Today is Garfield the Cat Day. He’s been a star since 1978, with movie starring roles, several books and countless merchandise to his 
credit. We know him as the cat with a droll sense of humor, not much ambition to move and a love of lasagna, but there are some things about Garfield the Cat you may not know. The team at mentalfloss.com compiled a list of little known Garfield facts:
- Garfield wasn’t intended to be the star. When Jim Davis, Garfield’s creator began the comic strip he intended for Jon Arbuckle, Garfield’s human, to be the star. The strip was to be called Jon and focus on his daily life, but because of Garfield’s humor and general dynamic personality, Davis’ boss stated it made sense for the cat to be the star.
- Garfield’s name has presidential roots. Garfield was named after Jim Davis’ grandfather, who in turn was named after President James A. Garfield.
- Garfield isn’t Garfield everywhere. There are three countries where Garfield’s name is different. He’s known as Gustav in Sweden and his name is different in Norway and Finland, too.
- The Garfield Suction Cup Toy Was A Misunderstanding. Are you old enough to remember when everyone had a Garfield suction cup plush toy stuck on a car window? Turns out that huge success was actually the result of a misunderstanding. The doll was originally designed with Velcro on the paws, thinking that people would stick it on curtains. The manufacturer didn’t understand the directions and the doll arrived with suction cups. Davis decided to stick it on a window and wait two day. His thought was if the toy was still in place after the two days, he would approve it. It was still there after the two days and a huge Garfield success was born!
- Jon Arbuckle was a cartoonist. Davis wanted to gave Jon a job right off the top since TV shows like The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet never explained what Ozzie (the husband/father) did for a living. Ozzie was always hanging around the house with his family, but no one knew his occupation. Davis gave Jon a job from the beginning to avoid being asked what he does for a living in interviews.
- Garfield is a record holder. Garfield hold the Guinness Book of World Records title for being the world’s most widely syndicated comic strip. Garfield is syndicated in more than 2500 newspapers and journals, and has nearly 17 million fans on Facebook.
If you’d like to check out more Garfield The Cat facts, view the entire article at http://bit.ly/1IT65nD
Photo Source: Photobucket
Written by Karen
