Jeremy Kay Pt. 1: Dear Kem, You’ve really opened-up a box of Antsy recollections… Looking over your “Cats” Characters site reminded me that as we wrote the stories at DIC we’d design new characters “to-fit.” If we needed a fireman, we’d make one up… a school teacher, ditto. Sometimes we’d create a couple new characters for each episode then they’d never show up again! There were hundreds of incidental characters that only appeared once. I was with DIC from about May 1984 to Feb. - March 1985? and did about the first year & half of “The Cats.” During that period DIC’s Production Studio offices moved 3 times. I’d go in a couple times a week, pick-up or drop-off a new a script & “boards” - then I’d crank-out 2 or 3 (12 minute) shows a week, did the Art & wrote scripts & directed in my own studio at home the following week. There were about a dozen of us writing & boarding. Together we turned-out 10 - (12 minute) shows & 5 - (2 minute) bits (6 Heath & 6 Cats, plus Lead-Ins, Lead-Outs & Pet Tips “fillers”) each week! - for 2 years!!! The first year we did about 250 ? - I think? (26 min.) shows - but I tapered off during the second year - there were probabily another 250…? Also, by this time, Series re-runs became mixed-in with New Shows to fill-out the week. We wrote and did the Designs & Animation “timing” in Hollywood - then the entire Script & Storyboards were translated into Japanese and sent away! The animation was all done in Japan by an Animation School (that’s a whole other story), and in about 2 Months we’d receive the finished film for final viewing approval. I only saw a few. Jean Challopan didn’t invent “The Cats” - we all (Writers) dreamed ‘em up as kind of cousins to Heathcliff (the Star). Incidentally, we only referred to ‘em as “The Catillac Cats” in the office because if we used the name on TV - it might have been confused with - Cadillac (the Car) and we would have caused other legal problems. I’d met John Kricfalusi (Ren & Stimpy) who came on in the 2nd year, but he worked at home pretty much too.. Later DIC began other series - “Wolfman Jack” & “Wrestlers” (?) That’s when I left to direct TV Commercials, Music Videos & write Books & Scripts. By the way, I started digging around and discovered the Script & Storyboards to “Monstro meets the Wolfhound!” - Show # 118 - I completed on June 12, 1984. In the next couple of weeks I’ll Xerox copy it & send it your way. - I ’ve never seen the finished video version!? Do you have it? PZ. Keep up the “Cats!” It was a fun time for me, & I’m glad you enjoy them. You might also appreciate my last published book (# 13). “The Secret Laboratory Journals of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, 1816-1820” - Overlook Press (Viking/Penguin) 1997. - It’s an illustrated guide book on how to make a 18th-19th century monster! Still available - read the review in Amazon & buy it (if you’d like). What's all this Frankenstein stuff?? Best of it - JK Jeremy_Kay@msn.com --------------------------------------- Jeremy Kay Pt. 2 A CHRONOLOGY - of sorts… (A) May 1984 - I started at DiC, their Studio was just a couple of upstairs rooms on Ventura Blvd., >Maybe 15 people worked there<. (B) June / July ’84 - After about a month (DiC moved to a larger re-conditioned 2 story storefront building down the street - also on Ventura Blvd., >Now there were about 40 people.< (C) By Autumn - Sept./Oct. 1984 - DiC’s “corporate” departments moved into an adjacent office building, and Jean Challopan sold the company to Andy Haywood. I’d visit the DiC Studios 2 - 3 times a week, where I’d, pick-up and drop-off… New / Old … (1) New Storyboards & Scripts. (2) (Maybe) Xerox my Storyboards for my personal files. (3) New Character Designs. (4) New Script / Art Revisions. (5) Timing Sheets (To Direct the Show). (6) Visit other Directors & see what was new… (7) Visit the Writers & discuss new / old Scripts. (8) Pick up my $$$ Check from the previous week. (9) Have Lunch with the guys… (10) Try to line-up a cute date for the weekend. (11) Check to see NEW SHOWS being developed, like… “The Care Bears.” “Archie & Friends.” “Hulk Hogan.” “Wolfman Jack.” “The Littles.” “Space Rocket ?? & - some Girl’s Shows ??? I’d pick-up several jobs, then head back. It was hard to keep track of what was happening - I was just looking to do a terrific job - and GET PAID!!!$$$ I made some good money that year. (D) By Feb./Mar. 1985 - DiC’s production was devolving… They began to move away from 5 days a week & toward Saturday Morning. (E) 1990? - Finally (for me) DiC moved to Burbank, (Olive address), Here I visited John Krikfalusi & Ralph Bakshi (they were doing “Mighty Mouse” at the time). Bruno Bianchi came from Toronto (& Paris) with Jean (in 1982?) and was a pretty nice guy. He may have developed the original CCs - but I think it was probably the writers - Chuck Lorrie et al. -------------------------------------------------- Jeremy Kay Pt.3 Dear Kem, Gosh! this is turning into a regular E-Fest. Good to hear from you. Since you’re such a fan --- y’ know, during the “Cat’s” first run our only fans were maybe 3 to 9 year olds! IF these kids ever wrote fan letters they ’d go to the Network or TV Station - and we (Artists, Writers at DiC) never saw ‘em! So it’s interesting that