The $1,000,000 Derby

The $1,000,000 Derby
File:.png
Premiere date	September 27, 1961
Starring	Arnold Stang Maurice Gosfield Marvin Kaplan Leo De Lyon John Stephenson Allen Jenkins Hal Smith
Music composed by	Hoyt Curtin
Writer(s)	Harvey Bullock
Director(s)	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Animation director(s)	Charles A. Nichols
Episode navigation
← Previous	Next →

"The $1,000,000 Derby" is the first episode of Top Cat season one. It aired on September 27, 1961 on ABC. It was produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the creators of the series and the founders of Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Top Cat	Arnold Stang
Choo Choo	Marvin Kaplan
Brain	Leo De Lyon
Fancy Fancy	John Stephenson
Spook	Leo De Lyon
Benny the Ball	Maurice Gosfield
Arabelle	Unavailable
Rin Tin Tin
Arabelle's father
Officer Dibble	Allen Jenkins
Sergeant Flanagan
Dockmaster	John Stephenson
Head zookeeper	Unavailable
Gertrude	Unavailable
Horse buyer	Unavailable
Horse buyer's wife
Horse buyer's children
Reporter #1	Unavailable
Reporter #2	Unavailable
Senator Flubb	Unavailable
Reporter #3	Unavailable
Billy Blabbermouth
Mayor	John Stephenson
Reporter #4	John Stephenson
J.J. Flitney	Unavailable
Racetrack announcer	Hal Smith
Tea Biscuit
Froufrou
Barmaid
Cucamonga
Lucky Lady
Miramar	N/A

Organizations

• New York City Police Department
• Bugle (mentioned)
• The Tribune (mentioned)
• Derby Committee

Locations

• Earth
  • United States
    • New York
      • New York City
        • Manhattan
          • Hoagy's Alley
          • Holland Tunnel (mentioned)
          • Madison Square Garden (mentioned)
          • Macy's (mentioned)
          • Central Park
            • Central Park Zoo
          • Acme Foundry
          • Broadway (mentioned)
          • Chateau de Rou
        • Brooklyn (indirectly mentioned)
          • Carnasie (mentioned)
        • Airport
      • New Jersey (mentioned)
        • Jersey City (mentioned)
      • Washington, D.C. (mentioned)
        • The White House (mentioned)
  • Africa (mentioned)
  • Australia (mentioned)
  • Asia (indirectly mentioned)
    • Arabia (mentioned)

Objects

• Bugle newspaper

Vehicles

• S.S. Africa
• Ambulance

Music

The music was composed by Hanna and Hoyt Curtin.

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: September 27, 1961 on ABC

Behind the scenes

• Top Cat refers to Benny as Zorro when he's taking a photo of the horse.
• Tea Biscuit is a parody of the famous racehorse Seabiscuit.

Errors

• The back sides of a couple of horses are seen which could've belonged to either Tea Biscuit, Froufrou, Barmaid, Cucamonga, or Lucky Lady, but those horses seen aren't explicitly identified by name.

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning

Home availability

• In the United States:
  • December 7, 2004: Warner Home Video releases Top Cat: The Complete Series on DVD.
  • January 10, 2017: Warner Archive Collection releases Top Cat: The Series on DVD.
  • June 6, 2017: Warner Home Video releases Top Cat: The Complete Series (Hanna-Barbera Diamond Collection edition) on DVD.
• In the United Kingdom:
  • May 19, 1986: The Video Collection releases Top Cat: Volume 2 on VHS.
  • November 3, 1986: The Video Collection releases Top Cat: Volume 2 on VHS.
  • September 4, 1989: The Video Collection releases Top Cat: Volume 2 on VHS.
  • October 8, 2007: Warner Home Video releases Top Cat: The Complete Series (HMV exclusive) on DVD.
  • October 8, 2007: Warner Home Video releases Top Cat: Volume 1 on DVD.
  • April 1, 2008: Warner Home Video releases Top Cat: The Complete Series on DVD.
  • May 28, 2012: Warner Home Video releases Top Cat and Friends on DVD.
  • 2019: Warner Home Video releases Top Cat: The Complete Series (Hanna-Barbera Diamond Collection edition) on DVD.