Scatman Crothers in Cartoons

Day two of "Scatman Crothers Week!"

Scatman Crothers was a prolific voiceover artist, starting with his portrayal of Scat Cat in Disney's The AristoCats. From there he worked with Hanna-Barbera in the 1970's providing the voices for two incarnations of The Harlem Globetrotters, as well as the title character in Hong Kong Phooey (one of my favorites as a kid). Scatman also provided the voice of Crazy Legs in Disney defector Don Bluth's Banjo the Woodpile Cat. And towards the end of his life, Scatman was the voice of Transformer robot Jazz.

Below are some samples of his work...

The AristoCats (1970)
Scatman Crothers played Scat Cat, a trumpet playing band leader and close friend to lead cat Thomas O'Malley. This is the scene where Thomas takes Duchess and her kittens to Scat Cat's pad where they all jam out to the song "Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat".


The New Scooby-Doo Movies: Guest Starring The Harlem Globetrotters (1973)
Besides having an animated show of their own – from 1970 to 1973 – The Harlem Globetrotters also showed up three times on The New Scooby-Doo Movies. Here's Scatman as Meadowlark Lemon and the rest of the Globetrotters trying to get a good nights sleep...


Hong Kong Phooey (1974)
Scatman played the title role of Hong Kong Phooey, the secret alter ego of Penrod Pooch, a "mild-mannered" police station janitor. Scatman also sang the ultra-cool theme song to Hong Kong Phooey (which you can find here), In this clip we see how Penry transforms into Hong Kong Phooey...with a little help from his feline friend, Spot...


The Super Globetrotters (1979)
Hanna-Barbera once again cast Scatman as a Harlem Globetrotter for The Super Globetrotters. This time Scatman played Nate Branch, who would transform into superhero Liquid Man. Here's the Super Globetrotters learning that Atilla The Hun is on the loose...


Banjo the Woodpile Cat (1979)
Banjo is a short film that Don Bluth and other young animators made in their spare time while they were still employed at Disney – they felt Disney abandoned this sort of animation. It's about a curious and rebellious kitten who runs away from home. Here's the scene when Banjo meets Crazy Legs (Scatman)...


The Transformers: The Movie (1986)
Scatman supplied the voice of Jazz on the TV show Transformers from 1984 to 1985. I personally never got into this cartoon but enough people did for them to make an animated movie – and even later a live-action movie. Here's Jazz's final scene, which also happens to be the last scene Scatman ever played...