“No Times for Purrs and Pats”: The 50th Anniversary of ‘Josie and the Pussycats’
September 12th, 2020 Michael Lyons
Think about your favorite singer, or group, or band. They may be from the Golden Age of Rock n’ Role, or the British Invasion, or the Grunge Rock-era or even a Boy Band.
They may have made their indelible impact on, not just the music charts, but our culture as well. They may be legends and their names now part of various Hall of Fames.
But…none of them made their mark on music while traveling around the world solving mysteries.
That unique accomplishment, which has yet to be topped or duplicated, belongs to one musical group and one musical group only:
Josie and the Pussycats.
This Hanna-Barbera animated series centered on the titular musical pop group who, while touring in various international locations with their Manager and Roadie, find themselves unwittingly entangled in everything from spy capers to evil scientists.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Josie and the Pussycats debut, which makes it the perfect time to take a very animated and musical trip back in time to re-visit this show that’s become a fan favorite.
The TV show actually began life in another format, as Josie was first a comic book character, published by Archie comics. Created in 1963 by cartoonist Dan DeCarlo (who also created “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch”), the stories existed in what can best be dubbed a “shared Riverdale Universe.”
In 1968, Archie was successfully adapted for Saturday morning television by the Filmation animation studio, which may have prompted Hanna-Barbera to seek out Josie and the Pussycats.
The Studio took the basis of the comic book, but most definitely placed their “Hanna-Barbera stamp” on it, by merging it with the concept for another of the Studio’s most famous shows.
One year prior, Hanna-Barbera had a Saturday success story with Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, the model of a group of “meddling kids,” and a pet mascot who find themselves solving mysteries, was merged with the idea of Josie and the Pussycats.
On the show, Josie and her two band mates, the common sense Valerie and the naive Melody, tour with their Roadie, Alan (who Josie is attracted to) and their Manager Alexander. Also, along for the ride: Alexander’s twin sister Alexandra and Sebastian, the snickering cat (the two are around for no other reason than for Alexandra to act as a romantic rival for Alan and Sebastian to act as comic relief).
While at each international concert date, the gang finds themselves entangled in situations that even the most hardcore Heavy Metal bands could never foresee.
Some of the more memorable (and creative) adventures included an encounter with a Captain Nemo-like villain (complete with an elaborate submarine), an evil professor who has created an invisibility potion and a strange island that had shades of both “Planet of the Apes” and “Jurassic Park.” Each one of the adventures plays out against real-life backdrops such as Paris, India and New York City.
And, in each episode of Josie and the Pussycats, usually, during a chase sequence, where the characters are being pursued by the villain, one of the group’s songs plays over the soundtrack, like an early, animated version of MTV.
Along with these innovations, there’s a lot of Hanna-Barbera familiarity to the show, from the animation that’s so distinctive to the decade, to the voices, particularly Janet Waldo as Josie and Casey Kasem as Alexander. And, one of the singers for the Pussycats was Cherie More, who would later go by the name Cheryl Lladd.
Josie and the Pussycats debuted on September 12th, 1970 on CBS, and ran for only one season, but reruns, both on Saturday morning and in syndication, gave the show extended life and popularity, which was such that the whole cast was brought back for the self-explanatory sequel series, Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space.
The original show remained close to fan’s nostalgic hearts for decades. So much so that, in 2001, a live-action reboot was produced starring Tara Reid, Rachel Leigh-Cook and Rosario Dawson in the leads. While it failed to ignite the box-office, it slaked the nostalgic thirst many had for the show.
And now, fifty years later, through changes in television, animation and music, Josie and the Pussycats remains a favorite, with episodes currently streaming on the Boomerang app.
Seems as if the group summed up their staying power, back in 1970, with their song, “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby’:
“You’ve come a long way, baby
From my old neighborhood
Just like a movie star
You sure are looking good.”
