Top Cat
Top Cat is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and originally broadcast in prime time on the ABC network. It aired in a weekly evening time slot from September 27, 1961, to April 18, 1962, for a single season of 30 episodes. The show was a ratings failure in prime time, but became successful upon its time on Saturday morning television. The show also became very popular in Latin American countries (especially Mexico) and the United Kingdom. History. Top Cat was a parody of "The Phil Silvers Show" with Arnold Stang imitating Sgt Bilko's  voice for the titular character. Hanna-Barbera sold the cartoon to ABC based on a drawing of the main character. This was only the second cartoon series to premiere on prime time network television in the United States. Premise. The lead character, Top Cat (T.C.) (voiced by Arnold Stang) is the leader of a gang of Manhattan alley cats living in Hoagy's Alley: Fancy-Fancy, Spook, Benny the Ball, Brain, and Choo-Choo. Top Cat and his gang were inspired by the East Side Kids, mischievous, street-wise characters from a series of 1940s B movies, but their more  immediate roots lay in "The Phil Silvers Show" (1955–59), a successful military comedy whose lead character (Sergeant Bilko, played by Silvers) was a crafty con man. Maurice Gosfield, who played Private Duane Doberman in "The Phil Silvers Show", provided the voice for Benny the Ball in "Top Cat", and Benny's podgy appearance was based on Gosfield's. Additionally, Arnold Stang's vocal characterization was originally based on an impression of Phil Silvers's voice. During the original network run, the sponsor objected to the Silvers impersonation—insisting that he was buying Arnold Stang, not Phil Silvers—so in later  episodes Stang modified the Top Cat voice, to a closer tone of his own voice. The gang constantly hatch get-rich-quick schemes, and a frequent plot thread revolved around the local cop, Charles "Charlie" Dibble (voiced by Allen Jenkins), ineffectually trying to evict them from the alley and stop them using the policebox phone. All the episodes feature a cold open, which is a small scene from the episode that takes place "in medias res", and after that, a long flashback that leads to the scene begins with the series' theme song "The Most Effectual Top Cat" and features  Top Cat's misadventures that happen before the scene from the beginning plays again during the climax of the episodes and the story continues from where it left off. In some episodes, the flashback stops near the middle when the same scene plays. Broadcast. Top Cat aired on Wednesday nights in Prime Time from 8:30 - 9:00 PM. Hanna-Barbera created 30 half hour episodes of Top Cat. The show was broadcast in black and white but was created in colour. The show aired on Saturdays in 1962 and 1963 on ABC, and was then rerun in various Saturday morning slots  on NBC from 1965 to 1969, and occasionally in the 1980s. In Canada, "Top Cat" premiered on the CTV Television Network on October 9, 1961. In Australia, the show premiered on the National Television Network (now known as the Nine Network) on October 5, 1962, and ran on the Nine Network until 1971. In the United Kingdom, "Top Cat" premiered on the BBC Television Service (now known as BBC One) on May 16, 1962. On June 13 of that same year, however, the show was hastily renamed "The Boss Cat" (which was later shortened to just Boss Cat in 1967 ). The name change came about because "Top Cat" was also the name of a then-popular British brand of cat food, and the BBC, on which the show aired, does not carry advertising. The name change was purely cosmetic, as the soundtrack and dialogue still continued to refer to the titular character by his original name. It was only the opening and ending footage that was altered: shots in which the Top Cat logo was used were cut (causing a noticeable jump in the footage in both instances) with a title card bearing the "Boss Cat" title added before the  beginning of the actual episode. The last time the "Boss Cat" title was used was in a 1989 rerun on BBC One, marking the end of BBC One's long-run of the program, and by the time the show was aired again in April 1999 on BBC Two (which once carried the program for a short time during August 1983 and again in December 1988), the aforementioned Top Cat food brand had been long since discontinued, allowing the show's original American title cards to be used on British airings without issue. Analysis. Animation historian Christopher P. Lehman says  that the series can be seen as social commentary. The cats may represent disenfranchised