For many years, longtime character actor MARVIN KAPLAN wss a welcome sight on mayn shows (the radio/TV "Meet Millie"), and
relevant to animaiton, "Top Cat'(ABC-TV/1961-1962), as the beloved "Choo-Choo" to Arnold Stang most effectual Top Cat ala TC
(1918-2009. The others were Leo De Lyon, sitll alive and the only living member of the cat cast as Spoook and brain, and the deceased John Stephenson,
1923-2015 as Fancy Fancy, Maurice Gosfield from the infelunce show "Bilko", 1900-1964, as Benny, the fat cat. Also gone has long been their police
nemesis, Officer Dibble, in real life Allen Jenkins, 1900-1974).
Marvin Kaplan spent his original years, as TC would, in Flatbush, aka Brooklyn, NYC, and later became a local and Hollywood character
actor on shows like the long forgotten "Meet Millie", then in a handful of movies and in Hanna-Barbera's 1961-62 "Top Cat" as purple
furred, oval eyed, lovable, loyal "Choo Choo" or "Chooch".
Chooch was a kind of goofy cat, not as "dumb" like De Lyon's "Brain", but a upbeat "eager" type, axious and looking forward to TC
s next plan or what he got (usually by conning Off.Dibble from....) His fur had a kind of lavender color, in keeping with the cats's
disinctive color schemes:
Yop Cat=Yellow
Benny the Ball=Blue
Fancy=Orange
Brain=Brown
Spook=Green
Choo Choo=Purple
Aftrr "Top Cat" Sgt.Bilko-esque-like "hup two'd" off into endless Saturday morning and off-network syndi-cat-ed (like that pun?) reruns in
1962, Kaplan went onto many other shows (incluyding the mid 1970s) "Kiss mah show" "Alice".
He appeared on many others outside this blog's scope but you can go on
Internet Movie Database and the ususal Google sites and look up.
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