Release Date:

May 4, 1957

Main Character(s):

Honey Mousers

Summary:

Ralph Crumden has to get a cake for Alice’s birthday, only to find that a cat is now guarding the kitchen. He enlists Ned Morton’s help to dispose of the cat, only for most of their schemes to go wrong.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1437 and was released as a Looney Tune.

This is the second appearance of the Honey Mousers.

The title is a play on words for the phrase “cheese it, the cops!” (something that was said by Rocky near the end of “Catty Cornered”).

The cat in this cartoon is the same one from “The Honey Mousers”. This time, he gets a line of dialogue at the end.

Unfortunately, the animator draft for the cartoon doesn’t exist anywhere online.

Carl Stalling scored this one. This is also the only Honey Mousers cartoon scored by him.

Ralph and Morton are actually seen running across the title card with the cake. This was animated by Keith Darling.

This and McKimson’s next two cartoons, “Fox Terror” (tomorrow’s cartoon) and “Boston Quackie” (Friday’s cartoon) have backgrounds by Bob Majors.

Ralph and Morton’s respective jobs- wind-up toy bus driver and kitchen sink drain worker- are mouse versions of the jobs their Honeymooners counterparts have (bus driver and sewer worker).

The bottle of champagne that Ralph and Morton use to launch themselves to the fridge is “Selzer’s Champagne Extra Dry”, with this being a reference to Eddie Selzer.

“The Toy Trumpet” plays during the armored car sequence.

I absolutely love the original tune that plays under the opening credits and when Morton leads Ralph to his “cat destroyer that will do the job”.

Favorite Scene:

The scene where Ralph has Morton believe he’s invisible by painting him with invisible ink, with the latter unaware that it’s the ink itself that’s invisible. This nevertheless heavily boosts Morton’s confidence as he boldly taunts the cat.

What Happens in This One:

At the apartment building, Ralph is seen driving home to the mouse hole in his bus (a wind-up toy) while singing “My Wild Irish Rose” and carrying a gift. Entering the mouse hole, he calls for Alice quietly and then realizes, “Ah, good. She’s not home yet”. He puts his gift in a drawer, “I’ll hide the present in here. Now, all that’s left for me to do for the surprise party is to get the birthday cake”. Once Ralph walks out, however, he immediately comes back into the mouse hole screaming in terror as a cat’s paw is trying to grab him. Something hits this paw offscreen, causing the cat to yowl in pain before taking it out of the hole. It turns out Ralph- slightly scratched up- whacked the paw with a mallet as he stammers incoherently and then wonders, “W-w-where’d the cat come from!? There’s never been a cat in the kitchen before!” Ralph then hears the cat meow and finds his angry bloodshot left eye staring into the hole at him. He runs over and slams the door, causing the cat’s left eye to become a large purple swirl (animated by Ted Bonnicksen).

Having put on a new jacket and taken his shredded one off, Ralph says to himself as he begins to walk out a different way, “With that cat out there in the kitchen between me and the refrigerator, I’ll have to go over and get some help from that Morton!” Ralph enters a hole in the mouse hole’s walls, and walks up the interior supports (animated by George Grandpre).

This leads to Ralph coming out through an electric socket that he opens like a door. Sliding down a mop to get into the sink, Ralph comes up to the drain and calls down it, “Morton! Hey, Morton! MOR-TON!” Morton tells his fellow workers, who were listening to “Sweet Georgia Brown” on the radio, “Okay, boys. Knock it off. Take 5” before coming up from the drain and greeting, “Hi, Ralph”. Ralph: “Morton, ya gotta help me!” Morton: “Sure, sure, Ralphie. What’s the rough?” Ralph explains, “Well, I’m starting over to the refrigerator to get the cake for the party tonight, see? And when I open the door, (makes throat-cutting noise), I’m nearly torn to shreds by a cat!” Morton asks, “A cat in here, Ralph? You kiddin’?” Ralph: “I’m telling ya, Morton. And yeeeeeeeeech, is he mean!” Morton gets completely out of the drain and decides, “Okay, Ralphie boy. The cat’s got to go. And I got just the cat destroyer to do the job. Follow me”. They go up the mop and back on the counter as Morton opens a tile in the wall as a door, “Entrez vous, monsieur rat! (pronounces first three words how they’re spelled)” (animated by Keith Darling)

Morton leads Ralph to the interior of the sink where the cleaning supplies are and reveals what he was talking about, which is a wind-up toy. “Here we are, Ralph. An armored car with plenty of live ammo!” Ralph is elated at this as he climbs inside, “Mmmm, BOY! What a dan-dan-dandy!” Morton tells him in the manner of a war general, “Now, you know what to do. Seek out the enemy and destroy him!”, and then shuts the door. Ralph drives the wind-up armored car over to the cat and attempts to shoot him with the vehicle’s cannon, only for the cat to simply put his finger over the barrel, causing the cannon to blow up on Ralph, causing him to drive the ruined car back to under the sink. Morton opens the door to find Ralph not only charred and having a flame atop his head, but also wearing nothing but his pink and white striped underwear, “Hey, Ralph! You okay? Speak to me, Ralph!” Ralph simply licks his finger and puts out the flame on his head before asking, “Got any more bright ideas, Mr. Morton?” (animated by Bonnicksen)

