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Post by Rob K on Jan 22, 2014 16:51:50 GMT
Here's another starter for ten. When was "Top Cat" first shown in the UK and when was the "Boss Cat" title added (to avoid confusion with the cat food) and dispensed with? I remember being confused by the title change as a kid since the theme song and all the dialogue in the cartoon still said "Top Cat"! Presumably the BBC did the recaptioning? It would have aired in b/w here first?
Info on the Net says "Boss Cat" was used "in the 60s and 70s" but I know it was still around in the late Eighties because I was watching it then! Then modern repeats in the hols have the original titles and caption.
Thanks
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Post by Richard Marple on Jan 22, 2014 21:22:11 GMT
I always was confused by this.
Ironically a sign for Top Cat (the cat food) could be seen in Arkwright's shop in Open All Hours.
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Post by AndyWalmsley on Jan 22, 2014 23:40:55 GMT
Wiki suggests it was from 1962 and then as late as 1989.
I have a December 1962 Radio Times to hand when the second series started, at 5 p.m. just after Grandstand, and it is billed as The Boss Cat. The magazine notes that the first series was "shown on Wednesday afternoons last summer."
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Post by John Green on Jan 23, 2014 0:08:16 GMT
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Post by Sue Butcher on Jan 23, 2014 0:17:27 GMT
World Distributors aren't the BBC, and they wouldn't be bound by the BBC's "no free advertising" rule. H-B owned the copyright, not the Beeb. Because of the Annuals I always thought of him as Top Cat, I don't remember the BBC rebranding at all.
(Off topic, but how on earth did the BBC justify their weekly free plug for the Ford Zodiac in Z Cars?!)
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Post by John Green on Jan 23, 2014 0:51:00 GMT
World Distributors aren't the BBC, and they wouldn't be bound by the BBC's "no free advertising" rule. H-B owned the copyright, not the Beeb. Because of the Annuals I always thought of him as Top Cat, I don't remember the BBC rebranding at all. (Off topic, but how on earth did the BBC justify their weekly free plug for the Ford Zodiac in Z Cars?!) I meant that despite the fact that kids would/should have known it as 'Boss Cat',seeing it called that on TV every week,the annual made no compromises,and stuck to the HB title.Given that he wasn't a character of Superman's standing,I wouldn't have been surprised if WD went for 'Boss Cat' as a title that parents would recognise as one that would appeal to their kids. I'll have to look it up,but there were problems with Dennis the Menace-the UK and U.S. versions debuting in the same week,I believe.Pretty sure that the Ketchum (U.S.) version had to change its title on annuals in the UK.
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Post by John Green on Jan 23, 2014 1:02:17 GMT
Funny that 'Top Cat',which didn't feature Phil Silvers,had problems with its title,while 'Bilko','The Phil Silvers' Show','You'll Never Get Rich',etc.,which did feature him,had a choice of titles too.
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Post by robincarmody on Jan 23, 2014 1:27:28 GMT
OK ... When the BBC first showed the series on 16th May 1962, it was billed in Radio Times as 'Top Cat'. A few weeks in, the BBC's advertising-alert squad presumably got wind, and from 13th June - the fifth edition the BBC showed - it was billed as 'The Boss Cat'. The word "the" obviously disappeared at some later point, but the BBC continued to show it as 'Boss Cat' until, as Andy said, 1989. They then didn't show the series for a decade, and when it returned in 1999, it was under its original title. The cat food that caused all the trouble was advertised on the night of ATV London which was film-recorded in 1964, which is quite valuable because without that evidence, it would seem like a sort of phantom. Here is a recent YouTube upload of one of the last showings of the series under its BBC title: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRU2dUfSU3E - I urge people here to read my comment, which I think gets to the core of why the renaming is so widely remembered.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2014 12:49:20 GMT
Good to see that "Boss Cat" title sequence again after all these years - glad a copy exists!
