Top Cat

Top Cat

1961
Top Cat
Top Cat

Top Cat

7.1 | TV-G | en | Animation

Top Cat is a Hanna-Barbera prime time animated television series which ran from November 26, 1961 to April 18, 1962 for a run of 30 episodes on the ABC network. Reruns are played on Cartoon Network's classic animation network Boomerang.

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Seasons & Episodes

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EP30  Dibble's Double
Apr. 18,1962
Dibble's Double

Disguised as Officer Dibble, the notorious thief Al the Actor steals a fortune in paintings from an art gallery. Meanwhile, Top Cat hooks a buyer for his own modern paintings, an elderly dowager who offers him $20,000 for his latest original. When all of Top Cats' paintings are stolen, the cat helps Dibble capture the thief, only to learn that his rich dowager patron had also been Al the Actor. This was the final episode of the series.

EP29  Griswald
Apr. 11,1962
Griswald

Police dog Griswald is assigned by Dibble to prevent Top Cat from using the alley precinct phone. After trying unsuccessfully to get rid of the dog, Top Cat contrives to have the police commissioner use the phone. When the over-protective Griswaid bites the commissioner, the pooch is relieved of his duties.

EP28  Dibble Sings Again
Apr. 04,1962
Dibble Sings Again

To raise the money he owes Big Gus, Top Cat convinces shower-singer Dibble that, under his management, he could become a singing star. He secures the policeman a spot on a television show, but once at the studio Dibble mistakes the filming of ""The Unattachables"" for a real crime and realizes that police work, not singing, is his true calling. Losing his manager's fee from Dibble, Top Cat tries the same scam on Gorilla, the collection agent sent by Big Gus.

EP27  Dibble Breaks The Record
Mar. 28,1962
Dibble Breaks The Record

It looks like illness is going to prevent Officer Dibble from setting the record for uninterrupted service on his beat, the reward for which is a two-week paid vacation. Because he has an interest in the matter (namely, having Dibble out of his fur for two whole weeks), Top Cat does everything he can to keep the policeman on the job.

EP26  The Con Men
Mar. 21,1962
The Con Men

Top Cat meets his match in two con men who are trying to bilk hot dog vendor Tony out of his life savings by offering shares in a phony oil company. To save Tony, Top Cat sets up a fake news agency that reports the oil company has hit a gusher. The con men race off to buy back Tony's shares at three times his original investment.

EP25  King for a Day
Mar. 14,1962
King for a Day

After watching the television show ""King For a Day,"" in which people are showered with prizes for telling hard luck stories, Top Cat spins a tale about his family's hard life in an alley and gets invited on the show. With Choo Choo posing as his wife, and Benny, Spook, Fancy, and the Brain playing his children, Top Cat weaves a sad tale on the air, until viewer Dibble rushes to the studio to expose him. Quickly shifting gears, Top Cat then tells the audience that without Dibble, his family would starve, and the policeman is crowned ""King for a Day"".

EP24  Choo-Choo Goes Ga-Ga
Mar. 07,1962
Choo-Choo Goes Ga-Ga

Despondent over not getting a date with Hollywood siren Lola Glamure, Choo Choo decides to end it all. Top Cat intervenes, managing to reach Lola and persuade her to go out with the wealthy ""Count Chooch."" Lola keeps the date, but the suddenly sobered Choo Choo realizes that the movie queen is really the former Gerti Hefflemeyer, his old third grade classmate.

EP23  Dibble's Birthday
Feb. 28,1962
Dibble's Birthday

Dibble overhears the chief talking about removing ""old wrecks"" from the force and thinks the chief means him. His spirits rise considerably when Top Cat and the gang throw him a surprise birthday party and he learns that the ""old wrecks"" the chief spoke of are really worn-out patrol cars.

EP22  The Late T.C.
Feb. 21,1962
The Late T.C.

Beaned by a Mickey Mantle home run at the ballpark, Top Cat is rushed to the hospital. He offers the doctor an old clock in payment for treatment, but the doctor declines, claiming "the old ticker" cannot be saved. Overhearing this, Officer Dibble assumes it is Top Cat's heart the doctor is referring to, and sets about making Top Cat's "last days" as pleasant as possible.

