The Cats
The Cats in 1974
Background information
Also known as	The Mystic Four The Blue Cats
Origin	Volendam, The Netherlands
Years active	1966 (1966)–1979
Labels	EMI

The Cats were a rock band from Volendam, The Netherlands. Together with BZN, they were key figures of what came to be called the Palingsound (eel-sound), an umbrella for artists residing in Volendam (the country's top seafood city).

Career[link]

Mid-Sixties[link]

The band began life as two separate duos: Cees Veerman (born 6 October 1943) and Arnold Muhren (born 28 January 1944) who started in a skiffle band; and cousins Piet Veerman (born 1 March 1943) and Jaap Schilder (born 9 January 1943) who modelled themselves after the Everly Brothers. The duos merged and became The Mystic Four, with Cees Veerman and Piet Veerman on vocals/guitar, Schilder on guitar (and piano), and Muhren on bass. By 1965 they changed their name to The Blue Cats, a reference to the colour of their suits and Cees' nickname, Poes (Dutch for 'cat'). Dropping the 'Blue' from their name in 1966 they recruited drummer Theo Klouwer (30 June 1947 – 8 February 2001).

The Cats borrowed money from Jan Buys, who was later to become their manager, and recorded their first singles that immediately entered the charts. Singing in English thanks to a songwriting duo from England, the group sounded British. Cees initially performed the majority of the lead vocals but that was to change by 1968 when the band recorded "Times Were When"; Piet decided that this song (the original version is by the Scottish band Studio Six), suited his voice better and Cees agreed on giving him a go. Arnold's lyrics and Piet's sad voice appeared to be a match made in heaven, spawning five Top 10 hits in the next two years including "Lea"^[1] (dedicated to a faithful fan who lost her life in a car-accident), "Why ?",^[2] "Scarlet Ribbons"^[3] and "Marian".^[4]

Their international popularity began to grow (and so did the beards). By spring 1970 the Cats toured Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles and played one show on 4 April 1970 in Guyana. It was Beatlemania all over again.

On 17 October 1970 the band travelled to EMI headquarters in London to collect, as Theo said when the Dutch television show Toppop followed them, "a few goldies". These were presented to the band by Cliff Richard.

Early in 1971 The Cats were touring Indonesia where again the Beatlemania-aspect awaited them. "Those horrible looks belie their warm personalities" one lady said in fluent Dutch. However, between performances they were rebuked for meeting with the expatriat Dutch political dissident Poncke Princen whom some in the Netherlands viewed as a traitor.^[5]

"Don't Waste Your Time" broke a string of Top 10 chart dominations but that proved to be the calm before the storm, as "One Way Wind" (inspired by the divi-divi trees of the Windward Islands) became The Cats' biggest ever hit. In Germany it reached Number One chart position and in 1972 the band responded by releasing Katzenspiele (Cat's Play), featuring their hits rerecorded in German.

Mid-seventies[link]

By now, the band were so popular they had become part of the popular consciousness. For example, during the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, the Dutch national football team listened to a tape of The Cats on the team bus while travelling to their matches. But the busy schedule had begun to take its toll as Cees contracted voice problems. Roadcrew member Piet Keizer replaced him temporarily. Not having played on their own albums in six years, The Cats entered 1974 by flying to Los Angeles's Larrabee Studios to record Love in Our Eyes; or rather to add their voices to somebody else's songs. Not everyone enjoyed it. Cees was quoted of saying about the session: "'Be My Day' topped the charts, which was a great thing, but the rest of that pre-baked stuff should've been chucked into the ocean near Malibu".^{[citation needed]}

Their Malibu sojourn did not stop The Cats from going back to record Hard To Be Friends of which "Come Sunday" and the title track charted in late 1974 and early 1975. Cees had left by then but he returned a year later. Although the hits continued they failed to reach former glories.

In 1978 The Cats were booked to appear on chart-show to playback "She Was Too Young". It was, however, a thinly-disguised solo-performance by Cees. Late in 1979 members of The Cats decided to disband. A farewell-single (a reissue of the 1972 track "End of the Show") charted as late as April 1980.

