Preface to today’s piece…

As I’ve looked back, and, to the best of my figuring, today the Voice from the Bullpen is celebrating the submission of its 800th narrative, to go along with a dozen or so plus Op-Ed, and Sports pieces to The Post-Journal. The VFTB wishes to thank The Post-Journal for the opportunity to do something he loves doing so much, and also, he thanks the many loyal readers and kind people who have complimented his words, these past 15 plus years. Now onto today’s piece.

It’s no secret I’m a television-a-holic. I love television. I enjoy some of the newer programs. I’m disappointed in some programs I liked a lot being cancelled way before they should have, and I’m disappointed that some shows lasted as long as they did, because, in my opinion, they weren’t very good (again, my opinion.)

As much as I watch(ed) shows which include(d) Blue Bloods, 9-1-1, 9-1-1 Lone Star (though the storylines of the two 9-1-1s have become a little far reaching lately), and the Chicago trilogy, along with Brilliant Minds, Irrational, Accused, and Odyssey Doctor, I spend as much time watching some of the older shows as well. Those include Seinfeld, Cheers, M*A*S*H, The Odd Couple (streamed), That Girl, (also streamed), West Wing (when I can find it to stream), Dragnet, My Three Sons, I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, Highway Patrol, Marney Miller, Peter Gunn, The Honeymooners, Leave it to Beaver, Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Bonanza , Wagon Train, and more.

I’m still a fan of some cartoon shows I watched as a kid back in the late fifties and sixties, some that were spoofs of some of the sitcoms aired in my growing up years.

It’s easy to see many similarities shared by The Flintstones and Rubbles of Bedrock, and the Kramdens and Nortons of Bensonhurst, N.Y.. We, also, are now living with some of what was called “futuristic” that came out of the cartoon series, the Jetsons. We have video phones, devices that cook food instantly, we have robotic vacuum cleaners, electronic cars (I know, they had Hover Cars), and life now is much closer to that of the Jetsons, than the Flintstones.

There was another cartoon show that spoofed a sitcom of the 1950s, that being The Phil Silvers Show, and the cartoon show, being one of my top three favorites of my childhood, Top Cat. I remember the melody and the lyrics as clearly as I can recall the themes of The Flintstones and the Jetsons. Feel free to sing along.

Top Cat!

The most effectual!

Top Cat!

Who’s intellectual!*

Close friends get to call him “T.C.,”

Providing it’s with dignity!

Top Cat!

The indisputable leader of the gang.

He’s the boss, he’s a VIP, he’s a championship.

He’s the most tip top,

Top Cat.

Yes, he’s the chief, he’s a king,

But above everything,

He’s the most tip top,

Top Cat!

The sitcom starring Phil Silvers, produced by Nat Hiken and Edward Montagne, was centered around a group of “con-artist” GIs on an Army Base, led by Sgt. Bilko, who, as being the Non-Com in charge of this group under the leadership of Col. Hall, was responsible for the discipline and training of those recruits under him. Instead of being and doing that, his group’s main concern was conning as many people as possible, trying to get as much money through shady gambling and crooked schemes as they could get from them. It was a group of shysters with one portly, naïve, shy, lovable, innocent character, Pvt. Duane Doberman, who tried hard to be a good soldier, but wanted to be a good platoon-mate too.

Not to be unappreciative of other branches of our armed service, in 1962 Edward Montagne, teamed with Si Rose to produce the Navy version of the Phil Silvers Show, with the premiere of McHale’s Navy, where the Silvers Show was pretty much repeated with actors just wearing different uniforms.

The cartoon spoof, Top Cat, created by animation geniuses William Hanna and Joseph Barbera centered around a group of alley cats who also were shysters, always looking to pull, a scheme, make some money, and/or con people out of exotic meals, or at least more exotic as trash can meals. Usually, their ways involved a stretch of the law, sometimes even breaking it, whereby they became the nemesis of one Officer Dibble, who spent most of his time chasing down T.C. and his band of merry cats, Benny the Ball, Brain, Fancy-Fancy, Spook, and Choo-Choo. Benny the Ball was a portly, naïve, shy, lovable, innocent cat who was the mirror image of Pvt. Doberman in the Phil Silvers Show. Ironically, Hanna & Barbera employed the actor who played Doberman, Maurice Gosfield, to voice the character of Top Cat’s Benny the Ball.

I loved watching Top Cat as a kid, and I’d still watch it if I could find a place to stream it. As much as I loved listening to kids Sally watched in our home, and our granddaughters in Virginia when we visit/Zoom, sing the theme songs of Paw Patrol, Baby Shark, Mickey Mouse, and more, I can still remember the theme songs of The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Top Cat, among others, and am not ashamed to say, if I hear them today, I can’t help but singing along with them in my silver( but wise and distinguished) years.

We all need to re-live in our minds, things we did, watched, or played, way back when we were young, because those memories keep us young, and those of us with young grandchildren need to stay as young as we can, as we our time with them at their age, and definitely learn some of the newer cartoon show themes, to be an active part of their growing up. Hope this gives all of us a chance to step back and be a kid again.