Cartoon Discussion Of The Week (03/29/09) - Cool Cat

[Marty26]

(Note: I can't find a video for this cartoon anywhere, so if somebody has a link to one, please post it here - Matt The Y, didn't you once post one on your Facebook profile?)

I guess no CDOTW chain would be complete without mentioning Cool Cat. The first of several "pilot" cartoons WB produced during the final years of their animation studio. As well as the first post-64 cartoon to use the modified 7-Arts opening and music. At the time, WB finally decided to shove Daffy and Speedy aside and create some new characters, probably with the hopes that one of them would eventually become a new Bugs Bunny. Cool Cat was arguably the most (in)famous. A 60's jive-talking beatnik tiger being regularly hunted by English hunter Colonel Rimfire (think Bugs and Elmer, but with cheesy 60's slang).

As for the cartoon itself, the theme song was pretty catchy. And it was somewhat funny seeing Cool Cat mistake Rimfire's mechanical elephant for a real elephant (even trying to teach him the ways of jungle survival). However, it's pretty clear why the character (along with Merlin The Magic Mouse, Bunny and Claude, etc.) never caught on with audiences: his cartoons (with the exception of Bugged By A Bee, arguably his best) are little more than Bugs/Elmer cartoons with 60's jive talk and no "What's up, Doc?". Of course, things aren't helped by the fact that Cool Cat and Rimfire aren't nearly as funny a comedy team as Bugs and Elmer. It's appropriate that this is their first cartoon, since it clearly displays what's wrong with the series. It's just a generic "chase" cartoon with Cool Cat unknowingly being hunted by Colonel Rimfire and inadvertently/accidentally escaping his every trap. None of it is too terribly original or funny. And the ending leaves a bit to be desired. I've certainly seen worse Alex Lovy shorts, but that doesn't make this cartoon any better than "below average" IMO.

Anyway, discuss!

[larriva9/11]

( Of course, things aren't helped by the fact that Cool Cat and Rimfire aren't nearly as funny a comedy team as Bugs and Elmer.

And don't forget that Cool Cat's a bit of a brazen non-pantomimic ripoff of the Pink Panther, conceptually speaking...

[Matt the Y]

I actually think this is one of the better 1960's post-1964 WB shorts (though, that's pretty much damning with faint praise). I actually do find the gags funny, the plot seems a bit funnier than usual to me (maybe it's the fact that this time Cool Cat doesn't know he's being hunted by Rimfire which makes him foiling the hunter's schemes more ironically comedic; in other shorts, he knows the hunter's chasing him from the get-go, making him seem a bit more smug and predictible at trouncing the hunter's attempts), and I've always kind of gotten a chuckle out of the scenes with Col. Rimfire tossing a hand grenade at Cool Cat only to pull his dentures out with it once he pulls the pin and having to put his false teeth back together once it explodes near him ("Bicuspid..... molar..... incisor..... infracted wisdom..... another molar......") and, yes, even the Wile E. Coyote-knock-off scene with the Colonel twice falling off a cliff (did you notice the canyon background was swiped from the Road-Runner shorts, "Zip 'N' Snort" and "Lickety-Splat"?).

Also, the Pink Panther-connection is sort of interesting; the cartoon was written by Bob Kurtz (of Kurtz & Friends studios) who wrote several early Pink Panther shorts (among them "Dial P For Pink", "Pickled Pink", "Pinkfinger", "An Ounce of Pink").

And, yes, Marty, I did have this short linked on my FaceBook page a while back but it didn't last long; it was linked to Armoreska's account on YouTube which was suspended just two DAYS later......! That's YouTube for you.

[Matt the Y]

And don't forget that Cool Cat's a bit of a brazen non-pantomimic ripoff of the Pink Panther, conceptually speaking...

There also seems to be a bit of Snagglepuss thrown into the mix as well (albeit substitute the Bert Lahr/Cowardly Lion-style dialect with the 1960's beatnik influenced dialect and replace Major Minor from the original series with Col. Rimfire and you'll see what I mean).

[Glowworm]

I loved Cool Cat as a kid-the music was actually catchy and I always found it pretty funny when Colonel Rimfire would chase Cool Cat in his bright pink mechanical elephant. (weird but funny) I always liked "Big Game Haunt" best for some reason-I liked Spooky the ghost who just wanted a friend-his theme music was great.

Truthfully though, Cool Cat is definately dated-he's a hippie tiger, how someone even came up with such a concept is beyond me. At least his shorts were much better than the Roadrunners and Speedy and Daffy's at the time.

[Matt the Y]

Truthfully though, Cool Cat is definately dated-he's a hippie tiger, how someone even came up with such a concept is beyond me. At least his shorts were much better than the Roadrunners and Speedy and Daffy's at the time.

