Raining Cats and Dogs--Is It True?

Stan Freberg here. With all the rain storms we've had lately, I heard a TV weatherman the other day say, "It's raining cats and dogs." Could this be true? I'll investigate that, after this. [:60 SPOT BREAK] Freberg again. When I was a little boy, I remember my uncle Raymond saying, "It's raining cats and dogs, Stanley!" I'd run to the window and look up, expecting to see beagles and poodles by the truckload, Siamese and tabby cats by the hundreds. But no, nothing but rain. Not even a water spaniel. Not a single dalmatian caught in the branches of the magnolia tree outside our kitchen window. As a small boy, I took everything pretty literally, and I still do today. The television producer Aaron Spelling used to live two houses down from me. Mr. Spelling, who has produced everything from "The Love Boat" to "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Melrose Place", is probably one of the most successful producers in television. My wife would occasionally say, "Boy, that Aaron Spelling--everything he touches turns to gold!" One day I was jogging past his house and saw him pick up the Los Angeles Times in his driveway. You know what? It didn't turn to gold! He just walked back into the house with a plain paper paper. Things like this have helped me not to take sayings so literally. However, the fact remains that there are presently in the United States over 49 million dogs and 57 million cats. Couldn't some of them have arrived when it was raining cats and dogs? Stan Freberg here. Copyright ©1997, Stan Freberg/Freberg, Ltd. (but not very) Distributed by Dick Brescia Associates and Radio Spirits, Inc.