Stubs - The Cat in the Hat (1971)

The Cat in the Hat (1971) Starring the voices of Allan Sherman, Daws Butler, Tony Frazier, Pamelyn Ferdin, Thurl Ravenscroft, Lewis Morford Directed by Hawley Pratt. Teleplay by Dr. Seuss. Based on The Cat in the Hat, published in 1957 by Dr. Seuss. Produced by Chuck Jones and Ted Geisel. Run time: 25 minutes USA Animated, Musical, TV Special

In 1955, William Spaulding, then the director of Houghton Mifflin's education division, invited Theodor Geisel, writing under the pseudonym of Dr. Seuss, to dinner. Geisel was then best known as the author of If I Ran the Circus. Based on an article about literacy in early childhood, Spaulding supplied Geisel with a list of between 300 and 400 words every six and seven-year-old should know and reportedly challenged him to "Write me a story that first-graders can't put down!" Geisel came up with The Cat in The Hat using 236 words. And no first-grader was able to put it down. For many people, it would be their first book they could read on their own.

Production on a TV special based on the book began in the late 1960s at Chuck Jones’ MGM Animation Studio. However, the studio stopped all animation in 1970. Jones moved the production to DePatie–Freleng Enterprises run by Jones’ fellow Warner Bros. Cartoons alumnus Friz Freleng and WB's last executive in charge of Warner Bros. Cartoons David DePatie. The completed special aired on CBS on March 10, 1971.

Due to the rain, Conrad (Tony Frazier) and his sister, Sally (Pamelyn Ferdin) are trapped inside.

Like the book it is based on, the story opens on a rainy day, with Conrad (Tony Frazier) and his sister Sally (Pamelyn Ferdin) trapped inside and left alone by their mother (Gloria Camacho). No sooner is she out the door, than a six-foot tall cat wearing a tall striped hat enters; The Cat in the Hat (Allan Sherman).

The Cat in the Hat (Allan Sherman)

While the siblings seem to be shocked, their pet fish, Karlos K. Krinklebine (David Butler) objects and orders him to leave. However, The Cat proceeds to annoy the fish with a game he calls “Up, Up, Up, With a Fish". And it is about this time that you start to realize that the beloved story from your past is being used as a premise for a story you no longer recognize and a series of pointless musical numbers that only seem to exist to kill time.

Pet fish, Karlos K. Krinklebine (David Butler), orders the Cat to leave.

Conrad and Sally become aware of how untidy The Cat is making the house and worry that their mother will be back at 3:30. Noting their objections, The Cat bows to pressure and dejectedly agree to leave, stating that he’s going to Siberia. But his departure is short-lived and The Cat quickly returns.

Bursting back inside, The Cat claims that his "moss-covered three-handled family gredunza" has been stolen and accuses Karlos of the theft. This leads to a ballad, sung by Sherman, about the loss of this keepsake, "Moss-Covered Three-Handled Family Gradunza" (written, like all songs in the special, by Dr. Seuss and Dean Elliott).

Conrad and Sally mark up the house per the song "Calculatus Eliminatus."

The children are then drawn into the search using his method, which is also a song "Calculatus Eliminatus" The method includes drawing random numbers and letters anywhere the gredunza is not, as proof they had looked there for it. This, again, makes a mess of everything and Karlos once again orders The Cat to leave. And, once again, he doesn’t.

The Cat produces Thing One (Thurl Ravenscroft) and Thing Two (Lewis Morford).

To gain sympathy, The Cat sings a song about his low self-esteem, “I’m a Punk”, and then puts the fish to sleep with a lullaby, “Beautiful Kittenfish”. No longer depressed, The Cat produces Thing One (Thurl Ravenscroft) and Thing Two (Lewis Morford) to aid in the search. Rather than help, the Things play a variety of sports using the fishbowl, noting, of course, in song that every house they visit has a pessimistic fish “whose only one wish is to flatten the fun.”

Thing One and Thing Two play games with the fishbowl.

Furious, Karlos accuses The Cat of not being a real cat, and his hat of not being a real hat. However, The Cat indignantly asserts his legitimacy by singing his name in several languages. The tune, “Cat, Hat” explains the relationship of The Cat in The Hat in several languages, including French, Spanish, Russian, German and Eskimo. Like children who have been brainwashed, and along with the Things and even Karlos, they join in on the song and the multiple costume changes that go along with it. After about six ever-lengthening verses, you start to wonder if the song will ever end.

As the song does finally end, a car horn is heard in the distance, signaling that the mother has returned. The Things get back into the box they appeared from and disappear. The Cat also immediately exits. But he is, again, not gone for long. With the house in a complete mess, The Cat returns riding a motorized vehicle that tidies things up in a jiffy.

The Cat helping to clean the house.

Now that the house is clean, The Cat again leaves, this time only promising to return someday. No sooner does he leave than the mother returns. She mentions to them that she just saw a cat in a hat "going down the street with a moss-covered three-handled family gredunza". Sally and Conrad look out the window, much as they did at the beginning of the special, and watch as the Cat walks off to his next adventure.

One thing the special does well is to match the animation to the style of the book. It looks like the drawings come to life and for that, the special deserves credit. Unfortunately, that is about all the special does well. Telling a story is not one of them. As noted above, the story of the special diverts away from the book pretty early on. Rather than a retelling of a well-known and beloved children’s book, it seems to be an excuse for the author to try his hand at songwriting. He should stick with books. There are nine songs in this 25-minute special, which is about nine too many considering the songs.

Allan Sherman, who voices and sings the lead part as The Cat, was a song parodist who became best known for the 1962 comedy album My Son, the Folk Singer as well as the hit single "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! (A Letter from Camp)" and the parody "Pop Hates The Beatles". His talents are somewhat wasted here, as the songs he’s forced to sing are not memorable. They would have been better off letting him write them. He would voice The Cat again in a subsequent special, Dr. Seuss on the Loose (1973). Sherman, who suffered from diabetes and struggled with lung disease, died in 1973.

We came to watch this special as a random selection on our family’s Friday film night. The title came up as used a random number to select a film to watch from our family video collection. So disappointed were we with the show that we decided to get rid of the disc as we never plan to watch the special again.