Michael Lyons is a freelance writer, specializing in film, television, and pop culture.He is the author of the book, Drawn to Greatness: Disney’s Animation Renaissance, which chronicles the amazing growth at the Disney animation studio in the 1990s.In addition to Animation Scoop and Cartoon Research, he has contributed to Remind Magazine, Cinefantastique, Animation World Network and Disney Magazine.He also writes a blog, Screen Saver: A Retro Review of TV Shows and Movies of Yesteryear and his interviews with a number of animation legends have been featured in several volumes of the books, Walt’s People. You can visit Michael’s web site Words From Lyons at: Words From Lyons at: www.wordsfromlyons.com
“No Times for Purrs and Pats”: The 50th Anniversary of ‘Josie and the Pussycats’
Think about your favorite singer, or group, or band. They may be from the Golden Age of Rock n’ Role, or the British Invasion, or the Grunge Rock-era or even a Boy Band.
They may have made their indelible impact on, not just the music charts, but our culture as well. They may be legends and their names now part of various Hall of Fames.
But…none of them made their mark on music while traveling around the world solving mysteries.
That unique accomplishment, which has yet to be topped or duplicated, belongs to one musical group and one musical group only:
Josie and the Pussycats.
This Hanna-Barbera animated series centered on the titular musical pop group who, while touring in various international locations with their Manager and Roadie, find themselves unwittingly entangled in everything from spy capers to evil scientists.
The TV show actually began life in another format, as Josie was first a comic book character, published by Archie comics. Created in 1963 by cartoonist Dan DeCarlo (who also created “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch”), the stories existed in what can best be dubbed a “shared Riverdale Universe.”
In 1968, Archie was successfully adapted for Saturday morning television by the Filmation animation studio, which may have prompted Hanna-Barbera to seek out Josie and the Pussycats.
The Studio took the basis of the comic book, but most definitely placed their “Hanna-Barbera stamp” on it, by merging it with the concept for another of the Studio’s most famous shows.
One year prior, Hanna-Barbera had a Saturday success story with Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, the model of a group of “meddling kids,” and a pet mascot who find themselves solving mysteries, was merged with the idea of Josie and the Pussycats.
On the show, Josie and her two band mates, the common sense Valerie and the naive Melody, tour with their Roadie, Alan (who Josie is attracted to) and their Manager Alexander. Also, along for the ride: Alexander’s twin sister Alexandra and Sebastian, the snickering cat (the two are around for no other reason than for Alexandra to act as a romantic rival for Alan and Sebastian to act as comic relief).
While at each international concert date, the gang finds themselves entangled in situations that even the most hardcore Heavy Metal bands could never foresee.
Some of the more memorable (and creative) adventures included an encounter with a Captain Nemo-like villain (complete with an elaborate submarine), an evil professor who has created an invisibility potion and a strange island that had shades of both “Planet of the Apes” and “Jurassic Park.” Each one of the adventures plays out against real-life backdrops such as Paris, India and New York City.
And, in each episode of Josie and the Pussycats, usually, during a chase sequence, where the characters are being pursued by the villain, one of the group’s songs plays over the soundtrack, like an early, animated version of MTV.
Along with these innovations, there’s a lot of Hanna-Barbera familiarity to the show, from the animation that’s so distinctive to the decade, to the voices, particularly Janet Waldo as Josie and Casey Kasem as Alexander. And, one of the singers for the Pussycats was Cherie More, who would later go by the name Cheryl Lladd.
Josie and the Pussycats debuted on September 12th, 1970 on CBS, and ran for only one season, but reruns, both on Saturday morning and in syndication, gave the show extended life and popularity, which was such that the whole cast was brought back for the self-explanatory sequel series, Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space.
The original show remained close to fan’s nostalgic hearts for decades. So much so that, in 2001, a live-action reboot was produced starring Tara Reid, Rachel Leigh-Cook and Rosario Dawson in the leads. While it failed to ignite the box-office, it slaked the nostalgic thirst many had for the show.
And now, fifty years later, through changes in television, animation and music, Josie and the Pussycats remains a favorite, with episodes currently streaming on the Boomerang app.
Seems as if the group summed up their staying power, back in 1970, with their song, “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby’:
“You’ve come a long way, baby
From my old neighborhood
Just like a movie star
You sure are looking good.”