Herman and Katnip facts for kids

Herman and Katnip are a fun duo of cartoon characters. Herman is a clever mouse, and Katnip is a silly cat. They starred in animated short films made by Famous Studios in the 1940s and 1950s. Arnold Stang and Allen Swift gave Herman his voice. Sid Raymond was the voice of Katnip.

Herman and Katnip Cartoons

The Herman and Katnip cartoons are known for their funny, over-the-top fights between the cat and mouse. These kinds of battles were very common in old Hollywood cartoons. Even though the fights were meant to be funny, they were often quite wild!

In almost every cartoon, Herman the mouse always won against Katnip. Only two cartoons, "You Said a Mouseful" and "Katnip's Big Day," showed Katnip also winning alongside Herman.

You might have almost seen Herman and Katnip in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit. They were planned for a scene called "Acme's Funeral," but it was later removed. Katnip did appear in an episode of The Baby Huey Show called "Self Help Huey." In this episode, he tried to help another character, the Fox, learn from his past mistakes.

The TV show The Simpsons has a cartoon called The Itchy & Scratchy Show. One of the writers, Mike Reiss, said that Itchy & Scratchy was inspired by Herman and Katnip. He called it a "cheap, ultra-violent knockoff" of Tom and Jerry. Director David Silverman agreed, saying Herman and Katnip is "hilarious because it's just bad."

Other Characters in the Cartoons

Herman and Katnip also shared their cartoon world with other interesting characters.

Henry the Rooster

Before Herman started battling Katnip, he teamed up with a rooster named Henry. Henry had a bossy wife named Bertha. She made him do all the chores around the house. Bertha was very afraid of mice, which Herman often used to help Henry.

Herman would help Henry try to get Bertha to treat him better. The cartoons featuring them were called "Featuring Herman and Henry." The first one was Henpecked Rooster in 1944. The last was Sudden Fried Chicken featuring Herman and Henry in 1946.

Henry also appeared in comic books. He was called Hector in Dell Publishing's Animal Comics from 1944 to 1945. Herman was also a co-star in these comics.

Buzzy the Crow

Katnip also had many funny battles with a black crow named Buzzy. Buzzy wore a flat straw hat and sang. His voice was based on Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, a famous actor from that time. Jackson Beck was the voice of Buzzy.

The cartoons with Buzzy often started with Katnip trying to cure an illness. He would read a medical book that said crow meat was the cure! But Buzzy would always trick Katnip into trying other solutions. These solutions usually failed, and Katnip would get very frustrated. The cartoon would end with Buzzy winning and Katnip still sick.

Buzzy the Crow first appeared in the 1946 Paramount cartoon The Stupidstitious Cat. Buzzy's character and voice were based on old ideas about African-Americans that are now seen as unfair and not right. Because of this, when the cartoons were shown on TV in Casper and Friends, Buzzy's voice was changed to remove anything offensive.

Buzzy also showed up in Harvey Comics' Baby Huey comic books in the 1960s and 1970s. He often had a rivalry with a cat that looked like Katnip but was a different color. Sometimes this cat was called Katsy Cat.

Watching the Cartoons Today

Many "Herman and Katnip" cartoons, and some of Herman's solo shorts, have been released on public domain videocassettes and DVDs. Some versions might have different company logos at the beginning and end. However, the UCLA Film and Television Archive has worked to restore these cartoons to their original Paramount titles.

In 2011, Classic Media released a DVD called Herman and Katnip: The Complete Series. This DVD included all of Herman and Katnip's cartoons together. It also had two cartoons where Katnip starred alone: Feast and Furious and City Kitty. The cartoons on this DVD were shorter TV versions from The Harveytoons Show. They had shorter opening titles and no end titles. Some parts were also removed for TV.

See also

In Spanish: Herman y Katnip para niños