EP21  Space Monkey
Feb. 14,1962
Space Monkey

Hearing stories about the luxurious living conditions of Marvo the Chimp, who is awaiting a flight into space, the cats apply for positions at Cape Canaveral. The tales of luxury prove to be exaggerated, however, and after realizing how homesick Marvo really is, Top Cat sidetracks the rocket, sending it not into outer space, but to Marvo's home in Africa.

EP20  The Golden Fleecing
Feb. 07,1962
The Golden Fleecing

After receiving a $2,000 insurance settlement from an old accident, Benny treats Top Cat and the gang to an evening out at the Pink Palm Club, and falls for the club's fetching singer, Honeydew Melon. With both eyes on Benny's bankroll, Honeydew takes him home to meet her folks, who win all the cash in a poker game. The next night, Top Cat wins the money back, starting an armed fracas that ends with the Melon gang's arrest.

EP19  The Grand Tour
Jan. 31,1962
The Grand Tour

While Top Cat conducts a phony historical tour of New York, Choo Choo follows his 25-cent treasure map to a condemned building where he finds Captain Kidd's treasure. The treasure is confiscated by the police commissioner as ""city property,"" and Top Cat is fined $2 for operating a guided tour without a license. The cats rush back to the building to look for more treasure, but a powerful sneeze from Benny brings the entire structure crashing down.

EP18  Farewell, Mr. Dibble
Jan. 24,1962
Farewell, Mr. Dibble

Eager-beaver Patrolman Earnest Prowler requests Officer Dibble's beat, believing it to he a hot-bed of crime. His stringent policing results in softhearted Dibble being fired. To get Dibble reinstated, Top Cat fingers Prowler's citation book and the gang litters the neighborhood with tickets, which creates havoc and ultimately results in Prowler's arresting his lieutenant and the mayor. When Prowler is found hiding in a mailbox, he is relieved of duty and sent home to rest.

EP17  T.C. Minds the Baby
Jan. 17,1962
T.C. Minds the Baby

Top Cat and the gang discover a picnic basket that contains a baby and a note imploring the finder to take care of the infant. The group quickly learns to change diapers and pilfers milk bottles to keep the child fed. Investigating the stolen bottles, Dibble finds out about the infant. Later, when the baby's mother asks the policeman for help regarding her missing child, he reluctantly takes the baby away from Top Cat's gang, who tearfully say goodbye.

EP16  The Case of the Absent Anteater
Jan. 10,1962
The Case of the Absent Anteater

A voracious anteater named Jimmy follows Benny the Ball back to the alley. The gang discovers that a reward has been offered for the animal's safe return to the zoo, hut before they can turn Jimmy in, an overzealous dogcatcher nabs him and takes him to the dog pound. The cats break into the pound to spring Jimmy, hut are thwarted by Dibble. The anteater manages to return to the alley the next day- accompanied by his entire hungry family.

EP15  The Long Hot Winter
Jan. 03,1962
The Long Hot Winter

Top Cat and the gang finagle their way into spending a cold winter's night in Dibble's warm apartment, a courtesy they repay by moving the loudly snoring policeman out onto the fire escape. Furious, Dibble evicts the gang. Top Cat then calls Strife magazine and feeds them a story about Dibble's noble-hearted campaign to save unfortunates from a freezing alley. When a reporter shows up at the policeman's doorstep, Dibble is forced to let the gang hack in to save his honor. He agrees to let the cats stay until the first day of spring.

EP14  The Tycoon
Dec. 27,1961
The Tycoon

Billionaire philanthropist T.L. Vanderfeller searches for a destitute person to receive a million-dollar check. He stumbles on Benny, who is selling 25-cent raffle tickets for Top Cat. Mistaking Top Cat and the gang for a needy family, the billionaire gives the check to Benny, who dutifully hands it over to Top Cat. Thinking it is a check for a quarter for a raffle ticket, Top Cat tears it up.

