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Henry's
Cat (1983 -1984)
producers:
Bob Godfrey Films Ltd
animation: 2D
animation
episodes:
5min + 15min episodes
"He knows everything about nothing,
and not too much about that..."
"MII-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-W!"
Henry's Cat was a mellow yellow feline with a penchant for cakes and party
food and forty winks. He seemed to spend an awful lot of time thinking, and
too little time actually doing. But you know, pondering the world can be
very hard work...
If Henry was the thinker, his best friend Chris Rabbit was the doer. Chris was
a bouncing blue bunny who was full of beans and ever-keen to fulfill Henry's
potential. Which was just as well really, because Chris' own potential appeared
to have been misplaced somewhere - probably on Farner Giles' farm, from
whence the rest of Henry's friends had arrived. Amongst the troupe were
Pansy Pig, Denise Duck, Mosey Mouse, Douglas Dog, Ted Tortoise, Phillipe
Frog, and Myrtle the Cow. Then there was mean old Constable Bulldog,
who appeared keen to clobber what little sense the gang had out of their
heads and away over the duck pond...
For the record, our titular star belonged to someone called Henry, but
we never actually saw the mystey owner in these films...
Henry's Cat was the third and, in Toonhound's humble opinion, the best of
Bob Godfrey's three key tea-time series (number four, by the way, was the
Bunbury Tales produced in 1987). Yes that flies in the face of critics and
pundits, who indeed often place Henry third on their 'nostalgia' lists, but that
is arguably because they've been focusing so heavily on their own childhood
recollections from the 70s, whilst Henry was an 80s creation who arrived on
our screens when many of those pundits had presumably given up on
tea-time tv in favour of school discos and extracarricular beer and cigarettes.
As created by Stan Hayward, Henry manages to be droll, astute and cute
at the same time. His physical construction is also brilliant. Look down the
features of his face, from his ears to his mouth. It spells 'M-I-O-W'. If you don't
believe me, check out the first Henry's Cat DVD (more of that below...)
Know your Henry's
Henry's Cat evolved considerably through production of its three series.
Series one and two were composed mainly of 5 minute episodes animated
using felt pens on white backgrounds, much like Roobarb. There was a theme
change between the two series, with Peter Shades' 'miowing' music
being replaced by a new 'miow' based track from John Hyde. The opening
to season two episodes now featured an animated Bob Godfrey Films
logo with Henry 'miowing' like Clarence The Lion in those classic MGM idents.
The end titles were redesigned too. In series one, Henry climbs down a
ladder, closely followed by his falling rainbow paint pot. In series two, we
see him resting casually against a picnic table with a pot of tea and a scrummy
blancmange waiting for him, only he upends the table and its contents upon
himself.
By the end of that second series, episode lengths had been extended to
15 minutes and, more importantly, Henry and the gang had shifted from felt
pens to cel-based animation. A wholly sensible move, given the amount of
marker pen it would have needed if the team had stuck with paper!...
The third series ushered in a whole new production style, presumably to
break the American market. There was a brand new 'americanised' theme
song from Jonathan P. Hodge and the focus of attention shifted from Henry
and friends, to that of Henry and his best friend Chris Rabbit whose adventures
and shenanigans regularly took them to the US of A to run for President, or
rescue Santa Claus or something else just as ludicrous. Even Bob Godfrey
himself got in on the act, adopting an american 'twang' for his narration
- quite a feat, considering his voice is so distinctly london-via-australia, and
adding an extra dollop of wit to proceedings.
This third series is an extraordinary melting pot of wit and technique. The
Godfrey crew expanded to incorporate a bigger writing team and a trace
and paint department. Each episode is now stuffed-to-bursting with storyline,
which moves at a lightning pace, just like the very-best of Godfrey's short film
work. The plain white backgrounds are regularly replaced with b/w photocopy
montages, colour photographs and cut-outs. Godfrey himself even features in
'The New President', where he's shown boxing an animated kangaroo! There are
songs, much sarcasm, tongue-twisters and one-liners a-plenty, and if you blink
you'll probably miss half a dozen, like this one:
"He had had the American Dream,
but sadly, he'd forgotten to wake up..."
The
breadth and scope of these series are currently captured on two
fantastic Henry's Cat DVDs here in the
UK. Episodes have been carefully
selected from all three seasons and packaged
with additional fun elements.