The TC / Boss Cat thing was a real head scratcher to me as a kid growing up in the '60s! Even at the time, it was plain to me the programme was "Top Cat" as the title song and all the characters in the series refer to him as such (there also was a short-lived Gold Key comic similarly titled). The BBC "Boss Cat" titling just divided the other kids in the playground though; some referred to the series by one name, some by the other. I was confused! Amazing that this old '60s BBC edit was still being shown in the late '80s though.
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Post by Richard Marple on Jan 23, 2014 12:57:24 GMT
Good to see that "Boss Cat" title sequence again after all these years - glad a copy exists! The TC / Boss Cat thing was a real head scratcher to me as a kid growing up in the '60s! Even at the time, it was plain to me the programme was "Top Cat" as the title song and all the characters in the series refer to him as such (there also was a short-lived Gold Key comic similarly titled). The BBC "Boss Cat" titling just divided the other kids in the playground though; some referred to the series by one name, some by the other. I was confused! Amazing that this old '60s BBC edit was still being shown in the late '80s though. I remember the BBC's caption card for Boss Cat in the 1980's seemed to use a picture from a colouring book filled by a small child, as the colours were so messed up. Some shows seemed to change their titles on being Syndicated, hence the 3 titles for The Phil Silvers Show et al.
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Post by John Green on Jan 23, 2014 16:50:12 GMT
Good to see that "Boss Cat" title sequence again after all these years - glad a copy exists! The TC / Boss Cat thing was a real head scratcher to me as a kid growing up in the '60s! Even at the time, it was plain to me the programme was "Top Cat" as the title song and all the characters in the series refer to him as such (there also was a short-lived Gold Key comic similarly titled). The BBC "Boss Cat" titling just divided the other kids in the playground though; some referred to the series by one name, some by the other. I was confused! Amazing that this old '60s BBC edit was still being shown in the late '80s though. I should know this,but weren't Gold Keys reprints of (Dell?) U.S.comics.(And did anyone EVER collect those prize coupons?). What was TC called in TV Comic or any other British title,if he appeared in one?
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Post by John Green on Jan 23, 2014 17:05:41 GMT
Wiki suggests it was from 1962 and then as late as 1989. I have a December 1962 Radio Times to hand when the second series started, at 5 p.m. just after Grandstand, and it is billed as The Boss Cat. The magazine notes that the first series was "shown on Wednesday afternoons last summer." Just out of interest.With the definite article?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2014 20:53:51 GMT
I should know this,but weren't Gold Keys reprints of (Dell?) U.S.comics.(And did anyone EVER collect those prize coupons?). Western Publishing split from Dell in 1962 to set up their own range of comics titled Gold Key (previously they'd put together the comics Dell published so they were really just deciding to put them out under their own imprint). Some were reprints of the older stuff (which they were responsible for anyway) but they created quite a few original titles as well. Dell did put out a few Top Cat issues before the big split with Western but Gold Key published a new run of 20-odd issues themselves from 1962 onwards. Nicely illustrated too, like a lot of their licenced cartoon books.
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Post by David Buck on Jan 23, 2014 22:23:46 GMT
I should know this,but weren't Gold Keys reprints of (Dell?) U.S.comics.(And did anyone EVER collect those prize coupons?). you might be confusing Gold Token comics published in the UK with Gold Key the U.S. publisher - Gold Token comics as the name suggests contained "gift tokens" - no idea if they were actually redeemable; I don't know if the did any top cat reprints.
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Post by John Green on Jan 23, 2014 22:48:56 GMT
I should know this,but weren't Gold Keys reprints of (Dell?) U.S.comics.(And did anyone EVER collect those prize coupons?). you might be confusing Gold Token comics published in the UK with Gold Key the U.S. publisher - Gold Token comics as the name suggests contained "gift tokens" - no idea if they were actually redeemable; I don't know if the did any top cat reprints. You're right,David.Haven't seen a Gold Token comic in almost 20 years.I think they specialised in reprinting movie adaptations from the U.S.So no,no Top Cats. There always used to be a page (back cover?) about redeeming the tokens for prizes.
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