Garfield: A Taste for Lasagne

The world's most famous cartoon cat, Garfield, is 40 years old this year, yet he still looks as good as ever! Perhaps his legendary diet of lasagne helps to keep the ginger feline perky and playful. After all, the pasta dish is full of nutrients!

As the animated creation of Jim Davis, Garfield first appeared in 41 newspapers belonging to United Feature Syndicate in America on 19th June 1978. To date, he has appeared in television series and films, and in 2013 he achieved the Guinness World Record for being the most widely-syndicated comic strip, after appearing in 2,580 newspapers and journals. He has also spawned merchandise earning between $750 million and $1 billion annually.

Amongst other things, this larger than life ginger moggy is famous for his obsessive love of lasagne and his hatred of Mondays, as well as for making life chaotic for his human owner Jon Arbuckle and canine pal Odie.

How Garfield began

Born in 1945, Davis was brought up in Muncie, Indiana, on a farm with 25 cats - hence the idea of having a cat as the main character for his cartoon strip. Prior to this, he had tried to sell his comic strip, Gnorm Gnat, to the newspapers, but without success, as editors said nobody could relate to a bug!

The cat's personality was based on Davis's own grandfather, whose middle name was Garfield. Davis described him as being "large" and "cantankerous".

He based Jon Arbuckle (Garfield's owner) on a character from a 1950s coffee commercial, while Odie was based on a character of the same name, from an earlier sketch that Davis had written for a car dealership commercial.

After United Feature Syndicate began publishing the Garfield cartoons, it was the start of a massive franchise. Davis kept the cartoon fresh by moving with the times and continually developing the Garfield character. In 1984, he totally revamped the cat's appearance, later describing it as a "Darwinian evolution" because it was so drastic. Garfield began walking on two legs rather than four and he also slimmed down!

Franchise growth

By 1981, the Garfield cartoon strip had already appeared in more than 850 newspapers and had become a brand in its own right, generating merchandise worth more than $15 million. Davis set up Paws Inc just to manage the merchandise.

By 2004, Garfield had appeared in almost 2,600 newspapers and the merchandise was being sold in 111 countries - valued at more than $750 million.

As well as the original comic strips, Garfield had already made his television debut as an animated cartoon on 15th May 1980, on the CBS show, The Fantastic Funnies. Between 1982 and 1991, Garfield cartoon specials were broadcast regularly and there was even a documentary celebrating his 10th anniversary as a TV character.

Several Garfield films were made, two of which played in cinemas. Following the first two movies, three films were released that went direct to video - Garfield Gets Real in 2007, Garfield's Fun Fest in 2008 and Garfield's Pet Force in 2009.

In 2016, plans for a new Garfield movie were announced by Alcon Entertainment, who will develop a film using computer-generated imagery with producers Steven P Wegner and John Cohen.

Garfield's quirks

It is well-documented that Garfield loves lasagne and will do anything for a portion of the famous Italian dish. Davis has admitted that he adores lasagne and he has said in interviews that this is why the cat is a fan too - he thought it would be amusing to have a cat with such an unusual taste in food. He says he hears from fans all the time whose own cats love lasagne, so he realises it isn't so unusual after all!

Many Garfield cartoon strips have featured the cat's love of lasagne - he prepares and cooks his own and has been depicted standing with a tray, olive oil, onions, tomatoes and other fresh ingredients. In another edition, he is pictured diving into a large tray of lasagne as if it's a swimming pool. He is also depicted as sitting in a tray of lasagne, totally covered in sauce, commenting how he had done it deliberately because when food was smeared all over his body, it prevented anyone else from eating it! He even asks his long-suffering owner if they can go to a lasagne factory for their annual holiday.

In addition to his obsession with food, Garfield also hates Mondays. As Davis explains, there's no particular reason for this, as the cat doesn't work, so every day is pretty much the same but bad things always seem to happen to him on a Monday!

Davis hopes that people realise Garfield is on their side. He loves his family and friends and will do anything for them. He's also a down-to-earth character who's like the average person, enjoying his food, overeating, having a grumble and hating exercise.

Garfield isn't apologetic at all about any aspects of his life, such as his laziness. He just says it's the way he is - and the writer believes this is why the fans like Garfield so much. They can identify with the character and like the way he has a humorous twist on everyday life.

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