Fraidy Cat

I love dollar stores. They are always good for browsing. You find bizarre things like bootleg Mickey Mouse handbags to toothpaste from the Republic of Ghana. One of my new favorite dollar store items is the dollar store DVD.

This is truly a treasure trove of obscure nonsense. A mad hodpodge of old TV shows, really bad movies and old cartoons.

On my last trip I settled on the cartoons.

I bought four DVDs on the "Treasure Box" label Woody Woodpecker, Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman.

All of the DVD's promise 90 minutes of cartoons but offer one caveat: the phrase "and other cartoon treasures."

See, if you thought your Betty Boop DVD would be 90 minutes of the big headed, black and white, cartoon babe, you are going to be disappointed. Instead, you get one Betty Boop cartoon followed by Little Lulu, Baby Huey and 8 Popeye cartoons.

Oddly enough, the Popeye DVD only had 2 Popeye cartoons. So you get MORE Popeye cartoons by buying the Betty Boop DVD.

The Superman DVD was my favorite. First the DVD featured three Superman cartoons. Simple stuff, really. Awesome animation, mechanical monsters and Clark Kent turning into Superman. Still, it was the cartoon that came next that caught my eye.

Fraidy Cat.

You probably don't remember Fraidy, he was part of a show called The Groovie Goolies and Friends. Fraidy was featured in his own 6 minute block. Nine episodes of Fraidy Cat were produced, and ALL NINE are on the Superman DVD.

Choo-Choo Fraidy
Magic Numbers
A Small Star Is Born
Fraidy Gone Fishing
Fraidy Come Home
Double Trouble
Unlucky Fraidy
This Cat for Hire
Culture Schlock

Take a look at those titles! 'A SMALL Star Is Born' and 'FRAIDY Come Home.' These are HYSTERICAL satires of famous movies and TV shows. Too bad the show wasn't around long enough to have an episode called "The Fraidy's Man." Unfortunately the show didn't last long enough to satirize that great Saturday Night Live flick.

Anyway, Fraidy Cat was produced by Filmation in 1976 and told the story of a cat. Like all cats, Fraidy had nine lives. Sadly he already used up 8 of them. So, now he is terrified of dying.

Sounds simple, right? Well, how about this for a hook: whenever Fraidy says number 1through 8, one of his ghosts appears.

The ghosts are all colorful characters, #1 is a fat cat that rides on a dinosaur, #8 is a swinging hep cat. He also has a snobby British ghost, a pirate ghost and a cowboy gunslinger ghost. Think of it as a dead feline Village People.

Having ghosts could come in handy, but Fraidy avoids the ghosts, because they usually mess things up when they appear. Worse, yet, when Fraidy says #9, a cloud comes after him shooting lightening bolts.

The shows were absurd and funny. I especially liked the Godfather satire featuring a mafia cat called The Grandfather.

I also like my Republic of Ghana toothpaste. Too bad they don't have fluoride there.