Buffy goes where no cat has gone before

Buffy has been a bartender, a judge, a disc jockey, a teacher and a magician -- all because Buffy is always ready for his close-up.

That Buffy is a cat and willing to pose anywhere for any length of time makes him the perfect muse for Paul Smulson of Wilmette.

Smulson, 56, has self-published a book of photos he's taken of the 15-year-old tabby doing things most cats would never sit still for.

"Six years ago I put headphones on the cat. I noticed the cat was sitting there for five minutes without moving. So I thought I can work with this cat," Smulson said.

Smulson has taken photos of Buffy fishing at the Skokie Lagoons, quaffing a few at Chicago's Billy Goat Tavern, riding on a carousel, shopping in the grocery store and bowling at Wilmette Bowling Center.

Sunglasses? No problem. Skateboarding? Bring it on.
In the five years he's been subjected to the camera's clicking shutter and flash "he's never raised a whisker," Smulson said. "He's very docile, like a stuffed animal."

In the five years he's been subjected to the camera's clicking shutter and flash "he's never raised a whisker," Smulson said. "He's very docile, like a stuffed animal."

A Glenview oral surgeon for more than two decades, Smulson developed a passion for photography in 1990. Framed photos from his world travels and of his sports work for the Chicago Defender and other publications line the walls of his Sunset Drive home.

He got Buffy and another cat, Smokey, as kittens from a man who Smulson said considered him like a son, the late basketball coach George Ireland. Coach of the 1962-63 Loyola Ramblers basketball team that won the NCAA national championship while courageously shattering long-established racial barriers, Ireland lived down the street from Smulson's boyhood home in Skokie.

"George named him. We kept the name," he said.

Once Smulson realized Buffy's unique talent for sitting still, he began posting shots of the cat on his Web site, www.buffythecat.com.

Then came the idea of doing a book. Smulson makes clear in the 85-page publication, No Dogs Allowed -- Buffy the Cat, that none of the images were digitally reformatted or falsely recreated with photo modification software.

"What I get out of it is seeing people laugh, creating a photo that they've never seen before," he said.

The photos even have a therapeutic affect on patients. A retired school teacher wrote on Smulson's Web site that she paged through the book after having a tooth extracted.

"Looking at the photos made me feel so relaxed that by the end of the book I was laughing and happy," the patient wrote. "The wonderful photographs captivated me and made me feel just as relaxed as I always feel when I am at home holding my cat."

Smulson's patients have helped him gain access to professional settings that have been used to expand Buffy's horizons, including a television and radio studio.

The book is available for $17.95 on eBay and at Loyola University Lakeshore Campus Store, 6435 N. Sherian Road, Chicago.

Smulson hopes to recoup the printing costs, and has pledged to donate a portion of the proceeds to animal shelters.

Paul Smulson pets 15-year-old Buffy in his Wilmette home. (Allison Williams/Staff Photographer)