Cleveland Amory

It was on a cold Christmas Eve night many years ago in New York that a stray cat found a new, loving home.

His rescuer was I then crusty 60 year old curmudgeon, an author and TV and radio critic named Cleveland Amory.

Well, Amory named his new furry white companion PPolar Bear. And in 1987, when Amory wrote a book called The Cat Who Came For Christmas, Polar Bear became a celebrity.

This was my first interview with Cleveland Amory, but it was not the last. We talked several times over the next few years.

So here now, from 1987, Cleveland

Cleveland Amory died in 1998. He was 81.

Ingrid Newkirk

Forty years ago this month, two young animal rights activists formed an organization to advocate for animals.

Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco called it “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals,” often known simply as PETA.

In the years since, PETA has made a name for itself by its controversial, sometimes outrageous, tactics, aimed at protecting the rights of animals.

I’ve interviewed Ingrid Newkirk a number of times over the years, including the interview you’re about to hear, from 1991.

And speaking of controversy .. the day I talked with her,i in 1991, PETA was under fire for a newspaper ad they had just published.

The ad compared meatpackers to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed and dismembered 17 victims. Near the end of this interview, I talked with Newkirk about that ad, and the response to it.

Here now, Ingrid Newkirk, from 1991: