8 facts about Josie and the Pussycats that will perk up your ears
The rocking cartoon is celebrating its 50th anniversary!
Image: The Everett Collection
Hanna-Barbera produced just 16 episodes of Josie and the Pussycats for the 1970–71 Saturday morning cartoon season, but in that era, influence could hardly be measured by episode count. On the heels of its comic-book relative The Archie Show and the bubblegum pop of The Archies — although not too related, as we shall see — Josie and the Pussycats became another teen sensation.
Just 16 episodes and yet that hooky refrain still rattles around in your brain: Josie and the Pussycats / Long tails and ears for hats!
A sequel series, the delightfully goofy Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space cartoon followed in 1972, though the characters reached new levels of fame thanks to Nineties nostalgia. The compilation tribute album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, a CD that seemed to be in every college dorm in 1995, featured indie darlings Juliana Hatfield and Tanya Donelly covering "Josie and the Pussycats." In 2001, Josie and the Pussycats made the leap to live-action with a reboot movie — and new cartoons on Cartoon Network.
Now, as the Hanna-Barbera classic turns 50, let's look back at this 1970 gem.
1. Cheryl Ladd was the singing voice of Melody.
In May 1977, just as Charlie's Angels was concluding its successful first season, the hottest new show on television was dealt a blow. Farrah Fawcett, the blonde bombshell, turned in her resignation. What would Charlie's Angels be without Jill Monroe? Well, Aaron Spelling hardly skipped a step. The producer plugged in an actress to play Jill's sister, Kris Monroe — a relatively unknown star named Cheryl Ladd. Up to that point, television audiences had only seen the 26-year-old in bit roles — on crime shows such The Rookies, Harry O and Police Story, playing not-so-meaty characters like "Girl," "Teenage Girl" and "Buffy." But the South Dakota native did have one significant credit on her resume, one that remains largely overlooked. Seven years before Ladd was the blonde one on Charlie's Angels, she was the singing voice of the blonde one in the original Josie and the Pussycats, Melody. She went by the name Cherie Moor back then. You see her, and read her bio, on the Josie album released by Capitol Records.
Image: The Everett Collection / Warner Bros.
2. A memorable Mayberry citizen was the speaking voice of Melody.
You now know the singing voice of Melody, so let's get to the character's speaking voice. Avid fans of The Andy Griffith Show will recognize the face of Jackie Joseph. She played Ramona in "My Fair Ernest T. Bass," the charming woman who dances and flirts with the "tamed" Ernest. Oh, and Jackie Joseph also happened to be the wife of Ken Berry, star of Mayberry R.F.D.!
3. Valerie was the first major black female character on Saturday morning cartoons.
Pete Jones, the drummer in the rockin' 1969 cartoon The Hardy Boys, broke the barrier to become one of the first principal recurring Black characters in Saturday morning cartoons. However, he was voiced by Dallas McKennon, Cincinnatus from Daniel Boone and the voice of Archie. Pussycats bassist Valerie Brown became the first major Black female animated character on Saturday mornings. More importantly, she was brought to life by Barbara Pariot and Patrice Holloway, two Black women.
Image: The Everett Collection
4. A former Mouseketeer voiced a main character.
The trio of Pussycats were hardly the only characters in the series. With her skunk-striped hair (and matching cat), Alexandra Cabot, sister of band manager Alexander, traveled with the group. Sherry Alberoni voiced the bickering, bitter character. The name will ring a bell with Boomers — Sherry was formerly a Mouseketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club in the mid-Fifties. In the second season of that M-I-C-K-E-Y classic, Sherry, at age nine, was the youngest member of the team.
Image: The Everett Collection / Warner Bros.
