Release Date:

August 29, 1953

Main Character(s):

Speedy Gonzales, Benny

Summary:

Two cats, George and Benny, attempt to catch mice aboard the Mexican goods ship, the “S.S. Pancho Cucaracha”, but get more than they bargained for when the only mouse onboard is Speedy Gonzales.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1268 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. The original opening rings were found in the late 2000’s, but the video of them has unfortunately been taken off of YouTube.

This is the first appearance of Speedy, although he doesn’t look anything like the Speedy we all know and love. Here, he has a gold tooth, unkempt hair, wears only a red shirt, and hardly wears a sombrero (though he is seen briefly with a green one when he makes his entrance). Freleng saw potential in Speedy, but found his appearance in this cartoon ugly, so he would redesign him for his second appearance, “Speedy Gonzales” (1955), with this design being used in all of Speedy’s subsequent appearances. The only things that remained the same are his name, Mel Blanc voicing him, his speed, love for cheese, and being a ladies’ man (the latter of which I am as I prefer spending time with women friends than I do with other guys).

Benny from “Hoppy Go Lucky” reappears in this cartoon (and again based off of Lennie from “Of Mice and Men”). This time, he is paired with a cat who actually IS named George, as he was with Sylvester in his previous appearance (“But I can’t say Sylvester, George!”)

The title is a pun for the song, “Cocktails for Two”. Bob Clampett previously used this pun after he left Warner Bros. in 1946 for a Columbia/Screen Gems cartoon he worked on called “Cockatoos for Two” (1947). The Screen Gems studio, coincidentally, shut down in 1949, and it became UPA.

Stan Freberg, who voices Benny, appears as a guest on Jerry Beck’s commentary for this cartoon on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4 DVD set.

In this cartoon only, Speedy’s last name is spelled as “Gonzalez” (with George pronouncing the “A” in its “aah” sound).

“Powerhouse” plays during the climax with George and Benny attempting to stuff dynamite into Speedy’s hole through a pipe, oblivious that Speedy has detoured said pipe back to them with a wrench up until the point where George lights the fuse to one of them.

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

Favorite Scene:

“P-E-T-R-O-L. Huh. That’s a funny way to spell ‘water’!”

What Happens in This One:

At the dock, Benny and George are shown walking along with Benny excitedly asking, “Will ya, George? Will ya, huh, George? Will ya let me help ya catch mice with ya, huh, George? Will ya, huh, George?” George, holding a sack, agrees irritably, “Oh, alright, alright, Benny! But ya gotta promise you won’t do stupid things like you’re always doing!” Benny assures, “I promise, George. This time, I will be real smart and use my head”. He’s walking backwards as he’s saying this and ends up hitting the back of his head on a steel beam, causing him to fall forward on George. Benny can’t find him, “George! Where did you go at, George?” He then finds George flattened on his stomach like a piece of flypaper before peeling him off and apologizing, “I’m sorry, George”. George threatens, “Yeah? Well, if you ain’t careful, you overgrown, pea-brained lummox, I’ll bust ya one!” Despite George having just said something unkind to him, Benny confides, “George is my friend!” (animated by Herman Cohen)

George asks, “Hey, Benny. Ya like Mexican food?” Benny replies, “Yes, I do, George. It gives me the heartburn and I love it!” George points to the S.S. Pancho Cucaracha, “Well, that’s a Mexican ship. And there’s bound to be Mexican mouses onboard” (animated by Cohen). He then finds a way they can get onboard, which is through a large square-shaped porthole on the side of the ship. George instructs, “Uh, you toss me over first, then follow me”. Benny complies, “Alright, George. Here you go” as he picks him up and attempts to throw him into the porthole, only for George to hit the side of the ship instead and fall into the water below. Benny gets in and wonders, “Where’s George at?” and then hears George call up to him in an annoyed singsong voice, “Oh, Benny”. Thinking George is fooling around, Benny scolds him, “George! What’s the matter with you? Can’t you read? It says ‘no fishing’”. The sign actually says, “No Swimming” (animated by Phil DeLara).

After getting George onboard, Benny turns on the lights inside the ship and asks, “Where’s the mouses at, George? I don’t see no mouses” as he and George walk down to the lower interior deck. George replies, “We don’t need to see ‘em, stupid. What do ya think we brung this trap for?”, pulling out a large red round mousetrap and sticking pieces of cheese into each hole. Benny and George sneak behind some crates to hide, before hearing someone shout, “Arriba! Arriba! Yee-Hah! Andale! Andale!” as Speedy rushes by and catches every piece of cheese quickly. After leaving behind a card, he runs off with the cheese he caught. Benny and George go over to the trap as George reads the card aloud, “Senor ‘Speedy’ Gonzalez- The Fastest Mouse in All Mexico” (animated by DeLara). They both look over to see Speedy in a mouse hole in the ship, finishing off his cheese. He gleefully tells them, “Adios, senors!” before going back into his hole. Benny wonders, “George? How are we gonna catch the fast mouse, George?” George answers, “Ah, that’s easy. We just gotta build a better mousetrap” (animated by Charles McKimson).