EP13  Rafeefleas
Dec. 20,1961
Rafeefleas

After spending the night in a museum case, Benny leaves the Modern Museum of Ancient Art with a priceless Egyptian scarab pinned to his jacket. Thinking it's a bauble, Top Cat offers it to Fancy-Fancy to use in impressing the lady cats. But soon the gang realizes the jewel is genuine, and they sneak back into the museum to return it. They are caught by Dibble, who charges them with stealing the entire collection. While the cats try to straighten the situation out, the real jewel thief appears and is apprehended.

EP12  The Unscratchables
Dec. 13,1961
The Unscratchables

The Hopeless Diamond, stolen from Stiftany's jewelry store by Big Gus's gang, is accidentally swallowed by Benny. Benny is subsequently taken to the gang's hideout where Dr. Rigor Morten plans to surgically remove the stone. In order to rescue their friend (and try to cash in on Stiffany's $50,000 reward), Top Cat and his friends visit the hideout posing as ""The Unscratchables."" The gang returns to Stiffany's, where Benny's violent sneeze dislodges the stone. Unfortunately, it sails through the window and onto the street, and is crushed by a steamroller.

EP11  Choo-Choo's Romance
Dec. 06,1961
Choo-Choo's Romance

When Choo Choo develops a crush on Goldie, the poetry-loving cat next door, Top Cat coaches him in speaking eloquent passages of unrequited love, and at one point even substitutes for him. As a result Top Cat is showered with attention from Goldie, forcing her jealous boyfriend Pierre to challenge him to a duel. Loading the dueling pistols with blanks, Top Cat survives, though he can't resist playing a grand death scene. Choo Choo ultimately decides that a superficial crush is no match for a deep friendship.

EP10  Sergeant Top Cat
Nov. 29,1961
Sergeant Top Cat

Overhearing Officer Dibble's list of ideas for improving the police force, Top Cat later repeats them for the benefit of the police captain. The captain is so impressed that he appoints Top Cat to the post of honorary sergeant. A fuming Dibble finally gets revenge when, during a robbers' shoot-out in the alley, he refuses to save Top Cat until the cat signs a confession stating that he stole Dibble's ideas.

EP9  Naked Town
Nov. 22,1961
Naked Town

Public Enemies #12 and 13, Knuckles and Ape, learn that Hoagy's Alley will be used as a location for filming a television show, and take the opportunity to devise a robbery ruse. Posing as producers, they employ Dibble, Top Cat, and the gang to move such goods as television sets and alarm clocks from a warehouse into their ""production"" van. Realizing they have been conned, Dibble and the cats trap the crooks by setting the alarm clocks to sound at noon, a cacophony that leads the police right to the criminals' hideout.

EP8  A Visit from Mother
Nov. 15,1961
A Visit from Mother

Dutiful son Bennv writes his mother frequently. Unfortunately, his letters describe his life as the mayor of New York City! When Mrs. Ball pays a visit, Top Cat and the gang create the illusion that Benny is indeed mayor. They ""borrow"" Officer Dibble's police car and stage a key-to-the-city ceremony, a boat christening, a ribbon-cutting ceremony, even a ticker-tape parade. When Dibble finally catches up with them, he doesn't have the heart to shatter Mrs. Ball's illusions, and ends up driving them all to the airport to see the ""mayor's"" mother off.

EP7  Top Cat Falls in Love
Nov. 08,1961
Top Cat Falls in Love

While visiting tonsillectomy patient Benny in the hospital, Top Cat becomes smitten with a beautiful nurse, Miss LaRue, and feigns the disease ""blubberitis"" in order to stay in the hospital. Despite Top Cat's considerable charm, Nurse LaRue ends up going back to her hometown to marry a young doctor. After one look at her replacement, a militant substitute nurse, Top Cat undergoes a miraculous recovery and flees the premises.