people confined to living in a poor environment. Top Cat's get-rich-quick schemes are efforts to escape to a better life. The gang faces a human police officer who frustrates their efforts and keeps them trapped in the alley. This enforcement of the social order by police ensures that the cats will not escape their current living conditions. Co-creator Bill Hanna claimed it was one of the wittiest and most sophisticated shows he produced with a rare appeal to audiences of all ages . Writing staff. "Top Cat" was conceived along the lines of a traditional, live-action situation comedy, and Hanna-Barbera recruited top sitcom writers of the day to furnish scripts, including Barry Blitzer (a "Bilko" veteran), Harvey Bullock, and Kin Platt. In the current DVD versions, however, only Platt gets writing credit due to a production error: the closing credits from Platt's episode were used for "every" episode, so Platt gets screen credit regardless of who wrote the actual scripts. Voice cast. Main voices: Additional voices: Home media. Episodes of the series were released on VHS in Europe, as well  as Worldvision Home Video in the United States. Episodes of the series were also released on Laserdisc in the United Kingdom by Guild Home Video, as well as Image Entertainment in the United States. Warner Home Video released "Top Cat: The Complete Series" on DVD in Region 1 on December 7, 2004, as part of their Hanna-Barbera Classic Collection. This set was re-released by Warner Archive on January 10, 2017, albeit as a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) release. On June 6 of that year, "Top Cat" was re-released in stores again as part of the Hanna-Barbera  Diamond Collection in honor of Hanna-Barbera's 60th anniversary; however, all bonus features were removed. In the UK, the complete series box set was released in 2007, initially as a HMV exclusive until 2008. Alternatively, five single DVD volumes, each containing 6 episodes, were released. The covers were originally from the US edition but later re-released with a new design. Each volume shows a group picture of Top Cat using Dibble's phone with his gang beside him, but the colour-coding is: The DVDs have since been made available to buy in other retailers across the UK . In other media. Comic books. The gang's adventures continued off-screen in comic books as Dell (which became Gold Key) published 31 issues from 1961 to 1970. Charlton Comics published 20 more issues from 1970 to 1973. In Mexico, Ediciones Latinoamericanas' "La Colección Primavera" featured Don Gato in 1968. In 2012, there was a crossover between Top Cat and Chilean comic book character Condorito. Top Cat had a backup story in "Adam Strange/Future Quest Annual #1" in where he escapes from prison and meets Batman through a cosmic portal. Unlike the cartoon, Top Cat is from a world  where cats are the dominant species. As a follow-up, Top Cat also appears in one issue of a crossover series between DC and Hanna-Barbera, titled "Superman/Top Cat Special" (October 2018). Books. Little Golden Books and Durabooks have both produced hardcover children's books starring Top Cat. In the UK, World Distributors published annuals during the 1960s sourced from the Dell comics strips. BrownWatson later published a 1978 annual entitled "The Great Grape Ape and Boss Cat". View-Master. T.C. and friends appeared on three View-Master reels in 1962. These were titled "Medal for Meddling", "Zoo-Operation , and No Cat Fishing". Music. The Original TV Soundtrack, written and recorded by Hoyt Curtin, was released by Colpix Records in 1962, consisting of slightly edited versions of "The Unscratchables" and "Top Cat Falls in Love". Hanna-Barbera Records released an LP in 1965 titled "Robin Hood Starring Top Cat". T.C. and the gang were pictured as Merry Men on the cover. Its songs included "Top Cat", "M-O-N-E-Y", "Dibble", "Robin Hood", and "Buddies". It was re-released in 1977 on Columbia Records' Special Products label. A jazzy arrangement of the "Top Cat" theme can be heard  most weeks over the end credits of Bob Dylan's "Theme Time Radio Hour". The titles and underscore were released as part of the CD release, "The Best of Hanna-Barbera: Tunes from the Toons" by Music Club in 2002 in Europe. Top Cat's cameos. Other characters appearing in "Top Cat". Other Hanna-Barbera characters make cameo appearances during the series. Theatrical films. The series has spawned two theatrical films produced by Mexican animation studio, Ánima Estudios. Both films have grossed a combined total of $19.3 million (MX$166.35 million pesos). International broadcast. Ibero-America. In