5. While based on Archie Comics, it was a rival to 'The Archie Show.'
The characters of Josie and the Pussycats originated in the pages of Archie Comics. The Josie comic debuted in 1963, and the characters often interacted with the other kids of Riverdale. However, on television, The Archie Show and Josie were direct competition. Filmation had scored a huge hit with the Archies. The competing animation studio Hanna-Barbera wanted an Archies of its own. Hanna-Barbera's first instinct was to create a fictional rock band of its own, the Mysteries Five, which instead evolved into Scooby-Doo. Hanna-Barbera instead snatched up the rights to Josie and the Pussycats. That's why you won't find Veronica or Jughead alongside the Pussycats in the cartoon.
Image: The Everett Collection
6. Patrice Holloway was really the lead singer.
Back to Valerie for a moment. We mentioned that Patrica Holloway was one of the talents behind the bassist. Holloway, sister of Motown star Brenda Holloway, actually sang lead on the bulk of the Pussycats tracks — including the iconic theme song. Her prolific career included a solo career of her own (you can see her here on Soul Train), as well as singing in groups like the Four J's. She also can be heard providing backup on Joe Cocker's cover of the Beatles "With a Little Help from My Friends."
Image: Soul Train / Don Cornelius Productions
7. You know the songwriters "Denby Williams" and "Joseph Roland" by much more familiar names.
Check out the writing credits on the 45 single for the "Josie" theme. "Denby Williams" and "Joseph Roland" are listed as co-writers on the track. Well, those names are merely aliases for William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, respectively.
Image: Capitol Records / Warner Bros.
8. "Judy Waite" was credited as the voice of Josie instead of Janet Waldo.
Hanna-Barbera all star Janet Waldo provided the voice of Josie herself. Waldo was best known as the voice of Judy Jetson. However, some versions of Josie and the Pussycats credited "Judy Waite" in place of Janet Waldo. According to a 2011 episode of Stu's Show, Judy Waite was the original actress hired for the role, who was dismissed before the show hit air. However, some versions of the closing credits were not updated, as seen here.
Image: Warner Bros.
30 Comments
Their combined talent not-withstanding, all three were chosen in part because they looked very much like the roles they were credited with, even if they aren't actually the roles they sang.
Love the mention of Juliana Hatfield and Tanya Donelly (of Belly) who both happen to be New Englanders (Wiscasset, ME and Newport, RI respectively).
The correct phrase is to PRICK up one’s ears.
The Beatles bass player has paid homage to the late artist and recounted how a life-long friendship launched at a listening session.
Joe Cocker, Interpreter of the Beatles, Bob Dylan & More: A History
'It’s really sad to hear about Joe’s passing. He was a lovely northern lad who I loved a lot and like many people I loved his singing,” McCartney says of Cocker, who has died at the age of 70 after a battle with lung cancer. “I was especially pleased when he decided to cover ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ and I remember him and Denny Cordell coming round to the studio in Saville Row and playing me what they’d recorded and it was just mind blowing, totally turned the song into a soul anthem and I was forever grateful for him for doing that."
from me to you!
Unfortunately, if you were a youngster living in the Detroit area in 1970 like I was (I was 8 then), the local CBS affiliate, WJBK-TV, Channel 2, brainlessly blocked out "Josie" and filled in that time slot with old Terrytoons shorts under the unimaginative title of "Cartoon Carnival;" WKBK tape-delayed "Josie" and ran her the following Saturday morning at *7:30 A.M.!* When my family and I moved to Lansing, Michigan the following year, I was able to see what WJBK blithely denied us of since WJIM-TV (now WLNS), Channel 6, *did* run "Josie" when CBS aired it (the show was rerun for one more season on CBS' Saturday morning schedule before being exiled to Sunday mornings for one more season after that). Thus, I was able to catch up on the episodes of "Josie" I missed before the sequel series premiered in 1972.
Today, WJBK is a Fox owned-and-operated station. I often wonder why *CBS* didn't buy Channel 2 in Detroit back then, assuring everybody the network's shows *would* be seen when the network aired them!
As some of you probably know, when Cheryl was doing all these guest shots, she didn't go by the name Ladd, she used her maiden name: Stopplemore, because she hadn't gotten married yet.