EP6  The Missing Heir
Nov. 01,1961
The Missing Heir

When the gang realizes Benny fits the description of a missing heir they take him to palatial Ridgely Place to collect his inheritance, unaware that the butler, Chutney, and his dog, Griswald, who are next in line for the money, are planning to do away with Benny. Dibble saves Benny from a series of near-fatal mishaps and arrests the butler (who is really Machine Gun Chutney), after which the genuine heir appears. Hoping to cash in, Top Cat lets the heir, a cat named Catwaleder, join the gang, hut then discovers that the heir has given away all his money.

EP5  The Violin Player
Oct. 25,1961
The Violin Player

Mr. Gutenberg, the musical director of Carnegie Hall, mistakes a recording of violin virtuoso Laszlo Laszlo for the playing of Benny the Ball, who has just taken up the instrument. He approaches Benny with an offer to perform and Top Cat negotiates a deal for $50,000 for a Saturday night performance at the Hall-an offer that is withdrawn when Carnegie's Board of Directors really hear Benny play. When Gutenberg offers a $10,000 reward to find the true violinist, the gang discovers that it's their neighborhood street cleaner, Laszlo Laszlo.

EP4  The $1,000,000 Derby
Oct. 18,1961
The $1,000,000 Derby

Top Cat discovers that the horse Benny bought for a concession stand to photograph children on a pony runs wild when it hears a whistle (in fact, it ran up a million dollars1 worth of damage inside Macy's!). Attempting to capitalize on the horse's talents, Top Cat poses as Arabian oil king Aly Khat and enters the nag in a million dollar derby, spurring it on by running a screaming ambulance alongside the track. The horse almost wins, but at the last minute vainly stops to smile and pose for the photo finish camera.

EP3  All That Jazz
Oct. 11,1961
All That Jazz

Jazz, the new cat in town, takes over the pool hall, steals Top Cat's girlfriend, sways the gang, and even cleans up the alley. This sparks an ongoing contest of one-upmanship, so when both Jazz and Top Cat are offered a part in a Hollywood film, they naturally assume it is another trick. The offer turns out to be legit and Benny the Ball is cast in the starring role in The Thing From the Alley. He leaves for Hollywood in a limo, accompanied by Top Cat and the gang in the guise of Benny's manager, valet, vocal coach, tailor, and chauffeur.

EP2  The Maharajah of Pookajee
Oct. 04,1961
The Maharajah of Pookajee

Hearing that the rich and benevolent Maharajah (who hands out rubies for random acts of kindness) is staying at a nearby hotel, Top Cat and the gang disguise themselves and sneak past Officer Dibble's guard in an attempt to meet the royal. Mistaking Top Cat for the Maharajah, the hotel staff puts him up in a grand suite, where he maintains the pretense by dispensing glass heads as ""rubies."" But when the real Maharajah arrives, Top Cat and the gang high-tail it out. Upon finally meeting the Maharajah, Top Cat assumes he is another impostor and tosses away the bag of rubies that the ruler gives him.

EP1  Hawaii, Here We Come
Sep. 27,1961
Hawaii, Here We Come

When Benny the Ball wins a cruise to Hawaii through a boxtop contest, he and his pals board the SS Aloha Hooey, with five of the cats sneaking on as stowaways. Officer Dibble accidentally becomes a fellow passenger by chasing a counterfeiter on board. The gang finds a suitcase filled with (counterfeit) cash and they begin to live like kings, until Dibble catches them and tosses them into the brig. Top Cat devises a clever plan to capture the real counterfeiter, leaving Dibble and the cats free to enjoy the rest of their Hawaiian vacation.

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7.1 | TV-G | en | Animation , Comedy , Kids | More Info
Released: 1961-09-27 | Released Producted By: Hanna-Barbera Productions , Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

Top Cat is a Hanna-Barbera prime time animated television series which ran from November 26, 1961 to April 18, 1962 for a run of 30 episodes on the ABC network. Reruns are played on Cartoon Network's classic animation network Boomerang.