Solo efforts[link]

In 1987 Piet Veerman had a solo-hit with "Sailing Home". Subsequent singles did reasonably well and he kept touring with a set of solo material and Cats classics (often using backing tapes).

In 1995 Piet guested on a bilingual duet version of "One Way Wind" with Flemish singer Dana Winner (with the title "Westenwind"). Piet sang in English and Winner sang in Dutch.

Reunion[link]

On 23 March 2006 The Cats were made Members of the Order of Orange-Nassau.^[6] The same year the group made a reunion to record a single for inclusion on a Best Of-album. It went gold.

Cees Veerman performed with the Cats Aglow Band as support act of Willy De Ville's Amsterdam Carré-show on 7 July 2008.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Cats As Cats Can 1968
• Colour Us Gold 1969
• Portrait 1970
• Take Me with You 1970
• Cats Aglow 1971
• One Way Wind 1972
• Lo Mejor 1972
• Times Were When 1972
• Signed by The Cats 1972
• Home 1973
• One Way Wind 1974
• Love in Your Eyes 1974
• 10 Jaar 1974
• Hard To Be Friends 1975
• We Wish You a Merry Christmas 1975
• Homerun 1976
• Let's Go Together 1977
• Times Were When 1979
• The End of the Show 1980
• Third Life 1983
• Live in Concert 1984
• Flying High 1985
• Live 1991
• Shine On 1994

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September 2009)

External links[link]

• The Cats on EMI music (Dutch)

Cat-Man and Kitten (also Catman and Kitten and The Cat-Man and the Kitten) were a pair of superhero characters created by artists Irwin Hasen (Cat-Man)^[3][1] and Charles M. Quinlan (Kitten)^[2] with unknown writers. Cat-Man was first published in 1940 by various Frank Z. Temerson companies, although Holyoke Publishing, which took over Temerson's titles from January 1942 - January 1943 has the more widely known name. Due to circumstances in World War II, a radically altered version of the characters would be published in Australia during the war and reprinted in the 1950s. AC Comics would later revive the characters in the 1980s.

Golden Age[link]

In 1940, Tem Publishing Co. (one of Temerson's several companies)^[4] published a periodical titled Crash Comics. Issue #4 featured the origin and first appearance of the Cat-Man.^[1] David Merrywether (Cat-Man) was raised in Burma by a tigress after his parents had been killed. From living with tigers for years, he gained superhuman abilities, such as super-strength, enhanced agility, natural night vision, and the legendary "9 lives" of cats. Eventually, David returned to the U.S. where he was horrified by criminals preying on the innocent. To stop this, he became a private investigator. Later, he would become an officer in the US Army. Assigned to stateside duties, he donned an olive and orange costume with a black cat-head symbol and became Cat-Man.

Crash Comics was replaced by Cat-Man Comics in May 1941, although, like its predecessor, this new title was a superhero and adventure anthology merely headlined by the titular character. In issue vol. 1 #10 (#5 on the cover), Cat-Man encountered Katie Conn^[2], an 11-year-old circus acrobat who fell under the guardianship of her unscrupulous uncle after her parents died in a fire. The uncle forced Katie to steal things for him. Cat-Man intervened on her behalf and made sure her uncle was brought to justice. Since she no longer had a guardian, David adopted Katie. She tried to help him fight crime, sewing a matching red and yellow costume and calling herself the Kitten. At first, David tried to keep her from helping him, but Katie eventually proved herself and the two became partners. As the series continued, Katie matured and David was promoted to the rank of captain.

Cat-Man Comics vol. 2 #13 (#8 on cover), began a new feature called "Little Leaders", again illustrated by Quinlan with an unknown writer.^[5] Cat-Man sent Katie to a summer camp where she ran into Mickey Mathews, sidekick of the Deacon, another hero featured in Cat-Man Comics. When Cat-Man and Kitten moved to Central City (the Deacon's home town) they continued having adventures both in and out of costume. The "Little Leaders" feature lasted until Cat-Man Comics' cancellation.

Cat-Man Comics ran for 32 issues (12 published by Holyoke) through 1946, when Temerson's Continental Magazines folded.^[6] Eventually, the characters fell into the public domain.

