The Cattanooga Cats
The Cattanooga Cats was Hanna-Barbera's attempt to duplicate the success it enjoyed with The Banana Splits. Running in 1969-70 on ABC, this hour-long series had no live-action segments.
The headliners were an all-feline rock band, consisting of Country, a guitarist; Scoots, a bassist, and Groove, a drummer. Their female companion, Kitty Jo, looked like a feline version of Daphne Blake; she also sang on a few of their songs. They had a few cartoon segments, but most of their appearances were in music videos, à la The Archie Show.
Other segments were:
- Around the World in 79 Days, loosely based on the Jules Verne novel.
- It's the Wolf, in which a sneaky wolf pursued a lamb through the use of Paper Thin Disguises.
- Motormouse and Autocat, which was essentially Tom and Jerry on wheels.
Tropes used in The Cattanooga Cats include:
- Big Friendly Dog: Kitty Jo's dog, Teeny Tim
- Comic Book Adaptation: The Cattanooga Cats appeared in three issues of Gold Key's Hanna-Barbera Fun-In anthology series (issues #2, 3 and 4). Motormouse and Autocat appeared in issues 5, 7 and 9, and It's The Wolf! appeared in issues 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7. Around The World In 79 Days did not appear at all.
- Everybody Do the Endless Loop
- Fake Band
- Funny Animals* Getting Crap Past the Radar: One of the music videos was for a song titled "Birthday Suit"[1].
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"How do you like me in my birthday suit?/Am I cute in my birthday suit?/How do you like me in my birthday suit/I'm just crazy 'bout the birthday suit" |
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- I'm Your Biggest Fan: Chessie, the Autograph Hound (so named because she always has a wide Cheshire Cat grin).
- Parental Bonus: An uncredited Paul Lynde was the voice of Mildew Wolf, and Marty Ingels, already well known for his role on I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, was the voice of Autocat.
- Punch Clock Villain: Autocat, although he's not really a villain. His job at the garage is to get rid of Motormouse.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Groove; also Lambsy when he (sarcastically) asks who the "stranger of the week" could be.
- ↑ One of the songs Kitty Jo sings lead vocals on