In December 1970, Disney released a whimsical animated feature film about adventure and romance within a family of aristocratic cats and their less-than-fancy alley cat acquaintance. The Aristocats became an instant hit for Disney and, 50 years later, is a mainstay among viewers.
In the early ‘60s, Walt Disney tasked writers Harry Tytle and Tom McGowan (who would the write the script with Tom Rowe) to find new animal stories that could be adapted for episodes of Wonderful World of Color. McGowan found a story about a mother cat and her kittens set in New York, but following the success of setting One Hundred and One Dalmatians in London, Tytle suggested using Paris as the location instead.
They created a rough outline with Rowe about two servants who will inherit their boss’ fortune – but only after her cats have died. The story would then focus on their bumbling attempts to kill the cats as the mother cat hides her kittens throughout Paris to keep them safe.
Though the story was initially rejected by a Disney executive, Tytle took the script to Disney himself who approved the script with some changes. It was originally planned as a live-action program until Tytle recommended to Disney that it be produced as an animated feature. Disney agreed with the idea and shelved the project while the animation department worked on The Jungle Book. When Wolfgang Reitherman, who directed popular Disney films like The Sword in the Stone and The Jungle Book, learned about the movie, he requested the job of directing The Aristocats.
In ’66, Disney assigned Ken Anderson to work on The Aristocats story concepts and script, who blended the stories to keep the focus on the cats. Once Disney saw the preliminary sketches and story changes, he approved it shortly before his death. Reitherman got the script and tweaked the story to put less focus on the Duchess’ attempt at finding people to adopt her kittens and more on the adventure aspect of the cats loose in the city like its successful predecessor, One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
From there, Anderson spent a year and a half designing the characters and five of Disney’s Nine Old Men animated the film. They hired the likes of Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Sterling Holloway, and Scatman Crothers, among others, to voice the cats. It made $10 million during the initial release in 1970-1971 and has gone on to be one of Disney’s most popular animated features.
