animal rights activist. He wrote a series of popular books poking fun at the pretensions and customs of society, starting with The Proper Bostonians in 1947. From the 1950s through the 1990s, he had a career as a reporter and writer for national magazines and as a television and radio commentator. In the late 1980s and 1990s, he wrote bestselling books about his adopted cat, Polar Bear, starting with The Cat Who Came for Christmas (1987). Amory devoted much of his life to promoting animal rights, particularly protection of animals from hunting and vivisection. The executive director of the Humane Society of the United States described Amory as "the founding father of the modern animal protection movement."

Early life

Amory was born September 2, 1917, into a privileged Boston Brahmin family; his parents were Robert Amory and Leonore Cobb Amory, daughter of Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb. During his childhood, he had a great affection for his aunt Lucy "Lu" Creshore, who took in many stray animals and was instrumental in helping Amory get his first puppy, an event that Amory remembered seventy years later as the most memorable moment of his childhood.

In 1936, when he was 18, Amory held a summer job as tutor and companion to 13-year-old William Zinsser, who grew up to be a notable writer and editor. Zinsser later recalled that they had many discussions about their shared interest in journalism, which at that time was not considered suitable for upper-class young men. After attending Milton Academy, Amory went to Harvard where he was president of The Harvard Crimson.

Career

Early career and social history trilogy

After graduating from Harvard in 1939, he worked as a reporter for the Nashua Telegraph and the Arizona Daily Star, and became managing editor of the Prescott Evening Courier. He was then hired by The Saturday Evening Post, where he was their youngest editor, and held that position until he left to serve in the Second World War. During the war, Amory served as a lieutenant in military intelligence in the United States Army. Amory agreed to ghostwrite the Duchess' autobiography, but after realizing that she wanted him to sugar-coat her life, he quickly left the project. where he drew the ire of hunters for his biting criticisms of sports hunting programs. His book Man Kind? Our Incredible War on Wildlife (1974) detailed inhumane hunting practices, sparking an editorial in The New York Times and a CBS documentary on hunting, The Guns of Autumn. Amory also presented a daily radio essay called "Curmudgeon at Large". Later he wrote a syndicated column called "Animail" and served as a senior contributing editor of Parade magazine from 1980 to 1998.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Amory wrote another series of bestselling nonfiction books about Polar Bear, a stray, starving white cat that he had rescued from a Manhattan street on Christmas Eve 1977. The Cat Who Came for Christmas (1987) spent twelve weeks at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Its sequels, The Cat and the Curmudgeon (1990) and The Best Cat Ever (1993, published after Polar Bear's death), also were bestsellers.

In 1988, Amory made his only feature film appearance in the role of "Mr. Danforth" in the comedy-drama Mr. North, starring Anthony Edwards.

Amory was a co-chairman of the executive committee for Writers and Artists for Peace in the Middle East, a pro-Israel group. In 1984, he signed a letter protesting German arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Animal rights work

Director and president of organizations

As a young newspaper reporter in Arizona, Amory was assigned to cover a bullfight along the border with Mexico. The New York Times reported in its obituary of Amory that he "was sickened both by the scene and by the winner's cutting off the bull's ears. He picked up a cushion and threw it at the bullfighter who fell to the ground. He never returned to the paper." He often said that led to his interest in animal welfare. Amory also served as president of the New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS) from 1987 until his death in 1998.

The Fund for Animals

In 1967, Amory founded the Fund for Animals with a planned focus on protecting animals from hunters and creating animal sanctuaries. The Fund struggled during the first years of its existence but became known in 1979 for sponsoring a removal by air and land of 580 Grand Canyon burros slated for destruction by the National Park Service.

Black Beauty Ranch

Inspired by Anna Sewell's novel Black Beauty, Amory established the Black Beauty Ranch, a sanctuary that sheltered various abused animals, including chimpanzees, burros and elephants. Located in Murchison, Texas, this ranch accommodated over 600 resident animals. Amory took part in many campaigns such as the one waged by Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society against whaling and sealing.

Death

Amory died in 1998 of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. He was cremated and his ashes were spread across Black Beauty Ranch by his favorite burro, named Friendly.

A stone monument to Amory stands on Black Beauty Ranch beside the monument and burial site of his beloved cat, Polar Bear.

Works

Written

All books are nonfiction, unless noted otherwise.

  • The Proper Bostonians (1947)
  • Home Town (1947) (novel)
  • The Last Resorts (1952)
  • Who Killed Society? (1960)
  • Celebrity Register (1963) (with Earl Blackwell)
  • Man Kind? Our Incredible War on Wildlife (1974)
  • Animail (1976) (collection of Amory's syndicated columns)
  • The Trouble With Nowadays: A Curmudgeon Strikes Back (1979) (fictional satire)
  • The Cat Who Came for Christmas (1987)
  • The Cat and the Curmudgeon (1990) (alternate title: The Cat Who Stayed for Christmas)
  • The Best Cat Ever (1993)
  • Cleveland Amory's Compleat Cat (1995) (collection of all three "Cat" titles)
  • Ranch of Dreams (1997)

Edited

  • Vanity Fair, A Cavalcade of the 1920s and 1930s (1960) (ed. with Frederic Bradlee)
  • A Treasury of Great Recipes: Famous Specialties of the World's Foremost Restaurants Adapted for the American Kitchen (1974) (ed. with Vincent Price, Mary Price, and Martha Amory)

See also

  • List of animal rights advocates

References

Further reading

  • Marshall, Julie Hoffman. Making Burros Fly: Cleveland Amory, Animal Rescue Pioneer. Johnson Books, Boulder, Colorado, 2006. .
  • Greenwald, Marilyn S. Cleveland Amory: Media Curmudgeon & Animal Rights Crusader. University Press of New England, Lebanon, New Hampshire, 2009. .