Speedy comes out of the hole with a confused expression when he hears creaking noises and then looks up chuckling at what he sees (animated by Charles). A box of ACME Anvils is being lifted up into the air with a rope and pulley by Benny, until George stops him, “Okay, that’s good. Hang on while I set out the bait”, where he puts a piece of cheese underneath the box of anvils. Benny tells him, “I am holding it real hard, George”. Speedy runs up next to Benny and blows up a paper bag before popping it. The noise startles Benny into letting go of the rope as Speedy quickly steals the bait and George attempts to run out of the way of the falling box, but it ends up landing on him. Benny asks in a concerned manner, “George?”, before lifting up the box and letting out an ashamed “Oh!” upon seeing George’s state from under the box. He then hears George calling his name and telling him, “Come here”. When Benny does, George instructs, “Bend down”, and then hits him with a mallet, only for it to bounce off of Benny’s hard head and hit George instead. Benny asks, “Why did you hit yourself on the head for, George?” George groggily answers in ecstasy, “I like it! I like it!” (animated by Rod Scribner) Speedy laughs, “I love those fellows! All the time having fun!” (animated by Charles)

Benny later comes up to George, who’s sitting down on a box and thinking, “George. Aren’t we gonna-?” George interrupts him, “Don’t bother me. Can’t ya see I’m thinkin’?” He then gets an idea upon spotting something, “Well! What have we got here?” It turns out he was looking at a box of fireworks for a Cinco de Mayo celebration. George hands Benny a few firecrackers and has him go with him to put them out all around the ship with a piece of cheese placed by each (animated by Charles).

After they put the last one firecracker and piece of cheese, George says, “There. Now all I need is a match and dinner’s on the table”. Speedy gets his attention with “Senor”, revealing that he has a match in his possession. George chases after Speedy, who lights each firecracker before he takes each piece, with George getting all of the explosions. Benny tells the burnt George, “Don’t go ‘way, George. I’ll go get the water” (animated by Keith Darling). He instead finds a bucket of petrol, not knowing what it actually is. “P-E-T-R-O-L. Huh. That’s a funny way to spell ‘water’!” (animated by Cohen) Benny assures him, “This’ll cool you off, George”, but due to petrol being a flammable liquid, it instead disintegrates George’s fur from the shirt up, except for his ears and scalp which have fallen off from the petrol being tossed onto him. Benny puts them back on George’s head and again confides, “George is my friend” (animated by Charles).

George sets up a pipe disguised as a casino with the promise of “Girls” being painted on the fake entrance four times as Speedy observes while laughing, “Yee-hah! All the funny things those fellows do to me!” George then instructs Benny to go on the other side with a mallet, “Now get down there at the other end. And when I blast him through, let him have it” before walking off. Benny confirms, “I will conk him real good, George”. Speedy dashes up to the pipe and plays along, “Oh, boy! Senoritas! I love those senoritas!” (animated by Charles), before running in. George attempts to light a skyrocket in after him, but ends up blasting through the pipe himself due to holding onto the skyrocket. Benny ends up hitting George instead, creating a hole in the ground (animated by DeLara). A lump grows out of the hole, with George’s now mallet-shaped head coming out of it, with the lump on the back of his head (animated by Cohen).

Benny comes up to George moving a pipe into the hole as he asks, “Gee, George. You’re real smart, aren’t ya, George?” George answers, “Yeah, yeah. Real smart” (animated by Scribner). The pipe goes into the hole (animated by Cohen), but Speedy detours it back towards them by bending it with a wrench (animated by Darling). Oblivious that the other end of the pipe is now coming out from behind them, George instructs Benny, “Now let’s have the heavy stuff” as Benny gives him the firecrackers to stuff through the pipe. With both unaware that the firecrackers are piling up from behind them, Benny asks, “We’ll have some real hot Mexican food, won’t we, George?” as George answers, “Yeah, Benny, and we start cooking it now. Mouse enchilada fried in crackers. Eh, heh”. After George lights the fuse to the last one stuffed into the pipe, Benny agrees, “Yeah”, but then says “George” in worry upon turning around and seeing all the firecrackers from behind them. By the time, George notices (animated by Scribner), the firecrackers go off with only the outside of the ship being shown as an interior fireworks show occurs from inside the ship. Benny and George, who are both missing their fur from the chest down, are blown out of the smokestack. Benny asks, “But, George? Aren’t we going to have our Mexican dinner, George?”, to which George replies, “No. I kind of lost my appetite for Mexican food”. They then fall down into the water as Speedy watches from the porthole. “I love those fellows. They’re so silly!” (animated by Charles)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