I think that's the main reason I can actually stomach Cool Cat (and Merlin). He's a pretty lackluster original WB character who occasionally makes me laugh but that's still better than taking truly beloved classic-era WB characters and completely bastardizing them with horrible new cartoons that only make me cringe instead of laugh!

[Speedy Boris]

Eh, it was an OK debut but my favorite Cool Cat cartoon is still "Injun Trouble", which ironically is his last!

[J. B. Warner]

I saw a lot of Cool Cat back when Nickelodeon showed Looney Tunes (they were the last network to get the broadcast rights to the Warner Bros. cartoon library, so they wound up with all the ones that no other network wanted - mostly black-and-white 1930s cartoons, all the post-'64 DePatie-Freleng/Format/7 Arts cartoons, and a couple of random one-shots from the '40s and '50s). This one aired frequently, and while I can't call it stellar by any stretch of the imagination, I can at least attest that the Cool Cat character is good for a mild chuckle. Most of that comes from his extreme datedness today, I'll admit, but hey, a laugh is a laugh. And man, that theme song is catchy!

[Marty26]

and, yes, even the Wile E. Coyote-knock-off scene with the Colonel twice falling off a cliff (did you notice the canyon background was swiped from the Road-Runner shorts, "Zip 'N' Snort" and "Lickety-Splat"?).


Lovy did the same kind of thing with Daffy falling down a cliff in Fiesta Fiasco.

I'd probably give Cool Cat a 4.5/10. It's not a horrible cartoon. But it's ultimately below par IMO. Although, to be fair, I'd probably take it over any Merlin The Magic Mouse cartoon, except may be the original (which had the advantage of Sam The Cat being a co-star).

[oceansoul]

Oh, Marty my friend. I wish you run out of these post-60 LT topics one day. :tweety:

Of course, Cool Cat is a miss. He shouldn't have been born at the first place, but what really makes me sad about this excuse of a character is Injun Trouble. C'mon WB, couldn't you have done something better for a swan song?:shame:

[Speedy Boris]

Although, to be fair, I'd probably take it over any Merlin The Magic Mouse cartoon, except may be the original (which had the advantage of Sam The Cat being a co-star). Not to mention it had Daws Butler.

[Marty26]

Of course, Cool Cat is a miss. He shouldn't have been born at the first place, but what really makes me sad about this excuse of a character is Injun Trouble. C'mon WB, couldn't you have done something better for a swan song?:shame:

With the way things were going for them (budget-wise), the answer to that question would probably be an unfortunate "No."

[Marty26]

Not to mention it had Daws Butler.

Why did Larry Storch replace Daws Butler after the first cartoon, anyway? IMO, Butler did a much better job voicing Merlin.

[cbrubaker]

Butler was in demand in TV animation at the time (mostly Hanna-Barbera). He probably didn't have time to work on theatrical animation, which, by the time of Merlin's release, was pretty much dead.

[Matt the Y]

Why did Larry Storch replace Daws Butler after the first cartoon, anyway? IMO, Butler did a much better job voicing Merlin.

To answer THAT question, you'd have to put yourself inside the head of the corporate execs of WB at the time..... I doubt ANYone would be able to do that (The horribly misconceived Daffy/Speedy series alone is evidence of that!).

[Matt the Y]

Lovy did the same kind of thing with Daffy falling down a cliff in Fiesta Fiasco.



Right. That background Daffy falls into was also swiped from "Zoom and Bored" (the scene where Wile E. looks down through the cloud of smoke into the canyon and realizes he's run off a cliff).

Lo, The Poor Indian in the Merlin short "Hocus Pocus Powwow" also falls off a cliff Wile E. Coyote-style.

Seemed to be an ongoing theme at the time. The earlier DFE WB cartoons, outside of the Road Runner series, had Sylvester fall to the bottom of a canyon Coyote-style in "Road to Andalay" and Daffy falls off a cliff into a river in "Suppressed Duck". It even happens in two DFE Pink Panther cartoons; in "Sink Pink" (when the hunter falls off his bridge entrance to the ark) and in "Pinto Pink" (when the Panther falls after the horse steals his feathers to "fly" with).

[Jon Cooke]

I at least give the W7 team points for attempting new ideas so late in the game. I like Cool Cat, Merlin, Bunny & Claude, Chimp & Zee, etc in a "guilty pleasure" sort of way, I guess. They don't hold a candle to classic-era WB, of course. I'd say they are more on par with the made-for-TV cartoons of the day.

[Marty26]

No offense Matt The Y, but for somebody who despises the Daffy/Speedy series the way you do, you actually seem to have a pretty good memory of its individual cartoons. ;)

[Matt the Y]

No offense Matt The Y, but for somebody who despises the Daffy/Speedy series the way you do, you actually seem to have a pretty good memory of its individual cartoons. ;)

Well, it would probably be the same case for someone who was assigned to give specific details of a fatal on-the-spot car collision as well.

