“Fraidy Cat” Written by Michael O’Connor; Directed by Don Towsley; Starring Alan Oppenheimer and Lennie Weinrib; Originally aired September 6, 1975.
“Fraidy Cat” was a series of animated shorts produced by Filmation. The episodes open with Fraidy explaining that each cat has nine lives but eight of his are used up. As a result he is particularly cautious to preserve is his only remaining life, this is the source of his persistent fear.
Each episode features the titular cat getting involved in some scenario that threatens his life and his attempts to get out unscathed. Fraidy is haunted by the ghosts of his previous lives and each time he says any number from one to eight, or any word that contains or sounds like those numbers, the ghost of that life appears and attempts (but usually fails) to help him out of trouble.
The spirits of Fraidy’s previous lives consist of:
Elephunt Cave “One” Cat, a Saber-Toothed Tiger with a pet dinosaur
Kitty “Two” Wizard, a bumbling magician
Captain “Three” Kitt, a pirate captain
Sir Walter “Four” Cat, a noble swordsman
Billy “Five” the Kit, a western outlaw
Jasper “Six” Catdaver, the undertaker
Captain Eddie “Seven” Cattenbakker, an airplane pilot
Hep “Eight” Cat, a hep cat, obviously. Complete with zoot-suit and,
Cloud Nine, an ominous cloud that tries to kill Fraidy and complete his life cycle.
“Fraidy Cat” was eventually syndicated as part of the “Groovie Goolies and Friends” series. Not much else is known about the series, IMDB only lists the four above individuals as being involved and only 18 shorts were produced.
The series has a similar feel and animation style to early “Scooby-Doo” productions and relies heavily on macabre humor for entertainment value. Several episodes can be watched on YouTube and were also released as part of Mill Creek Entertainment’s compilation discs “200 Classic Cartoons” and “Giant 600 Cartoon Collection” as well as Allegro/Pop Flix’s “100 Family Cartoons Volume 3.”