Fraidy Cat (series)

***Fraidy Cat*** is a 1975 comical children's cartoon show that originally appeared as a segment on Filmation's short-lived ABC series *Uncle Croc's Block*. The show had a run of 12 episodes; 6 more were planned before getting scrapped.

## Plot

The show stars Fraidy "Nine" Cat (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer), an unlucky and miserable cat. Like all cats, he has nine lives, but has used up eight of them and is on his ninth and last life, where he wants to make it last the longest. The main joke of the series is that as if Fraidy's life was not miserable enough. Nearly every time Fraidy inadvertently says out loud any single-digit number (from one to eight), or any word or any part of a word that rhymes with or sounds the same as the number's name in any language, a ghost from one of his former lives will appear and mistakenly tend to make things even worse for the hopeless cat.

The ghosts are:

1. Tinker Elephunt "One" Cave Cat (voiced by Lennie Weinrib) - A prehistoric saber-toothed tiger with a caveman motif. He owns a huge pet *Apatosaurus* named "Ant" (voiced by Lennie Weinrib).
2. Kitty "Two" Wizard (voiced by Lennie Weinrib) - A befuddled magician whose wand was often on the wrong setting.
3. Captain "Three" Kitt (voiced by Lennie Weinrib) - A pirate who is the self-proclaimed "buccaneer's buccaneer".
4. Sir Walter "Four" Cat (voiced by Lennie Weinrib) - A foppish Elizabethan nobleman who is also an expert swordsman.
5. William Billy "Five" H. the Kit (voiced by Lennie Weinrib) - A western cowboy. He is a small guy with a very loud voice.
6. Jasper "Six" Catdaver (voiced by Lou Schemier) - An undertaker who actually prefers to expedite Fraidy's passing to the "Other Side", though not out of spite. He is ironically the least troublesome of the ghosts.
7. Captain Eddie "Seven" Kittenbacker (voiced by Lennie Weinrib) - A pilot who is a very erratic flier.
8. Hep "Eight" Cat (voiced by Lennie Weinrib) - A zoot-suited jive-talking street cat.
9. Cloud Nine (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) - As accidentally saying a number from one to eight gets Fraidy a ghost, as if to fill the void towards his last life, saying "nine" calls forth an ominous, malevolent storm cloud (shaped like the number nine) which immediately gives chase after Fraidy, attempting to blast him with bolts of lightning until Fraidy manages to either outrun the cloud or its (supposedly) limited time it can stay expires.

Each short begins with all eight ghosts appearing around Fraidy, who says to the audience about his life: *"Every kitty has nine lives. But eight of mine went fast. Now there's only one life left, and I want to make it last!"* When Cloud Nine appears, Fraidy starts running. Cloud Nine then morphs into "FRAIDY CAT", which is spoken by a chorus of voices. The "Cloud Nine" title animation would later be reused in the opening for *The Groovie Goolies and Friends* when introducing *Fraidy Cat*.

Whenever terrified by some dangerous situation, Fraidy often exclaims: *"This kitten's splittin'!"*

## Cast

* Alan Oppenheimer - Fraidy, Cloud Nine, Danny Cupid, Lammy, Freight Yard Dog, Ruth Buzzard, Cougar, Fatty Catty
* Lennie Weinrib - Tinker Elephunt, Ant, Kitty Wizard, Captain Kitt, Sir Walter Cat, Billy the Kit, Eddie Kittenbacker, Hep Cat, Chuck, Dog Mobster, Hammy, Captain Squeak, Sam Segull, Stanley Livingston Seagull, Mr. Meany, Mary Tyler Too, Boris the Cat, Mr. Fred, Lawrence the Lopsided Lion
* Jay Scheimer (uncredited) - Lulu
* Lou Schemier (uncredited) - Jasper Catdaver, The Phone Company, Trash Can Cat, Emcee

## Production

*Fraidy Cat* was one of the few original series (outside of an adaptation) to be produced by Filmation. 18 episodes were planned for inclusion on *Uncle Croc's Block*; 12 were ultimately made. The remaining six were scrapped due to the show getting removed from *Uncle Croc’s Block* when the latter was shortened to a half hour.

## Episodes

*Main article: List of Fraidy Cat Episodes*
## Broadcast

*Fraidy Cat* was one of three cartoon series included in Filmation's *Uncle Croc's Block*, a hosted television series parodying local children's shows. The other two cartoons were *M-U-S-H* and *Wacky and Packy*.

*Fraidy Cat* would later be shown in syndication as part of the package series *The Groovie Goolies and Friends*, which also included the following Filmation cartoons: *Groovie Goolies*, *Lassie's Rescue Rangers*, *The New Adventures of Gilligan*, *My Favorite Martians*, *M-U-S-H*, *Wacky and Packy*, and *The New Adventures of Waldo Kitty*.

## Cancellation, and Scrapping

After the 12th episode, the series was supposed to have 6 more episodes. Due to a business decision erected by Filmation, *Uncle Croc's Block* was shortened to a half-hour package, and Fraidy Cat was cut from the show, taking the unfinished episodes with it. The 6 aforementioned episodes never made it past the writing and storyboard stage.

## Home media

The 12 produced episodes of *Fraidy Cat* were released by Boulevard Entertainment on two DVD volumes in the 2000s. They were later released by BCI on a compilation DVD called *Frightfully Funny Volume Two*, which also included episodes of *Groovie Goolies* and *Filmation's Ghostbusters*.

*Fraidy Cat* has been mistakenly believed to be in the public domain and has shown up on many public domain compilation DVDs.

## Trivia

* The show was remarked as one of the most original shows of the 70’s, because everything else was either a rehash or a spin-off.
* The show lapsed into the public domain due to Filmation forgetting to put a copyright license on the show.
* Despite having 18 episodes, 6 of those episodes were scrapped entirely due to Fraidy Cat getting cut from Uncle Croc’s Block. Storyboards of two scrapped episodes, “Double Trouble” and “Fraidy Gone Fishin”, have been found on the Internet.
* The fifth episode, “Puss N’ Boats”, commonly has its title confused for “This Cat for Hire”, one of the scrapped episodes.