[StillHowardFein]

Butler was in demand in TV animation at the time (mostly Hanna-Barbera). He probably didn't have time to work on theatrical animation, which, by the time of Merlin's release, was pretty much dead.

Not quite. Butler remained at Lantz for another five years until its 1972 closure.:chilly: And Mel Blanc actually remained with WB right up till the end, in the two BUNNY & CLAUDE shorts. So both men were able to balance their H-B TV commitments with theatrical roles.

[J Lee]

To answer THAT question, you'd have to put yourself inside the head of the corporate execs of WB at the time..... I doubt ANYone would be able to do that (The horribly misconceived Daffy/Speedy series alone is evidence of that!).

Larry Storch was already on the studio lot in 1967 and under contract to Warner Bros. doing the final season of "F Troop". Since he previously had been used by DePatie-Freleng and Total Television, chances are they just decided to go with who was the most readily available instead of waiting for Daws (or Mel) to have an opening in their schedule.

[Speedy Boris]

Not to get this thread too off-topic, but I find it amusing how Second Banana rarely talked after his initial appearance (and thus, sans Butler), and when he did, he sounded ODD. I have to wonder if the writers consciously gave Banana less lines because Storch had a hard time replicating his high-pitched voice.

[wiley207]

Not to get this thread too off-topic, but I find it amusing how Second Banana rarely talked after his initial appearance (and thus, sans Butler), and when he did, he sounded ODD. I have to wonder if the writers consciously gave Banana less lines because Storch had a hard time replicating his high-pitched voice.

Yeah. Second Banana seemed to have more dialogue in "Shamrock and Roll," and they changed his personality a bit too, I think. But I still prefer Daws Butler as Merlin and Second Banana.

Anyways, back on topic, "Cool Cat" was definitely when the late 1960s Warner Bros. Animation era started to get good, IMHO. After three lackluster Alex Lovy Speedy vs. Daffy shorts, this cartoon was like a breath of fresh air.

I remember the copy I taped off of Cartoon Network back in 2002 had an odd miscue: after the previous cartoon faded out, it cut right to the "W7 PRESENTS" title card with the opening music already in progress, and then the opening continued like normal, so we wouldn't see the lines swirling up and the W7 shield form. It was actually quite startling to cut to that logo already in mid-progress instead of starting from the beginning, especially with that MUSIC.

And about that Pink Panther thing... indeed when I first saw the Cat I thought he looked very similar to the Pink Panther! Sure he wasn't as cool, but he was definitely smart. Maybe even smarter than the Pink Panther is!

[Marty26]

I think Second Banana also got a little more dialog in Fiestic Mystic. But in Hocus Pocus Pow Wow and Feud With A Dude, he had a rather slim number of lines. In fact, his only line in FWAD is "We're on your side."

[Marty26]

I noticed the Cool Cat theme song was changed somewhat in Bugged By A Bee. But then the original version returned for Injun Trouble. Why was the original brought back? Was it because the "new" version wasn't a hit with what little audience WB cartoons still had at the time?

A big part of the problem with these Cool Cat cartoons IMO is that Cool Cat just isn't a very flexible character. His whole 60's beatnik personality just doesn't mix with an English big-game hunter or a dopey group of indians. This again is why Bugged By A Bee was arguably his best cartoon. It's the one cartoon that actually took advantage of his personality and gave it an appropriate setting (Disco Tech College). Plus, that song he sang and played on his guitar at the beginning was solid gold. :D

[wiley207]

I noticed the Cool Cat theme song was changed somewhat in Bugged By A Bee. But then the original version returned for Injun Trouble. Why was the original brought back? Was it because the "new" version wasn't a hit with what little audience WB cartoons still had at the time?

A big part of the problem with these Cool Cat cartoons IMO is that Cool Cat just isn't a very flexible character. His whole 60's beatnik personality just doesn't mix with an English big-game hunter or a dopey group of indians. This again is why Bugged By A Bee was arguably his best cartoon. It's the one cartoon that actually took advantage of his personality and gave it an appropriate setting (Disco Tech College). Plus, that song he sang and played on his guitar at the beginning was solid gold. :D

Thank God that "Bugged By a Bee" was the first Cool Cat cartoon I saw!

Anyone else also noticed that aside from getting rid of Colonel Rimfire, Robert McKimson also removed Cool Cat's trademark beret?

[speedy fast]

It's been a long time since I last saw this, but the other Cool Cat cartoons are better (I guess that's a good sign for the character). Between Cool Cat and Merlin, I think Cool Cat would have been more liekly to have continued if WB continued making cartoons after 1969.