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) (This is obviously either a pseudonym or a jokey stage name)
• 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