Ralph pulls in a jar of invisible ink, complete with paintbrush, as he says to himself, “Now we’ll see how Mr. Morton will like playing footsie with the cat!” He then calls, “Hey, Morton! Come here!” Morton does so, “Sure, sure, Ralph”. Ralph informs, “I got it figured how YOU can get the cake. Turn around”. Once Morton turns around, Ralph starts using the brush on Morton who asks, “Hey, hey, hey! Whatcha doin’, Ralph!?” Ralph replies, “I’m painting you with invisible ink so the cat can’t see ya!” As Ralph continues painting Morton, the latter asks, “You sure it’ll make me invisible, Ralph?” Ralph answers, “Sure I’m sure”. Ralph then pretends that Morton actually is invisible, “Hey, Morton. Where’d you go? I can’t see ya”. Unaware that it’s the ink itself that’s invisible, Morton answers, “I’m right here, Ralph”. Ralph tells him, “You are? Morton, YOU are invisible” and briefly flutters his eyebrows at the audience as Morton laughs, “If that cat comes too close to me, I’ll punch him right in the nose!” Morton walks out in a tough manner as Ralph answers sarcastically, “SURE you will!” (animated by Grandpre)

The cat spots the still-clearly visible Morton marching out towards the fridge and jumps in front of him. He yowls at him and licks his lips, but Morton just dances in front of him while taunting, “Va va va vum and voody voo! You can’t see me but I can see you!” Morton then pulls out one of the cat’s whiskers and dances away with it. Shocked, the cat pulls himself together and prepares to attack Morton, only for Morton to nonchalantly pass by with the cake and honk him on the nose. Angered, the cat has all the claws on his front right paw come out, ready to scratch whoever next comes out. Meanwhile, Ralph is starting to regret his decision as he worries, “What have I done to my best friend!? That cat’ll tear him to ribbons!” Morton returns unscathed and with a few crumbs in his hand, “Hi, Ralph”. Ralph is shocked to find Morton still in one piece, “Morton! D-didn’t the cat see ya?” Morton scoffs, “Never set eyes on me”. When Ralph asks, “Well, where’s the cake?”, Morton brushes the crumbs out of his hands, “I, uh, I guess I ate it, Ralph”. Ralph becomes irritated, “You GUESS you ate it?” and then threatens, “Morton, I ought to belt you!” Morton apologizes and offers to fix his mistake, “I’m sorry, Ralph. I’ll go get another one”. Not trusting him, Ralph stops him, “Oh, no you won’t! I’LL go!” Ralph hands Morton the paintbrush, “Here, paint ME!” Morton does so before Ralph tells him, “Alright, alright, that’s enough!” Morton begins to say, “But Ralph-”, only for Ralph to not listen and exit with “And away we go!” Morton tells us, “But I can still see him!” Ralph is heard screaming in absolute terror, before he runs back in panting in fear with his jacket shredded. Morton asks, “Did you see the cat, Ralph?” In the middle of panting, Ralph turns angry, “Invisible ink! Morton, you are a mental case!” (animated by Grandpre)

Morton prepares a champagne bottle to launch at the fridge with Ralph riding the cork. Ralph warns, “This better work, Morton!”, to which Morton assures, “Can’t miss, Ralph! A loving shot right over to the refrigerator!” Once it’s winded up all the way, Morton launches the cork, with Ralph flying on it across the kitchen and through the mouth of the cat, who was waiting on the top of a stepladder. After popping out through the cat’s tail, Ralph manages to get to the fridge. The cat then attempts to jump on him, with Ralph running away and yelling, “Morton! Open up, Morton! Open up! Open up, Morton!” Ralph enters the door underneath the sink, with Morton slamming it on the cat. Morton and Ralph exit out of the same tile atop the kitchen counter from earlier and look down at the cat. Once the cat notices them, they run into the sink’s drain, with the cat not having seen them go in there as he begins looking around for them. Morton comes out through the other drain and puts the cat’s tail through it, before he and Ralph exit out of the drain. Ralph turns on the garbage disposal, sending the cat going through it and tearing off most of his fur. As the cat is retrieving his clumps of fur from the drain, Ralph and Morton get the cake from the fridge and run back to the hole with it (animated by Darling).

That evening after the party has been set up, Ralph looks out the door, “Here she comes, Morton! Quick! Put the candles on the cake!” Once Morton is heard agreeing, “Okay, Ralph!”, Ralph turns out the lights and turns them back on when Alice appears at the door, “Surprise! Surprise! Happy birthday!”, as he gives her her gift. Alice is delighted, “Oh, Ralph! You’re the greatest! I thought you’d forgotten my birthday”. Ralph then instructs, “Well, come on, Morton! Bring in the cake!” It turns out that Morton used small mouse-sized dynamite sticks instead of candles, much to Ralph’s horror, “Morton! Y-you idiot! Those aren’t candles!” Morton soon realizes his error as he and Ralph begin tossing the cake back and forth to each other, “You can have it, Ralph!”; “I don’t want it!”; “Take it, Ralph!”; “No, no, you take it, Morton!”; “My compliments”. Ralph then runs around holding the cake as he screams, “Get it out of here!” and obliviously shoves it into the watching cat’s face where it explodes on him after Ralph and Morton shut the door. Looking out the door and seeing apparently nothing harmed from the explosion, Morton informs a visibly pleased Ralph, “No casualties, Ralph!” The cat, who’s laying chest-first in the chandelier from the explosion, with a bit of fur missing and slightly disheveled, replies in a crazed manner, “‘No casualties’, he says! Hoo-hoo-hoo!” (animated by Bonnicksen)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½