spite of the  modest success of the show in the United States, the show was a massive hit in Mexico, Chile, Peru and Argentina, where it is recognized as one of the most famous Hanna Barbera characters ever, being as popular as The Flintstones. There the show is aired under the name "" (literally "Mr. Cat and his gang") and the main characters adopted different accents. Besides Top Cat, all the other characters from the show were very famous, and their popularity is commonly attributed by the excellent dubbing and voice acting: Benny was renamed "Benito B. Bodoque y B." and given a more  childlike voice than was the case in the original dubbing, Choo Choo was renamed "Cucho" and spoke with Mexican-yucatan accent, Fancy-Fancy was "Panza" (belly), Spook renamed as the word's rough translation "Espanto", The Brain was called "Demóstenes" (honouring the Greek statesman Demosthenes, with whom he shares a speech impediment) and Officer Dibble renamed as "Oficial Carlos "Carlitos" Matute". This name, "matute" was used in Argentina and Uruguay as a slang reference for policemen. "Top Cat" is still rerun every few years. The main voice actors were Julio Lucena (voice of Top Cat), Jorge Arvizu (voice of Benny  and Choo Choo), Víctor Alcocer (voice of Dibble), and David Reynoso, among others. In Brazil, the character is known as "Manda-Chuva" (Brazilian Portuguese for "big shot") and was voiced by actor Lima Duarte. In addition, the city of New York was replaced by Brasília (federal capital) in the Brazilian version. United Kingdom. "Top Cat" premiered on the BBC Television Service (now BBC One) on May 16, 1962, under its original name but after only four weeks was renamed "The Boss Cat" on June 13, 1962. This was shortened on 22 February 1967 to "Boss Cat". This rapid name change  was made because Top Cat was also the name of a then-popular British brand of cat food, and the cartoon was aired on the BBC which does not carry advertising. The dialogue and theme tune still referred to the character by his original name, but a small cut was made at the climax of the opening credits (resulting in a slight jump in the film) and a title card carrying the revised title inserted before the episode proper. Similarly, the Top Cat name was edited from the final section of the show's closing credits, causing another slight jump  (as Top Cat is putting on his eyeshades and readying himself for sleep in his trash can). The BBC run comprised only 26 of the original 30 episodes, with notable omissions including "Choo-Choo Goes Ga-Ga", with its repeated scenes of Choo-Choo attempting suicide. This 26-episode selection was repeated on the BBC from 1962 to 1989. Despite the show being renamed "Boss Cat", the character's name was unchanged as Top Cat or the initials "TC". The "Boss Cat" title card was last used for a repeat run in 1989; by the time the series was next  aired, in 1999, the Top Cat pet food brand had been discontinued in the United Kingdom, allowing the original US title sequence to be used. This continues to be the case in contemporary showings on satellite station Boomerang and BBC Two. In 2016, the characters from the show (all the cats and Officer Dibble) were used as part of a set of television commercials for the British bank Halifax. Hungary. "Top Cat" ("Turpi úrfi") was one of the first American cartoons premiered on Hungarian television channels in 1969. It also broadcast later with "The Huckleberry Hound Show", "Tom and Jerry , Looney Tunes", "The Flintstones" and "The Jetsons" on Magyar Televízió from 1985 to 1990, and tv2 from 1997 to 1999 (together with "Wacky Races", "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" and "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo"). Boomerang began broadcasting it in Hungarian in 2012. Japan. "Top Cat" (Japanese: "ドラ猫大将") first aired on TV Asahi back in 1963 under the title translating to "Stray Cat Boss." It was then rebroadcast many times over the years. In 1990, A new dub was produced for VHS sold by Columbia Records and released under its original name in Katakana ("トップキャット"). This new dub was also  carried over to airing on Cartoon Network Japan since its launch in 1997. India. "Top Cat" was one of the early favorites on Cartoon Network. It was aired in India in the 1990s. Top Cat was aired again in 2003 until 2004. Sri Lanka. "Top Cat" (Sinhala: () literally "Crazy Cat") was one of the most popular cartoon shows in Sri Lanka and it has been repeated several times on the national television channel "Rupavahini". The series is dubbed in Sinhala and directed by Titus Thotawatte.