The Maharajah of Pookajee

The Maharajah of Pookajee
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Premiere date	December 27, 1961
Starring	Arnold Stang; Maurice Gosfield; Marvin Kaplan; Leo De Lyon; John Stephenson; Allen Jenkins
Music composed by	Hoyt Curtin
Director(s)	William Hanna; Joseph Barbera
Animation director(s)	Charles A. Nichols
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"The Maharajah of Pookajee" is the thirteenth episode of Top Cat season one. It aired on December 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.

Top Cat disguises himself as a maharajah, fooling Officer Dibble and an entire fancy hotel.

Detailed summary

Memorable quotes

Officer Dibble: Five hundred alleys in New York, I gotta have one with a nut in it.

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Top Cat	Arnold Stang
Man	John Stephenson
Brain	Leo De Lyon
Choo Choo	Marvin Kaplan
Benny the Ball	Maurice Gosfield
Officer Dibble	Allen Jenkins
Daniel Webster
Sergeant Flanagan
Gregory Peck
Spook	Leo De Lyon
Fancy Fancy	John Stephenson
Hotel manager	John Stephenson
Crime boss	John Stephenson
Spike	Unavailable
Finchley	John Stephenson
Maharajah's servant	Unavailable
Officer Dibble's wife
Maharajah	John Stephenson

Organizations

New York City Police Department

Locations

Earth
- United States
  - New York
    - New York City
      - Manhattan
        Hoagy's Alley
        
        Sherry Plaza Hotel
        
        Finchley Jewelers (mentioned)
        
        Docks
  - Alaska (mentioned)
- Asia (indirectly mentioned)
  - South Asia (indirectly mentioned)
    - India (mentioned)
  - Pookajee (mentioned)
- Middle East (indirectly mentioned)
  - Turkey (mentioned)

Objects

Academy Award (mentioned)
Oysters Rockefeller (mentioned)
Crime boss and Spike's guns

Vehicles

Officer Dibble's car

Production

Development

Filming

Music

The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin, who was credited as musical director.

Release

Dates are in order of release:

United States: December 27, 1961 at 8:30 on ABC
United Kingdom and Ireland: July 25, 1962 at 5:10 pm on BBC TV

Behind the scenes

Top Cat mentions a TV program called Have Gun - Will Shoot, a parody of Have Gun - Will Travel.
Top Cat can't swim.

Errors

Legacy

Top Cat tries a similar scam with the Maharajah of Peekajoo in Top Cat: The Movie.

Critical reception

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning

Home availability

In the United Kingdom and Ireland:
- July 1, 1985: The Video Collection releases Top Cat: Volume 1 on VHS.
- November 3, 1986: The Video Collection releases Top Cat: Volume 1 on VHS.
- June 16, 1997: First Independent Films releases Top Cat: Bumper Edition 2 on VHS.
- March 27, 2000: Warner Home Video releases Top Cat: Volume 1 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.
In the United States:
- July 3, 2001: Warner Home Video releases Cartoon Crack-Ups on DVD.
- 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.
- September 17, 2024: Warner Archive Collection releases Top Cat: The Complete Series on Blu-ray Disc.

References