The movie by Walt Disney was ALWAYS called "The Three Lives of Thomasina". It was based on a book written by Paul Gallico called "Thomasina: The Cat Who THought She Was God". Disney changed the title to "The Three Lives of Thomasina", which is, of course, a play on the phrase "a cat has nine lives".
But in the book, as in the movie, Thomasina only has three "lives" - one with the little girl and her vet father; one with "the witch"; and one with all of them together as one happy family.
Parents in the sixties, however, did not like to be corrected. They heard there was a Disney movie about a cat that had more than one life, and they chose to believe that the title was "The Nine Lives of Thomasina", and they insisted that their children say that, too, even when they could see the actual title, "The Three Lives of Thomasina", shining brightly on the marquis of the theatre where they were dropping off their children to go see said movie.
I was in the third grade when "The Three Lives of Thomasina" came out, and my parents and I loved this movie and saw it together more than once. My parents and I had the title right, but EVERY OTHER KID in my 3rd grade class insisted - even after seeing the movie! - that the title was "The Nine Lives of Thomasina", because their parents were insisting to them that that was the "correct" name of the movie.
There is not, and there never has been, a movie called "The Nine Lives of Thomasina". There are, however, movies called "The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz" and "The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat", but both of these movies came out much later than "The Three Lives of Thomasina". Still, try to tell your parents (not mine, mine got it right!) from the 60's that it was not "The Nine Lives of Thomasina" and they'll probably send you to bed without supper!
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