The Sitcom Model
The sitcom's creators were very sensitive to the treatment of animals, so Salem was often played by an animatronic puppet rather than one of the 4 actual cats who are used for the non-dialogue scenes.The four trained cats portraying the character were named Elvis, Lucy, Salem and Witch. This part was performed by three puppeteers and two different animatronic puppets. The mechanical Salems were originally made by Animal Makers, but in early 1998 they were fired, and their puppets were replaced with ones made by Chiodo Brothers. The new mechanical Salem(s) were controlled by 3 puppeteers, who could manipulate Salem's body in more than 30 ways via rod, cables, and radio control. Animal Makers posted a video of some of the puppets highlights on its website.
In a few instances where his human form is shown in flashbacks, he is portrayed with his face in shadows, but with a body type and militaristic uniform similar to Fidel Castro (Castro himself is depicted as being a friend of Salem).
Read more about this topic: Salem Saberhagen
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