Australian revision[link]

Cat-Man would appear in a radically altered, black-and-white version by Australian publisher Gordon & Gotch when American import laws during World War II hindered access to the Holyoke comics. In this Australian revision, Cat-Man had no secret identity or powers, and continued to wear the Crash Comics outfit. However, Cat-Man was a superb fighter and a brilliant inventor, armed with a Luger pistol, a pair of night vision goggles with the ability to temporarily blind foes with a light that emanated from the goggles, and a utility belt similar to Batman's.

Cat-Man was based in a mountaintop headquarters, with his primary area of operations being that of the Australian outback. However, when situations needed, he would range all over the globe to fight crime. When he did so, he was assisted by his male sidekick, Kit; his fiancée, Terri West, an employee of the United Nations; and her father, Professor West, a famous scientist.

The Australian Cat-Man would run for a shorter period than its predecessor, spanning twelve issues. In the 1950s, Tricho would reprint them as Catman Comics #13-22. The characters also appeared in the Giant Phantom Comics series.

Modern Age[link]

AC Comics[link]

In the 1980s, publisher AC Comics created a retconned version of the characters as part of their universe. In this version, Katie's change from a young girl to an adult was given an explanation: mortally wounded by one of their enemies, Katie's life was saved when Cat-Man transferred one of his 9 lives into her. However, this had the effect of automatically aging her into adulthood, although she still retained a child's mentality, causing Cat-Man some consternation in his secret identity. Eventually, her emotional maturity caught up with her physical form, and the pair were married. They soon after decided to enter the Vault of Superheroes, a suspended animation program being run by the US government to preserve heroes should they be needed in the future.

Released from the Vault in the 1980s, they adapted to modern life and became allies to Miss Victory and the members of Femforce. Unfortunately, their primary nemesis, Dr. Macabre, was also revived from a similar hibernation and continues to pose a threat to the Merryweathers.

AC Comics has printed modern stories of Cat-Man and Kitten in its Men of Mystery anthology; it also reprints some of the Holyoke stories that do not contradict its current continuity.

Due to the female-oriented nature of the AC Comics universe, the duo is sometimes billed as Kitten and Cat-Man.

Dynamite Entertainment[link]

In 2008, Cat-Man and Kitten appeared in flashbacks in Dynamite Entertainment's Project Superpowers.^[7] In the Project Superpowers: Chapter Two Prelude one-shot,^[8] it was stated that the two heroes would appear in future issues in this line — Cat-Man as a feral being called Man-Cat,^[9] and Kitten as part of a team of kid heroes and sidekicks.

Project Superpowers: Chapter Two showcased an increasing line of public domain superheroes including Cat-Man and Kitten. After being freed from the urn, the Kitten finds herself allied with several teen sidekicks, including the Boy King and his Giant. The group of young heroes sets out to find some of their missing mentors and begin to discover they were not just blessed with increased abilities, but in some instances cursed by them. Kitten discovers Cat-Man living like a feral beast in the jungle. His senses, strength, and agility increased to the level of the great cats he emulated. Unfortunately, his intelligence and demeanor regressed to a similar state and the teen heroes had to snare Cat-Man like a wild beast.

Cat-Man and Kitten become pivotal characters in one of the side stories throughout this series. By series end, Cat-Man regains enough of his senses for Kitten to know the man is still inside the beast.

In other media[link]

An entirely different character named Catman from an alternate reality was featured in Justice League, in the two-part episode "Legends," an homage to the Golden Age Batman and Wildcat.

A entirely different character named "Kitten" appears in the Teen Titans animated series. She is a cat-themed villain and the daughter of Killer Moth. She is also in love with Robin.

Adam West appears, in animated form, in several episodes of The Fairly OddParents as himself, and sometimes a superhero named Catman. In this version, his costume looks more similar to the DC Comics villain Catman, but personality-wise is a lot like the Batman of the 1960s Batman television series (in which West played Batman).

References[link]

External links[link]

• Golden Age Cat-Man and Australian Cat-Man at the International Catalog of Superheroes
• Black, Bill (1997). The Official Golden Age Hero and Heroine Directory. AC Comics. ISBN 1-56225-017-5.