Was that a shameless plug? - Heck, yes
it was, because Henry's Cat is
"miowing" out for a re-evaulation.
Season three, in particular, is a revelation.
Yes Roobarb is still wobbly, breathless and
brilliant. Certainly Noah & Nelly
were nutty, niggling, jiggling and joyous. But
Henry's Cat offers us a banquet
of sweet delights to feast upon and fall
asleep contented, knowing that tea-time
toons really don't get better than this.
What's more Henry's peers must have
liked what they saw too, because the series
earned itself a 1983 BAFTA
for Best Animated Short. Easy as sleepwalking,
eh Henry?
Episode titles
Series
one Series
three
The Whale
The Treasure Hunt
The Hypnotist
The
Day Of The Terrible Jokes
The Fortune Teller The
Case Of The Pilfered Pearls
The Holiday
The
Lost World
The Competition
The
Computer
The Hobby
The
Correspondence Course
The Treasure
The Ill Wind
Series
four
The Circus Out
For The Count
The Diet
The
Birthday Caper
The Moon Trip The
Funny Feeling
The
Explorer
Once
Upon A Time
The
Invention The
Jingle
The
Race
The Great Adventure
The
Dream
The
Artist Series
five
The
Robbery The
Mystery Of The Missing Santa
The
Christmas Dinner When
Time Went Wrong
The
Film Valentine's
Day
The Disco Dance The
New President
Series two
The
Magic Tummy Button
The
Secret Weapon
The
New Year's Resolution
The
Good News Day
The
Cat's Eye Kid
The
Hot Day
The
Merry Men And Women
The
Actor
The
Weatherman
The Invitation
The
Ventriloquist
The
Clever Trick
The
Hero
Caveman
Cat
The
Abominable Snowman
Henry's Cat on DVD
Complete Series 1
20
episodes / 95mins / R2 / Delta Music / March 2004
Complete
Series 2
15
episodes / 75mins / R2 / Delta Music / April 2004
Complete
Series 3
6
episodes / 90mins / R2 / Delta Music / May 2004
Complete
Series 4
6
episodes / 90mins / R2 / Delta Music / June 2004
Complete
Series 5
4
episodes / 50mins / R2 / Delta Music / June 2004
The
Complete Collection
All 50 episodes September 2004
First
series credits
produced,
directed and narrated by Bob Godfrey
script: Stan
Hayward
production: Mike
Hayes
animation: Bob
Godfrey, Paul Stone, Kevin Baldwin
camera &
editing: Derek
Phillips
music &
sound: Peter
Shade
Second
series credits
created
by Stan Hayward
produced,
directed and narrated by Bob Godfrey
script: Stan
Hayward
production: Mike
Hayes
animation: Kevin
Baldwin, Bob Godfrey, Malcolm Hartley,
Drew Mandingo, Paul Stone, Mark Oz
trace
& paint: Tancy
Baran, Beryl Godfrey, Louise Unwin
music: John
Hyde / deWolfe Ltd
dubbing: John
Wood Studios
camera: Derek
Phillips
editing: Sean
Lenihan, John Daniels
Third
series credits
created
by Stan Hayward
produced,
directed and narrated by Bob Godfrey
script:
Stan
Hayward, Kevin Baldwin, Mike Knowles, Bob Godfrey
production: Mike
Hayes
storyboard
layout
animation: Kevin
Baldwin
additional
animation: Jeff
Goldner, Neil Salmon, Bob Godfrey
trace
& paint: Denise
Hambry, Lisa Smith, Jazvinda Phull,
Beryl Godfrey, Ricky Arnold
music: Rowland
Lee
title
music: Jonathan P Hodge
camera: Heather
Reader
b'grounds: Bob
Godfrey
editing: Picturehead
On
the web
Henry's
Cat
Here's Bob Godfrey and Stan
Hayward's official Henry site which
includes a new story and the
very latest info about our yellow fellow.
Plus there's a link through
to Stan Hayward's very own online animation
masterclass....
Henry's
Cat
A
very smart 'Henry's Cat' guide, the oldest and best, like it says
on the front page. A cute
interface, plenty of images, themes, series
notes. It's a quick-loader too
- A top site!
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