Cattanooga Cats facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Cattanooga Cats
Genre	Comedy
Written by	Neal Barbera Larz Bourne
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Voices of	Jim Begg Julie Bennett Daws Butler William Callaway Dick Curtis Marty Ingels Paul Lynde Casey Kasem Allan Melvin Don Messick Janet Waldo Bruce Watson
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	17
Production
Producer(s)	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Running time	60 minutes
Production company(s)	Hanna-Barbera Productions
Distributor	Taft Broadcasting
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	September 13, 1969 (1969-09-13) – September 5, 1971 (1971-09-05)

Cattanooga Cats was an American animated television series made by Hanna-Barbera. It aired on ABC from September 1969 to September 1971.

This show was a collection of different cartoons, much like another Hanna-Barbera show called The Banana Splits. However, Cattanooga Cats did not have any live-action parts. In its first season (1969–1970), the show lasted one hour. It included four different cartoon segments: Cattanooga Cats, Around the World in 79 Days, It's the Wolf!, and Motormouse and Autocat.

In the second season (1970–1971), It's the Wolf! and Motormouse and Autocat became their own separate half-hour show. Around the World in 79 Days stayed with Cattanooga Cats, which was then shortened to a half-hour. Both Motormouse and Autocat and Cattanooga Cats ended in 1971.

Meet the Cattanooga Cats

The Band's Adventures

The Cattanooga Cats cartoon was about a pretend rock band. This band was made up of anthropomorphic (human-like) hillbilly cats. They were similar to other cartoon bands like The Archies and The Banana Splits.

The band members were:

• Lead singer and guitarist: Country (voiced by Bill Callaway)
• Singer and dancer: Kitty Jo (voiced by Julie Bennett)
• Bass player: Scoots (voiced by Jim Begg)
• Drummer: Groove (voiced by Casey Kasem)

The band traveled around in a cool van. They were often chased by a female fan named Chessie, who was called the "Autograph Hound." Kitty Jo also had a big blue dog named Teeny Tim. The songs for the Cattanooga Cats were sung by Michael Lloyd and Peggy Clinger. Mike Curb was the music director and helped write all the songs.

There were nine cartoon stories about the Cattanooga Cats produced. The band also appeared in short musical videos between the other cartoons.

Around the World in 79 Days

This adventure cartoon was loosely based on the famous book Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. It followed a balloonist named Phineas "Finny" Fogg Jr. (voiced by Bruce Watson). Finny was the great-great-grandson of the main character from the book.

Finny, along with teen reporters Jenny Trent (voiced by Janet Waldo) and Hoppy (voiced by Don Messick), tried to travel around the world in 79 days. Their goal was to beat the record set by Finny's ancestor. They were competing against a sneaky character named Crumden (voiced by Daws Butler). Crumden was helped by his driver Bumbler (voiced by Allan Melvin) and his pet monkey Smirky. Unlike the other cartoons, this one told a continuous story over its 17 episodes.

It's the Wolf!

It's the Wolf! was a funny cartoon about Mildew Wolf (voiced by Paul Lynde). Mildew always tried to catch and eat a clever lamb named Lambsy (voiced by Daws Butler).

But Mildew's plans were always stopped by a sheepdog named Bristlehound (voiced by Allan Melvin). Bristlehound would usually catch Mildew after hearing Lambsy yell, "It's the wool-uff!" Then, Bristlehound would send Mildew flying into the air. There were 25 episodes of this segment.

Motormouse and Autocat

This cartoon was a bit like Tom and Jerry, but with racing vehicles. It was about a race car-driving cat named Autocat (voiced by Marty Ingels) and a motorcycle-driving mouse named Motormouse (voiced by Dick Curtis).

A lot of the fun came from the strange cars Autocat would invent to try and catch Motormouse. The characters also had unique voices. Motormouse would often say words very clearly, like "Chi-co-ry," and greet Autocat with a friendly "Hey there, Au-to-cat." There were 34 episodes of Motormouse and Autocat.

Who Lent Their Voices?

Many talented voice actors brought the characters to life:

• Jim Begg – Scoots
• Julie Bennett – Kitty Jo, Chessie
• Daws Butler – Crumden, Lambsy
• Bill Callaway – Country
• Dick Curtis – Motormouse
• Marty Ingels – Autocat
• Casey Kasem – Groove
• Paul Lynde – Mildew Wolf
• Allan Melvin – Bumbler, Bristol Hound
• Don Messick – Hoppy, Smirky, Opening Announcer
• Janet Waldo – Jenny
• Bruce Watson – Phineas "Finny" Fogg Jr.

What Happened Next?

Hanna-Barbera hoped Cattanooga Cats would be a big hit, like The Banana Splits. However, the show didn't get a huge audience when it first aired.

Mildew Wolf became the most popular character from the show. Six years after Cattanooga Cats ended, he appeared again as a co-host on Laff-A-Lympics. This time, John Stephenson voiced him, sounding like Paul Lynde. Lambsy also appeared in the TV movie Yogi's Ark Lark.

Reruns of the show were not seen for a long time. Eventually, the program started airing as part of the Boomerang block on Cartoon Network. Boomerang later became its own TV channel.

Mildew Wolf is also set to appear in the upcoming HBO Max series Jellystone!.

The Music of Cattanooga Cats

A soundtrack album for the series was released in 1969. It featured eleven of the show's songs. Michael Lloyd and Peggy Clinger performed the main vocals. Some songs, like "Mother May I" and "Merry-Go-Round," were also released as singles.

Curb Records, which later took over Forward Records, likely owns the original recordings of the Cattanooga Cats album. However, there are no current plans to re-release the album.