Fat Cat inspires trip down memory lane

Fat Cat is intrinsic to the childhood of anyone under the age of 50 who grew up in Perth and now the loveable local icon is launching his 50th anniversary celebrations, having first appeared on our television screens with much fanfare at the start of 1972 on live children’s program Children’s Channel 7.

The debut came after TVW Channel Seven Perth founding general manager Sir James Cruthers put an internal callout at the station in 1971 as colour television took off for a vibrant new friend to join Percy Penguin, who being monochrome was more suited to black-and-white transmission.

Fat Cat was born soon after when manager Greg Byrne brought in a drawing by his wife Judy, who received $100 for her creative effort.

Sandy Baker was hosting Children’s Channel 7 at the time of Fat Cat’s big reveal and reminisced about the announcement on the program for children aged five to 12 years.

“We decided to run the largest cat in Perth competition where children sent in photos of their pets and once a week we’d have them bring in their cats for us to look at,” Baker said.

“All through these weeks, Percy would say it wasn’t the biggest cat in Perth and that he had the biggest cat in Perth.

“On the final day when we awarded the prize to two children who brought in the winning cat, Percy wheeled out this great big box saying “That’s not the largest cat in Perth, I’ve got the largest cat in Perth’ and out popped Fat Cat.”

Much like Ernie and Bert or Fozzie and Kermit, Fat Cat and Percy Penguin were inseparable with their mischievous antics for many years and are still in contact, while Percy prefers to spend his days now fishing and swimming off Penguin Island.

They were also sometimes a trio with the cheeky Sunny Sandgroper, featuring the spirit of Agro before Agro graced our screens in the 1990s.

Baker, who had the honour of being in the first Christmas Pageant alongside Fat Cat and performed with him at WA’s 150th anniversary celebrations at Supreme Court Gardens, also hosted Earlybirds with Fat Cat, a program that ran during the school holidays.

“It was a very different form of television compared to what we have now,” Baker said.

“It wasn’t really scripted and very much ad-lib where we’d have games and competitions, interspersed with cartoons and live TV commercials, mostly for toys and games. Because it was live and locally based, we’d have lots of interaction with WA kids and we’d get bags and bags of mail.

“Fat Cat has a sense of wonder and feels like he belongs to WA, for people of WA, where he still manages to entertain and is loved by the children of Perth.”

Former cameraman Keith Geary hosted Earlybirds and the weekly Fat Cat’s Funtime Show on Saturdays during the 1980s, where he was in awe of his fearless seven-year-old feline friend who did everything from paragliding on the Swan River and skiing down mountains to walking through Katherine Gorge and rounding up crocodiles at Humpty Doo.

“During those halcyon days we used to travel a lot to shoot, not only in WA but around Australia,” Geary said.

“He was a bit of a daredevil and would have a go at anything. Because of the nature of the industry at that time, we were given an enormous amount of support. What could we do? Basically the answer was, pretty much anything we wanted.”

This did lead to a few hiccups along the way, like when Fat Cat forgot to raise his enormous size 29 shoes when paragliding and ended up in the Swan River or when Christmas tree lights on his costume during a Fat Cat’s Birthday Party at the Entertainment Centre left him more than singed.

Reg Whiteman, a former “tough as old boots” ballet dancer who worked very closely with Fat Cat from the beginning for decades has since passed away, but everyone who knew him says his spirit lives on through his cat companion.

“Fat Cat is enormously relatable and can express a range of very human emotions and kids understand what’s he’s saying while he’s never said a word,” Geary said.

“When you worked with him for a long time, for us it was like having a conversation. He would only have to incline his head or wave his hand and I think kids got that.”

Despite being taken national as the star of Fat Cat and Friends during the 1970s and 1980s - a show targeted more towards pre-schoolers that paved the way for groups like The Wiggles – Fat Cat remains a proud West Aussie.

He continues to wish children goodnight at 7.30pm and is synonymous with Telethon where Geary said he has “held his own in a pantheon of stars”.

Holly Burton (nee Clarke) was five years old when she became the 1989 Little Telethon Star, having spent her young life in and out of hospital with spina bifida.

The 37-year-old said her time on Telethon with Fat Cat meant the world to her and he would always have a very special place in her heart.

“He is amazing and puts such a big smile on all the children’s faces,” Burton said.

“I spent a lot of time with Fat Cat shooting promotional videos and taking photos over the Telethon weekend in 1989 and he is such a caring soul.”

Meeting John Farnham that year was memorable for her, but Burton said her interactions with Fat Cat were equally special, including the doll he gave her that she named Cricket and still keeps at her dad’s house.

“He became such an iconic figure to people of Perth because he can lift anyone’s spirits,” she said.

“He will always have a friend in me and happy anniversary to the best cat I know.”

Having grown up in Perth, Seven West Media media education manager Brad Kruger has also been a Fat Cat fan his entire life.

“I’ve worked at the WA Museum and places where history and culture are really important and that’s part of our history and culture in WA,” he said.

“I just think he reminds people of their childhood when it was a much simpler time. There is so much choice now for kids with everything on the internet and streaming.

“It’s a nostalgia and when Fat Cat goes out in the community, everyone from the youngest child through to the oldest person has a connection with him.”

A collector of all things Fat Cat, including a vintage 1980s Fat Cat doll still in its plastic bag, Kruger is eagerly anticipating the release of the 50th Anniversary Fat Cat doll, complete with gold cape and gold tie, to add to his collection.

“I know that the real Fat Cat also has a new gold tie and cape as well, which he’ll be wearing at this year’s Telethon and the Christmas Pageant,” he said.

Telethon’s 50th Anniversary Fat Cat dolls will be available at Coles.

Goodnight boys and girls.