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The tv show is currently not available onine

Cast

Leo De Lyon , Allen Jenkins , Arnold Stang

Director

William Hanna

Producted By

Hanna-Barbera Productions ,

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Reviews

Vivekmaru45 Another memorable cartoon of my late teenage years. I used to catch the show on Cartoon Network where I watched many episodes.The theme of the cartoon is of Top Cat getting into scrapes with Officer Dibbles, and using his wits to get out of them.Top Cat and his gang make up the show. Each cat has a particular name that suits its mannerism. Example Benny the Ball gets his name because of his shape.Recommended Episode(s): The Late T.C. (Season 1, Episode 22) This one is my favorite of all. When Top Cat suffers an accident, Dibbles overhears a conversation in which he hears the words "a week". What Top Cat was actually referring to was his Alarm Clock which Dibbles didn't hear about. Dibbles thinks Top Cat has a week left in his life. This leads to Top Cat given lavish treats and privileges by Dibbles. Top Cats thinks that he can keep this up forever but things don't always go as planned...Other episodes you may also like: Season 1, Episode 30: Dibble's Double:A master of disguise impersonates Officer Dibble to steal valuable paintings. But he hasn't reckoned with Dibble's friends.Season 1, Episode 23: Dibble's Birthday: Officer Dibble is facing another birthday, and feels he is getting old. His attitude is not helped by overhearing the Police Commissioner talking about getting rid of the "old wrecks" at the police station, (meaning old police cars). Top Cat and the gang decide to throw Dibble a surprise party -- with expensive gifts from everyone in the neighborhood.Season 1, Episode 29: Griswald: Officer Dibble's new partner is a tough police dog, Griswald. Top Cat and the gang try their best to outwit him, but Griswald always seems to be one step ahead of them.Season 1, Episode 15: The Long Hot Winter: Refusing to spend a freezing winter in the alley, Top Cat comes up with a plan for him and the gang to move into Officer Dibble's apartment as house guests for the entire winter.Season 1, Episode 17: T.C. Minds the Baby: The gang finds an abandoned baby and decide to care for it, but they find parenthood a lot harder than they thought it would be...Verdict: Go and BUY the COMPLETE DVD COLLECTION & ENJOY!!!
mike robson Based on "The Phil Silvers show",this cartoon translates army capers into the adventures of a bunch of cats in a rundown New York alley.They are led by Top Cat,a conniver who could even teach Bilko a thing or two!Their nemesis and sometime victim is policeman Charlie Dibble.Each of the cats has his own very distinct character.I especially like Spook with his beatnik "hep cat" language. The show is full of humor,wit and charm.The voice actors are superb-including Bilko regular Maurice Gosfield("Benny").Fortunately Hanna-Barbera haven't revived the show;the result would undoubtedly be of much lower standard than the 30 original gems from 1961-2
Big Movie Fan We all love Top Cat. If you didn't like Top Cat then you must be either a zombie or a robot.In the show, Top Cat lived in a dustbin and along with his friends caused trouble for Police Officer Dibble. One thing T.C. did frequently was using the police telephone for his own calls. T.C. generally was always looking for ways to make money and mischief, the two things generally going hand in hand.Top Cat kind of reminds me of my childhood many many years ago. I was a good child and I tended to hang around on the streets kicking balls around and trying to figure out games we could play with a stick and a tin can. There were also the constant trips to the shop to waste pocket money on cans of pop and sweets. I was never a naughty child but there always seemed to be miserable adults (of which I am now one) around trying to spoil the fun. I didn't have my own Officer Dibbles but I do remember one elderly guy who seemed to hate kids having any kind of fun.That must be why I liked watching Top Cat as a child-because really I was looking at me and my friends in the mirror. But isn't hanging round on street corners with your friends something that kids having been doing since time began?All in all, Top Cat was my hero and I urge you to check him out if he comes on your screen.
pire This is a jewel of a show: fun, clean, sometimes even very clever. Why was this show so short running? Maybe it was ahead of its time. As not as cynic as more recent cats (like Garfield), Top Cat has its dose of pinching quotes and memorable, clever one-liners, as the 'hobo-like' background puts the acid dose to the series. The show is maybe naive for the 90's and beyond, but in the innocence of the early 60's it had punch and spice, maybe 20 years before its time.