Catching Up with Arnold Stang

He did radio. His voice was heard in commercials. He appeared in numerous movies and TV shows. But we all know him best as the boss, the pip, and the championship, Top Cat. I'm discussing none other than the wonderfully talented Arnold Stang.

Today, I'm sharing a piece focusing on Stang that appeared in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on September 12th, 1983. At this point in Stang's career, he was beginning to step away from acting, though he would continue to appear in various roles until the 2000s. This piece allowed the reader to catch up with Stang, detailing several recent events in his life. We also get a great look at his early life and a look at his most famous roles, Top Cat included. Stang is a pure delight in this interview, so I definitely recommend you give it a read. 

As a minor note, Arnold is said to be fifty-five here. He was born in 1918 though, so he would have actually been ten years older. I'm assuming this was just one of those little errors that nobody caught. 

Where's Arnold Stang? Just listen to Top Cat

    By Dolores Barclay

    NEW YORK (AP) —Three decades ago, he was that skinny little guy with horn-rimmed glasses, bow tie and coveralls who endeared himself to millions of TV fans as Francis, the badgering stagehand on Milton Berle's "The Texaco Star Theater."
    Today, Arnold Stang is 55, still diminutive, and still fond of bowties. But the eyeglasses are more up-to-date and the high-pitched, nasal voice that made him famous is really softer and lower.
    "I know, you're looking for relics," says Stang, somewhat mystified that he's being interviewed. "It must be some sort of an archaeological dig, right?"
    Not quite.
    He's alive and well and living in Connecticut with his wife, JoAnne, and their two children, and going quietly about the business he started in 46 years ago. He may be a funny guy, but above all else, he's an actor.

    He recently did regional theater productions in Massachusetts of "Harvey" and "The Diary of Anne Frank."
    Stang also does voiceovers for television commercials, and has recorded the voice for the cartoon character Top Cat, the sassy, hipster of the feline set. "I prefer doing voiceovers because first of all, you don't get makeup on your collar and you don't get overexposed," Stang says.
    "I prefer radio to television," he says. "Radio depends on your intelligence. TV dinners really describe what television is."
    Still, he once enjoyed live television, appearing on such critically acclaimed dramatic series as "Playhouse 90," "Alcoa Presents," "Hallmark Television Playhouse" and "The U.S. Steel Hour."
    In film, he gave a first-rate performance as Sparrow, the street hustler in "Man With the Golden Arm."
    As a child growing up in Chelsea, Mass., Stang wanted to become a dramatic actor. When he was 9, he sent a penny postcard to "Horn and Hardart's Children's Hour," asking to be on the popular radio show. The response invited him to stop by for an audition the next time he was in New York.
    "The weekend later, I took money I had saved up to buy my mother and father an anniversary present and got on the bus and went to New York," he says. "I got lost a few times, but finally made it to the station. I recited Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven' with gestures because I was going to be a SERIOUS actor. They cracked up and hired me."