Cattanooga Cats

1 9 6 9 – 1 9 7 1 (USA)

The Cattanooga Cats had a band comprising lead singer and dancer Kitty Jo, drummer Groovy Groove, guitarist Country, and upright bassist Scoots.

The group served as a lynchpin for the show by connecting several segments with their musical fillers. They travelled around the country in a converted bus known as The Gashopper, constantly chased by a female cat groupie named Jessie (the “Autograph Hound”).

When the show started to lose some of it’s initial popularity, a dog named Teeny Tim was added.

There were also three cartoon segments to the show – Around the World in 79 Days, Motor Mouse and Autocat, and It’s the Wolf!.

Around the World in 79 Days was a loose, modernised adaptation of the Jules Verne classic, in which Phinny Fogg (the son of original explorer Phileas Fogg) and teenage reporters Jenny and Happy travelled the globe – hoping to win a million pounds if they completed the tour and beat the original record set by Phinny’s father by one day.

Standing in their way was the sinister Crumden (previously Phinny’s butler), his buffoonish chauffeur sidekick Bumbler, and their pet monkey, Smirky.

Motor Mouse and Autocat featured the oversized racing car-driving Autocat competing against motorcycle-riding Motor Mouse in a series of races. As with Tom and Jerry, the rodent always managed to beat the feline.

Much of the segment’s appeal lay in the bizarre cars that Autocat devised in his attempts to catch Motormouse.

Motor Mouse and Autocat were given their own show in 1970, taking with them another Cattanooga Cats segment, It’s the Wolf! in which the vain and idiotic Mildew Wolf would endlessly chase cute little Lambsy, hoping to “have him over for dinner”.

Lambsy would yelp his famous tag-line “It’s the wool-uff! It’s the wool-uff!” and Bristle Hound would come to the rescue. Bristle would apprehend Mildew, pound him, and toss him sailing into the air, with Mildew screaming a phrase such as “Spoil Sport!” as he flew past, before landing with a thud.

The Cattanooga Cats ran for one more season after the departure of its component cartoons, airing only reruns.

Scoots
Jim Begg
Kitty Jo
Julie Bennet
Country
Bill Callaway
Groovy Groove
Casey Kasem
Jessie
Julie Bennet
Singing Voices
Michael Lloyd
Peggy Clinger

Phinny Fogg
Bruce Watson
Jenny Trent
Janet Waldo
Happy
Don Messick
Crumden
Daws Butler
Bumbler
Allan Melvin
Smirky
Don Messick