now you’re grow-up (& with the Internet) you’re still a fan & can communicate - directly! You’re certainly helping to refresh MY memory of the times. I don’t recall “Who’s got the Chocolate?” - & don’t believe it was one of my shows. Yep! I’ve got a long history in the Movie, Television, Publishing and Art Industries (You’ll have to read my Autohagiography) Yeah, 5 “Heaths” & 5 “Cats” Episodes a week plus “Fillers.” But I now recall that ABC Network (first run) bought the >First Series< from maybe May 1984 to Dec. 1984. This would be only 8 months = 32 weeks x 10 Episodes a week = 320 ? of >First Series<. I had little to do with >Second Series< which ran maybe 3 months? - from Jan. 1985 to March 1985?? - another 120 Episodes??? So maybe 440 Episodes total??? - Not sure? You’ve got a List? Curious tid-bit: The End CREDITS - never changed - I think?. It was created for the first show and despite changes in personnel, always stayed the same. I began writing & directing after the CREDITS page - so I only appear as designer? I think? I think the reason for “Heath’s & Cats” demise was that Mel Blanc was sick and his son Noel began doing the voices. (Noel still does Bugs Bunny etc.) Also, DiC had at least one years’ worth of shows to re-play daily for the next 50 years or so. Yeah, I did see some of the "Heath & Cats" Shows on TV, but I never knew when they’d run MY SHOWS? I taped a few, but figured DiC would make them available to me if… (Wrong!) That’s when DiC was sold, they moved to their 4th location etc., etc… lost track… story of my life… I do recall the Christmas Show set in Cleo’s Music Shoppe, and believe I also did that Episode? - You’ve gotta remember, I did about 50+ shows, maybe 25 “Heaths” & 25 “Cats” - plus Fillers & New Show developments, n’ was sleeping maybe 4 hours a night - so… Y’know, Kem. Since your contact I’ve been re-thinking “The Catillac Cats” - and you’re right. It was a good show, original, lots of fun, good characters and even kind of “old fashioned” - unlike most of today’s Cartoons. Look, if you decide to acquire the rights to re-do “The Cats” - keep me posted. My Art? Heck! I’ve got THOUSANDS of pieces! over the 30+ years I’ve been doin’ it! Most of it’s in storage. :::PLUS::: - along with my - “World’s largest >Private< Cartoon Art Collection” - over 500,000 pieces & Comic Books (which dates from 1640s to present) equals = “The American Museum of CARTOON ART, Inc.” - Yes, I have this monsterous collection - (in storage for the last 12 years) - and have been trying to get this accumulation out and exhibited in our own Museum! We’re scheduling some local museum exhibits for later in 1998 - but still have no place to “store” the stuff! This will all be in my up-coming Web Site. -------------------------------------------------- Larry Feign Pt.1 Dear Jon Thanks for your message. Yes, I was surprised to receive it. More so to find that there is a web site dedicated to the Catillac Cats. I worked there in 1984, as one of two in-house storyboard artists / storyboard checkers (fixing all the freelance storyboards into shape). It was a great group of people. Yes, it was a terrific program. In fact, what you saw on TV was very much watered down. We had a fantastic group of writers (American), some brilliant character designers (French), a great head director (French), and a wonderful producer (American). We had one of the tightest, most well-matched crews in the whole DIC labyrinth. The show could have been as great as the classic Warner Brothers cartoons. They WERE, in fact! Funny, witty, full of character. But then the storyboards had to go through the Japanese directors who, because of DIC's arrangement with Tokyo Eiga, had the final say on storyboards. And due to cultural differences, they edited out at least 20% of the great gags, simply because they didn't understand them. The clearest example: the old cartoon cliche of walking off a cliff into space and gravity not kicking in until the character looks down and notices. We had that in one of the storyboards. That one was handed back to me for clean-up, with the of--the-cliff gag crossed out. I spoke passable Japanese back then, so I confronted the director and asked why. He said that it didn't work. I told him that it was a standard cartoon sight gag. He replied that it wasn't funny, and didn't make sense. Ot went the gag. This sort of thing repeated itself several times daily. THEN the marketing people tore things apart. The show had to be syndicatable to 120 countries. So if a sight gag or verbal gag might not be understandable to a Zimbabwean bush nomad or Afghan cliff dweller, it was exorcised. Enough decent stuff got through, though it would have been a much better show if they'd let us just do our thing. I'm surprised that you have some production cels. When I visited the animation studios in Tokyo and Taipei where the cel animation was being done, I took a small stack of cels for myself, to give to friends as gifts. The Taiwanese were very reluctant to give me any, simply because they sold all used cels for recycling. In Tokyo they thought I was crazy: who would want a used animation cel? Most were incinerated shortly after use. Anyway, thanks for bringing back a pleasant memory. Best wishes, Larry Feign