Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse

Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse
A&E's DVD release of Courageous Cat & Minute Mouse
Created by	Bob Kane
Directed by	Marvin Woodward Reuben Timmins Sid Marcus
Starring	Dallas McKennon
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	130
Production
Executive producer(s)	Sam Singer
Running time	5 minutes
Release
Original network	Syndicated
Original release	1960 – 1962

Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse is a children's cartoon television show that was produced by Trans-Artists Productions and syndicated by Tele Features Inc. in 1960. The characters were created by Bob Kane as a parody of his earlier works Batman and Robin and in many ways predict the more campy aspects of the later live action series. This series and characters are trademarked and copyrighted and is currently owned by Telefeatures, LLC.

Plot

In the animated series, the pair are anthropomorphic animal superheroes without secret identities (the green-eyed caped crimefighter and his squeaky-voiced companion are usually addressed as simply "Courageous" and "Minute") who live in the Cat Cave and, when summoned via the Cat Signal over their television set, race to the scene of the crime in their sleekly feline red Cat Mobile which can convert into both the extendable-winged Cat Plane and submersible Cat Boat and thwart the criminal plots of various villains who threaten Empire City.

Although they fought many miscreants the duo's recurring arch-enemy, who appeared in nearly every episode, was known as Chauncey "Flat-Face" Frog.

The five-minute length of the cartoons made the series suitable for use as interstitials or airtime fillers, especially to accommodate a movie or show that ended at an unusually early time, as well as animated content for local children's shows.

Characters

Heroes and protagonists

• Courageous Cat – The protector of Empire City. When fighting bad guys, Courageous Cat would use all-purpose Cat Gun or a vast variety of different deus ex machina "trick guns" he pulls out of his cape that (like Green Arrow's trick arrows) fire whatever the situation requires like a rope, some water, a parachute, cages, boxing gloves, lightning-like magnetic rays, or even more bizarre ammunition and even the occasional actual bullet (in case of emergency Courageous also has extra pre-James Bond secret gadgets hidden in his belt buckle and the star emblem on his chest).
• Minute Mouse – Courageous Cat's rodent sidekick.
• The Chief – A canine chief of police who calls in the "furry foes of felony" via the Cat Signal.
• Marilyn Mouse – Minute Mouse's movie star girlfriend.
• Sassy Bones – A blond mouse who is a chanteuse at nightclub called The Pad who Rodney Rodent is enamored with.
• Periscope Pete – A living, breathing periscope with a bush for a body.

Villains

• Chauncey "Flatface" Frog – Chauncey is a chortling, cigar-smoking, derby-hatted criminal mastermind whose voice was based on Edward G. Robinson.
  • Harry Gorilla – Chauncey "Flatface" Frog's hulking, half-witted henchman.
• Professor Shaggy Dog – A mad scientist with an Einsteinian mop of white hair who is tall, thin and bewhiskered in some episodes and short and bespectacled in others.
• Big Shot and Little Shot – A burly bulldog (talks like James Cagney in some episodes) and his short sidekick are a generic gruff gangster who are Chauncey "Flatface" Frog's rivals in crime.
• The Black Cat – A sinister thief. He is a "cat burglar" who is a caricature of Cary Grant.
• Rodney Rodent – A French-accented rat artist gone bad.
• Shoo Shoo Fly – A tiny insect whose small size belies its enormous appetite, its name is a reference to Shoofly pie and the tsetse fly.
• Robber Rabbit – A gravel-voiced thug in a black turtleneck.
• Foxy the Fox – A debonair thief in top hat and tuxedo.
• The Great Hambone – An egotistical canine actor and master of disguise.
• Iron Shark – A fish-shaped submarine.
• Professor Von Noodle Stroudel/Strudel – A German-accented scientist who is not so much a villain as unconcerned about the effects of his experiments on the world around him.
• Comrade and Commissar – Russian-accented, trench coat-clad foreign dog spies who couldn't be touched due to their "diplomatic immunity" – true Cold War villains.
• The Unmentionables and The Unthinkables – Rival gangs headed by Chauncey "Flatface" Frog and Big Shot. Their names are a parody of The Untouchables
• Outrageous Cat – Courageous Cat's Wild West outlaw-style cousin who talks like Yosemite Sam.

