Lalo Schifrin -- Theme from "T.H.E. Cat"

Regions via Wikimedia Commons

I only came across the above video yesterday during my usual YouTube browsings. It's the annual Turner Movie Classics "TCM Remembers" which pays musical tribute to the entertainers around the world that have passed on during the calendar year. We did lose quite a few famous folks from film such as Gene Hackman, Robert Redford and Tatsuya Nakadai（仲代達矢）.

However, during the tribute, I was surprised to find out that Argentine musician and composer Lalo Schifrin had passed away months ago in June at the age of 93. I didn't know a lot of his work but what I do remember has stuck with me as two of the most iconic theme songs in American TV history. There was the cool jazz theme for private eye "Mannix" and then the far more famous one for "Mission: Impossible" which got its most recent unveiling when the final movie in the Tom Cruise version of the franchise (I'm confident that there will be at least a try to revive it with a new lead) hit the theatres some months ago.

"T.H.E. Cat" was a short-lived series on NBC that lasted only a season, premiering in September 1966, the same month when "Mission: Impossible" launched on CBS. It starred a leopard-lithe and quick Robert Loggia (I had to really look up my sources to make sure that this was the same burly Robert Loggia from "Big" and "Mancuso") as a former acrobat and master thief-turned-security guy named Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat who helped clients who were in over their heads.

Although "T.H.E. Cat" started its brief run when I was not even a year old, this would still apply as a Reminiscings of Youth article for me because I only found out about the series when it ran on a local gonzo late-night show during my teenage years, appropriately titled "The All-Night Show" (which I will feature as a ROY probably sometime next week) that often unearthed long lost shows from the heap of TV history.

Schifrin came up with the theme for "T.H.E. Cat". It's not nearly as famous as his themes for "Mannix" and "Mission: Impossible", but it does have that sinewy downtown coolness which describes Mr. Cat to a tee. And the jazz orchestra reminds me of some of the stuff that Henry Mancini had created for projects such as "Peter Gunn".

Tomorrow on Christmas Day will have the usual and holiday-themed ROY but I wanted to provide this special Xmas Eve ROY in tribute to the great Schifrin. There were two Japanese singles that were released when "T.H.E. Cat" made its debut in September 1966.

Linda Yamamoto -- Kommachauna （こまっちゃうナ）

The Spiders -- Yuuhi ga Naiteiru (夕陽が泣いている）