cat dancers: On Tonight: 'Cat Dancers'

In the strange world of animal performances, there can be few stranger than "Cat Dancers" (HBO, 8 p.m.).

The act from Ron and Joy Holiday, later joined by Chuck Lizza, combined dancing, tights, trysts and tigers.

A documentary by Harris Fishman concentrates on Ron Holiday, who looks to be a combination of characters from Chris Lilley's "Summer Heights High" - he sounds like Mr. G and has the hair of Jonah -- well, wig.

Holiday is almost 70 years old, though he works out to appear as if he's still in a 1970s disco.

And he alone recalls the long saga that began in Maine, where he was a dancer and met Joy. Moving to New York City, the two eventually married and became a successful adagio ballet team at Radio City Music Hall.

It was the actor William Holden who gave them a leopard cub and encouraged them to include it as part of the act.

Before long, the couple had their own Cat Dancers Ranch in Florida and began touring the country with their act, combining dance moves with animal training.

They met a young man with a circus in Pennsylvania named Chuck, whom they soon got into their act, and into their lives.

"I saw him first," says Ron. And soon they were soon a threesome.

There was pressure to get a white tiger, the most striking of the performing cats, even though the frequently inbred and are unpredictable. Sure enough, it would lead to death. 

With its blend of kitsch and cats, it's a mesmerizing documentary, aided by the fact that the Holidays videotaped just about every aspect of their career.

Don't mistake it with the network's less laudatory offering with a similar name this week, "Cathouse: Three Ring Circus."

Source: blogs.courant.com