Episodes

• "Disguise the Limit" – The Frog masquerades as Courageous in order to frame him for a crime that he didn't commit.
• "Monster from Outer Space"
• "The Case of the Cousin Outrageous"
• "The Case of the Abandoned Movie Sets" – The Frog and Harry use abandoned movie sets for a hideout.
• “The Case of the Auto Tycoons"
• “The Case of the Backward Clock" – Professor Shaggy Dog tries to run all the clocks backwards.
• “The Case of the Bank Robbery"
• “The Case of the Big Ball Game"
• “The Case of the Big Movie Star"
• “The Case of the Big Party"
• “The Case of the Big Pipe Line"
• “The Case of the Big Race"
• “The Case of the Big Squeeze"
• “The Case of the Big Trail"
• “The Case of the Blinking Planet"
• “The Case of the Boxing Champ"
• “The Case of the Carnival Capers” Robber Rabbit and Screwy cheat Minute Mouse out of his winnings and pickpocket Courageous, leading to a mad chase.
• “The Case of the Cat Cave Treasure"
• “The Case of the Construction Caper"
• “The Case of the Counterfeiters" – The Frog creates counterfeit cash that has more content than the real thing.
• “The Case of the Creatures From Down Under"
• “The Case of the Crime Kits"
• “The Case of Crime and Punishment" – The Frog recounts his life story on how he always gets back in jail after he gets out.
• “The Case of the Crime Lab"
• “The Case of the Diamond Smugglers"
• “The Case of the Draggy Dragster"
• “The Case of the Embassy Stake Out"
• “The Case of the Fabulous Diamond"
• “The Case of the Flying Eye"
• “The Case of the Flying Saucer"
• “The Case of the Fortune Teller"
• “The Case of the Frogmen"
• “The Case of the Fugitive at Large"
• “The Case of the Gasoline War"
• “The Case of the Golden Statue"
• “The Case of the Great Circus Mystery"
• “The Case of the Gun Mixup" – Minute tries his hand at using Courageous's trick guns but consistently uses the wrong gun for the wrong job.
• “The Case of the Haunted Ship"
• “The Case of the Haunted House"
• “The Case of the Hawaiian Holiday"
• “The Case of the Hermit of Creepy Hollow"
• “The Case of the Invisible Robbers”
• “The Case of the Iron Shark”
• “The Case of the King-Size Caper” Professor Shaggy Dog manages to turn Courageous and Minute into giants.
• “The Case of the Mad Cowboys”
• “The Case of the Mad Painter”
• “The Case of the Mad Scientist”
• “The Case of the Magic Wand”
• “The Case of the Mail of Train Robbery”
• “The Case of the Masked Raiders”
• “The Case of the Minced Spies”
• “The Case of the Minded Reader”
• “The Case of the Missing Masterpiece”
• “The Case of the Missing Partner” Minute Mouse is kidnapped.
• “The Case of the Monster Vine”
• “The Case of the Movie Rays”
• “The Case of the Museum”
• “The Case of the Mysterious Submarine”
• “The Case of the Mysterious Weather”
• “The Case of the Nine Lives”
• “The Case of the Northwoods Caper” Courageous and Minute go after Bully Bulldog when he wreaks havoc in the woods.
• “The Case of the Opera Singer”
• “The Case of the Peace Pipe”
• “The Case of the Perfect Alibi”
• “The Case of the Professor's Machine”
• “The Case of the Rescue Squad”
• “The Case of the Robber Rabbit” Robber Rabbit plays around in a department store after stealing carrots from a street vendor.
• “The Case of the Robot”
• “The Case of the Saggin' Dragon”
• “The Case of the Scheming Cleaners”
• “The Case of the Secret Weapon”
• “The Case of the Shoo Shoo Fly”
• “The Case of the Sleepy Chief”
• “The Case of the Sniffer Machine”
• “The Case of the Spies' Return”
• “The Case of the Stolen Cheese” Robber Rabbit decides to steal imported cheese, but what he didn't count on was Minute's strong sense of smell.
• “The Case of the Stolen Pyramid”
• “The Case of the Thinking Cap”
• “The Case of the Tin Can Caper” The Frog uses his mad science to transform valuables into tin cans.
• “The Case of the Trampoline Performers”
• “The Case of the TV Director”
• “The Case of the TV Mystery”
• “The Case of the Undercover Agents”
• “The Case of the Unmentionables”
• “The Case of the Unthinkables” The Frog leads a gang of thugs that set out to steal an armored car with the cash in it.
• “The Case of the Visiting Patient”
• “The Case of the Waterfront Caper”
• “The Return of the Shoo Shoo Fly"

Home video releases

A&E Home Video released all 130 five-minute-long episodes on DVD in Region 1 on October 29, 2002.

Music

The memorable theme music by Johnny Holiday features a walking bass line and is fashioned after the theme for Peter Gunn.^[1][2] It has most notably been performed in concert by the New York Dolls.

Later appearances

Reruns of Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse were shown on Nickelodeon's Weinerville in the 1990s along with reruns of Batfink and both segments of The Alvin Show.

References

1. Dalton Ross, "Courageous Cat & Minute Mouse: the Complete Series" (review) from Entertainment Weekly, June 29, 2002.
2. Administrator "Charles," "Courageous Cat & Minute Mouse" from Animation Nation, June 2, 2009.

External links

• Courageous Cat at Toon Tracker
• Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse at the Internet Movie Database
• {https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-44zvFjJ8E}