Original Air Date: 1955 – 1960
Starring: Midnight the Cat

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains spoilers for this series!

Synopsis: Actor Andy Devine heads a kids’ show sponsored by Buster Brown shoes in which he tells stories and shares the stage with a variety of characters and animals.

Featured Feline: Andy’s Gang included a menagerie of animals, one of which was Midnight the cat, a long-haired female Persian. Midnight was usually seen playing some kind of instrument.

Midnight was usually seen performing with Squeeky the mouse (who was actually a hamster).

One running gag was that Midnight would say the word “Nice!” in a high falsetto voice as a commentary. The voice was dubbed in whenever Midnight was licking her mouth.

The real animals were manipulated into positions where they could “perform”, usually by staying in place while someone moved their paws (or, more often than not, fake paws) to play the instruments or perform the tricks. While some of the animals look very uncomfortable being made to perform this way, Midnight, for the most part, seems to be taking it in stride, although sometimes she looks as if she would like to kill someone.

This all looks rather bizarre, and in one instance Midnight was replaced by a completely animatronic cat dressed in the same outfit Midnight was introduced as wearing. Midnight is also introduced as a “he” by Andy in this segment, although she was usually identified as a female.

This is something that really has to be seen to be believed, so here are a number of clips from the show which will explain it better than we ever could!

Squeeky the Mouse and Midnight the Cat perform Oh Susanna:

Andy, Midnight and Squeeky perform Three Blind Mice:

Midnight the cat as an Indian and Squeeky as a pioneer:

Andy, Midnight and Squeeky performing Jesus Loves Me:

Complete episode of Andy’s Gang:

Squeeky’s Circus in color:

The characters were also featured on boxes of Buster Brown shoes and even in a Buster Brown comic book series (although in these drawings Midnight is a black and white shorthair).

Final Mewsings: Let’s hope Midnight the cat was well compensated for the nationwide humiliation!

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