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Top Cat

Top Cat (also known for a while as Boss Cat in the United Kingdom) was a Hanna-Barbera cartoon which premiered in 1961 and ran for 30 episodes.

The show remains one of the studio's most enduring creations.

Its central character, Top Cat - his friends call him TC - is the leader of a gang of Manhattan alley cats: Fancy Fancy, Spook, Benny, Brain, and Choo Choo. There are distinct resemblances to the popular US sit-com The Phil Silvers Show[?] (on which the cartoon is said to have been loosely based) in the relationships between the characters.

A frequent plotline revolved around the local patrolman, Officer Dibble, and his ineffective attempts to evict the gang.

In the United Kingdom, the show was renamed Boss Cat (by means of a crudely substituted title card) when it was first aired on BBC1 because Top Cat was the name of a brand of cat food[?]. Of course, the dialogue still referred to the character by his original name.

Voice artists

  • Top Cat: Arnold Stang[?]
  • Benny the Ball: Maurice Grossfeld
  • Choo Choo: Marv Kaplan
  • Fancy Fancy: John Stephenson
  • Spook: Leo De Lyon)...a pseudonym?!
  • Brain: Leo De Lyon)
  • Officer Dibble: Allen Jenkins

Lyrics to opening theme

Top Cat
The most effectual
Top Cat
[Who's or Whose] intellectual

Close friends get to
Call him TC
Providing it's
With dignity

Top Cat
The indisputable
Leader of the gang

He's the boss, he's a VIP
He's a championship
He's the most tip top
Top Cat

Yes, he's the chief, he's the king
But above everything
He's the most tip top
Top Cat

See also: Cartoon Tunes Songbook



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