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Cattanooga Cats were a feline rock ‘n’ roll band that included
singer/dancer Kitty Jo, drummer Groove, lead singer/guitarist
Country, and bass player Scoots. A large, shaggy dog named
Teenie Tim rounded out the cast. The hip Cats were featured in
a total of nine story segments, but mainly served as a
lynchpin for the show by connecting other cartoon segments
with their musical fillers. The musical numbers allowed the
Cats to get their groove on in what might best be described as
a psychedelic joy ride. In the spirit of cross merchandising,
an album was released in tandem with the series featuring a
collection of their songs.
In its first season The
Cattanooga Cats ran for one hour and hosted three cartoon
segments: Around the World in 79 Days, Motormouse & Autocat,
and It's The Wolf.
Around the World in 79 Days was
a loose, modernized adaptation of the Jules Verne classic.
Teenagers Phileas Fogg Jr., Jenny, and Happy traveled the
globe, hoping to win a million pounds if they completed the
tour. Standing in their way was Crumden, his buffoonish
sidekick Bumbler, and their pet monkey, Smirky.
Essentially a motor-racing
version of Tom and Jerry, Motormouse & Autocat involved racing
competitions between a race car-driving cat and a
motorcycle-driving mouse. As with Tom and Jerry, the rodent
always managed to beat the feline.
It's The Wolf! followed the
comedic exploits of a wolf named Mildew who endlessly chased a
cute little lamb named Lambsy in the hopes of “having him over
for dinner.” Lambsy, determined that winding up the wolf’s
bill of faire would be entirely unfair, would yelp his famous
tag-line, “It’s the wool-uff! It’s the wool-uff!” Luckily for
Lambsy, his protector Bristle Hound was always on the job to
thwart Mildew's plans. Whenever he apprehended the persistent
wolf, Bristle would give him a pounding for his troubles, then
toss him sailing into the air with Mildew exclaiming a phrase
such as "Spoil Sport!" as he flew into the horizon to land
with a thud.
After the first season, It's the
Wolf! and Motormouse & Autocat were spun off into their own
half-hour show, and The Cattanooga Cats was reduced to a
half-hour. It retained Around the World in 79 Days, but was
made up entirely of reruns. The only character of any lasting
fame to come out of the series was Mildew Wolf, who resurfaced
six years after the cancellation of The Cattanooga Cats to
co-host Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics with Snagglepuss.
