The Cat in the Hat (TV special)

"The Cat in the Hat" was a 1971 American animated musical television special, based on the 1957 Dr. Seuss' children's book of the same name, produced by DFE Films. This special loosely follows the shell of the book's plot, but throws in some old material to fill out this special 25-minutes.

Plot

After the Cat makes his entrance and fools around a bit, the kids request that he leave. He does so, but then comes back in, claiming that his "moss-covered three-handled family grudunza" has been stolen, and he accuses the Fish, who is given the name Karlos K. Krinklebein in the special. The Cat sings a ballad about the loss of his treasured keepsake and then tries to describe it to the kids, even though they don't understand what he's talking about. The Cat then leads the kids on a search through the house, using his method of "Calculatus Eliminatus," which involves writing marks on every place they've already checked. This makes a mess of everything, and Mr. Krinklebein demands that the Cat leave, but it only prompts the Cat to sing another song, this one about feeling negative and self-loathing. Then he proceeds to put the cynical fish to sleep by singing a lullaby. Once that's done, he brings out Thing One and Thing Two, singing to the kids that they can find "anything under the sun", all the while the Things play sports using Mr. Krinklebein's fishbowl as the ball/puck. (According to them, every house they visit has a pessimist fish.) Mr. Krinklebein then accuses the Cat of not being a real Cat ("Who ever heard of a six foot cat?!"), and his hat of not being a real hat. This cues arguably the wackiest song in the special, where the Cat sings out his name in practically every other language ("Cat. Hat./In French, chat chapeau./In Spanish, el gato en un sombrero."). The song becomes so catchy that everyone, even Krinklebein, joins in and contributes alternative translations for languages like Eskimo and Russian (the languages used throughout the song are English, French, Spanish, German, Eskimo and Russian). Just as they finish up the song, though, they hear the mother coming home. The Cat then proceeds to clean up the house, just like in the book. Just as he leaves, the mother returns, telling the kids that she just saw a Cat in a Hat "going down the street with a moss-covered three-handled family grudunza." Given that it was his only other possession at the time he walked into the house (hats, boxes and other nicknacks appearing out of thin air aside). It's assumed that the grudunza was actually the Cat's umbrella, which he had never lost at all - however, it may have also been the strange vehicle the Cat used to clean up the house.

DVD Release

The special is currently available [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009ZVNN on DVD] (it was originally on VHS via CBS-Fox Video's Playhouse division). While the special faded somewhat into obscurity after its initial transmission, it was re-issued to coincide with the live action adaptation of the book. Since then it has gained a new-found appreciation, helped in no small part by the poor reception of the live action version.

Other Starring roles

Although the original book's sequel did not receive an animated adaptation, the character went on to appear in several more Dr. Seuss specials. In 1973, there came "Dr. Seuss on the Loose", where Allan Sherman reprised his role as "The Cat in the Hat". Here, "The Cat in the Hat" appeared in bridging sequences where he introduced animated adaptations of three other Seuss stories: "The Sneetches", "The Zax", and "Green Eggs and Ham". Then, in 1982, there came "The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat", where The Cat in the Hat, now voiced by Mason Adams, meets the title character of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" and sets out to reform his new green adversary. Later, in 1995, the Cat appeared again, this time with the voice of Henry Gibson, to narrate "Daisy - Head Mayzie", a special based on one of Dr. Seuss' lost works. Most recently, in 1996, he starred on the Muppet-like kids' show "The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss", where he was voiced and puppeteered by Bruce Lanoil.

Credits

Cast

* Allan Sherman as the voice of The Cat in the Hat
* Daws Butler as the voice of Carlos K. Krinklebein
* Tony Frazier as the voice of Conrad
* Pamelyn Ferdin as the voice of Sally
* Thurl Ravenscroft as the voice of Thing One
* Lewis Morford as the voice of Thing Two

Crew

* Music by: Dean Elliott
* Production Design by: Maurice Noble
* Directed by: Hawley Pratt
* Produced by: Chuck Jones and Ted Geisel
* Executive Producers: David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng
* Animation: Hal Ambro, Warren Batchelder, Manny Gould, George Nicholas, Manny Perez, Phil Roman, Robert Taylor, Don Williams
* Layout: Robert Givens, Dick Ung
* Background: Richard H. Thomas
* Camera: John Burton Jr., Ray Lee
* Film Editing: Lee Gunther, Roger Donley
* Production Supervision: Jim Foss
* Production Coordinator: Harry Love
* Music by: Dean Elliott, Lyrics by: Dr. Seuss
* Music Conducted by: Eric Rogers
* Music Recording Engineer: Eric A. Thomlinson
* Storyboard by: Chuck Jones
* Teleplay by: Dr. Seuss
* A Cat in The Hat Presentation produced for The CBS Television Network by DePatie-Freleng Films

Production Notes

* This was the first DePatie Freleng/Dr.Seuss special for television and also the first for CBS.
* Chuck Jones and his staff were included in the production of this cartoon. After "The Cat In The Hat", Chuck Jones did not work on any other Dr. Seuss projects. Other staff members that have worked with Jones such as Maurice Noble and Dean Elliott eventually stopped working on Dr. Seuss cartoons also.
* This cartoon was the only one to feature "DFE Films" logo at the end credits to feature the cat's hat.
* David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng were credited together as Executive Producers. For the next 3 Dr. Seuss cartoons, Friz Freleng was credited as Producer along with Ted Giesel, but both were credited separately. Presumably this was done for Chuck Jones, even though he did not return for the procuction of other Dr. Seuss cartoons.

External links

*imdb title|id=0284714|title=The Cat in the Hat