It’s the meeting of two beloved New Orleans icons. Scrim, everyone’s favorite fugitive mutt, will star in a new children’s book to be published this fall by former television meteorologist Margaret Orr.
Based on a preview, “Scrim My Tail: As Told to Margaret Orr,” is bound to enthrall the small fry, and maybe dog-loving grown-ups too.
Orr’s take on Scrim’s epic travels through the Crescent City streets may surprise some, since it introduces a whole new motivation into the mix. Most onlookers believed that Scrim simply craved freedom and distrusted humans, fleeing from the well-meaning folks who set out to capture him and return him to domesticity at all cost.
But in Orr’s telling, the reason for the heroic little dog’s legendary Houdini-like escapes and reckless running was that he’d been annoyed by cats. That’s right, Orr discovered that cats — the eternal enemies of all dogs — were to blame for Scrim’s alienation all along.
“People didn’t know what really happened,” Orr said with a chuckle.
Tailgates and snow dogs
Scrim’s cat aversion isn’t Orr’s only creative take on Scrim’s tale. In her telling, Scrim attends Saints tailgate parties disguised in a Drew Fleas jersey, camouflages himself as a snow dog during last winter’s historic blizzard and sustains himself during his long odyssey with Dat Dog sandwiches.
Orr is confident of her conclusions, because they are based on an absolutely credible source, Scrim himself. Orr interviewed the former canine outlaw personally — in the context of the children’s book, anyway — before penning the tall tale. To readers, she said, it will be “obvious that we talked.”
‘Scrim My Tail: As Told to Margaret Orr,’ with illustrations by Matt Rinard, published by Susan Schadt Press
(Illustration by Matt Rinard,courtesy of Susan Schadt Press)
The auburn-haired weather reporter said she followed Scrim’s harrowing adventures for months, just like everybody else in New Orleans. She feared for his life on the treacherous New Orleans roads, during the cold of winter and as he faced other hazards.
She was tremendously relieved when Scrim was finally captured in February and returned to the care of Michelle Cheramie, owner of Zeus’ Rescues pet adoption agency. It was Cheramie who originally acquired the abandoned dog from a kill shelter before his legendary odyssey began.
Orr, who is affiliated with the popular, all-pooch Barkus Carnival parade, was attending a pre-parade fundraising party at Dat Dog in March where she chatted with Cheramie about Scrim’s recent return to the fold. Cheramie offered Orr the opportunity to meet the international celebrity face-to-face.
Former meteorologist and children’s book author Margaret Orr gets the side-eye from celebrity escapee Scrim.
(Photo courtesy Margaret Orr)
Orr said she visited Charmie’s home and held the once-feral mutt in her arms. He was heavier than she imagined, she said. Scrim’s short legs made him seem smaller than he really was. Laughingly, Orr said that Scrim, who was still quite wary of mankind, looked at her “side-eyed.”
It was during that visit, Orr said, that Cheramie told her Scrim may have performed his most incredible escape from captivity — plunging from a second-story window in her home to the concrete pathway below — because he was “bothered” by her pet cats.
As Scrim is “quoted” as saying in Orr’s book: “Cats cannot be trusted. And I do not recall sharing a house with a cat being a part of my adoption contract. One day I am sound asleep dreaming of treats, when here comes that sneaky . . . Cat! What’s a poor pup to do when a cat is about to ambush you?”
Orr wasn’t the only one to get an audience with Scrim. Artist Matt Rinard, who helps organize the annual Barkus parade, had been invited along with the meteorologist to visit the superstar pup. Orr was already formulating a plan for a children’s book, and she enlisted Rinard to produce the illustrations.
Artist Matt Rinard gets his chance to hold the world-famous Scrim
(Photo courtesy Matt Rinard)
There was no doubt that he was perfect for the project. The Mississippian is well-known for his Royal Street gallery where he displays his charming paintings of anthropomorphized dogs, cats and other creatures that act out human foibles.
Rinard said he’d always wanted to produce a children’s book and was happy to get involved. Though, he said, he was astonished by how swiftly Orr threw herself into the project, churning out her comical account of Scrim’s adventures in no time. “She was like a dog with a bone,” Rinard said.
Rinard added tongue-in-cheek details of his own to the folkloric retelling of Scrim’s life on the run. The artist added a purple cartoon squirrel to the proceedings, as a “guardian angel” character that “makes sure Scrim was on the right path.” He said he hopes kids search each panel for the squirrel the way he used to search Highlights children’s magazine for hidden details. Orr compared the squirrel to the furtive mouse in the classic “Goodnight Moon.”
Rinard also envisioned Scrim as a sort of graffiti tagger, who inscribed every panel with the phrase “Scrim was here,” like a canine Kilroy. Scrim even tagged a St. Charles Avenue streetcar, like the notorious graffiti writer Reznor did years ago. Taylor Swift fans will be delighted to find “Scrim was here,” spelled out in the giant friendship bracelet on the Superdome.
WDSU Chief Meteorologist Margaret Orr smiles at the adoring crowds as she serves as the Honorary Muse for the the Krewe of Muses parade through New Orleans on Thursday, February 8, 2024. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER
Rinard said he sprinkled his illustrations with “hints of architecture and nuances of New Orleans” in order to lend the book “a kinship with the readers.”
Orr said that any proceeds she might receive from “Scrim My Tail: As Told to Margaret Orr,” will benefit the Barkus organization, which in turn contributes to animal shelters.
“I’m not making a penny,” Orr said. “Do we say penny anymore? Maybe I should say, ‘I’m not making a nickel.’”
“Scrim My Tail: As Told to Margaret Orr,” will sell for $20. Copies won’t be available until Oct. 21, though publisher Susan Schadt Press is accepting preorders. Orr said she hopes to convince donors to buy books for local schools.