Release Date:

February 23, 1957

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

When a businessman at an airport wonders what a red female cat is doing there waiting, a guy who works at the airport explains that her boyfriend is a literal flying cat (who flies by spinning his tail like a propeller) who in flashback is shown to have been raised by a mother eagle. Once able to leave the nest, he witnesses this same red cat being chased by a ferocious bulldog. After saving and falling in love with the red cat, the flying cat uses his abilities to heckle the bulldog.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1433 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The flying cat has the same character design as Pussyfoot, but is clearly a male. The bulldog also resembles Marc Anthony, which has caused naive fans to believe that this is a Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot cartoon, even though it very obviously isn’t as this would not only make Marc Anthony severely out of character but also get Pussyfoot’s gender wrong.

With this being a romance-centered cartoon, it was coincidentally released nine days after Valentine’s Day.

There is no dialogue in this cartoon apart from the two men speaking (Mel Blanc voices the businessman while Daws Butler voices the airport worker).

The title is a pun for “go fly a kite”.

Favorite Scene:

The bulldog jumps on the flying cat, only to realize too late that he got tricked into chewing on his own leg.

What Happens in This One:

The opening titles are a camera pan across a plane coming in for a landing at the airport. Waiting at the railing pointing towards “Gates 5-11” is the red cat, much to the confusion of a businessman, “What the heck’s that cat doing up there?” The airport worker, who’s getting coffee, responds, “Oh, uh, she’s, uh, she’s just waiting for her boyfriend to fly back to her”. Businessman: “Boyfriend? (chuckles) What’s she in love with anyway? A DC6?” As the red cat climbs down the railing, the worker answers, “Uh, no, no. Her boyfriend’s a flying cat”. Businessman: “A flying what!?” Worker: “A flying cat”. The businessman replies in a somewhat sarcastic manner, “Oh, oh, sure, sure”. The worker explains this is true, “No, no, no, no. You see…it makes sense” (animated by Ken Harris).

A flashback is shown for the majority of the cartoon’s remainder as the worker narrates, “When he was just a little… kitten, an orphan, he was adopted by an eagle. An old lady eagle with a… overdeveloped mother instinct”. The eagle is seen carrying a bottle of milk over to the cat in her nest, who has it poured into his waiting mouth, giving him a full stomach. “She treated that little cat like he was her very own eaglet. Taught him everything she could about being a bird. How to fly and everything. (chuckles) And he was plenty eager to learn”. When the cat attempts to fly by jumping off the ledge the nest is on and flapping his arms, he ends up plummeting. The horrified eagle zooms down after him, but he soon masters flying in a rather different way- using his tail as a propeller. The eagle sees this and flies back up to him, clapping her claws like hands. After the eagle gives a proud look to the camera, the flying cat zooms up to her beak and rubs it as his way of giving a hug (animated by Harris).

After a touching scene of them happily flying together is shown, the worker is heard again, “Ah, they had terrific times together. But, you know, uh, the time came when like all other young birds, he had to leave the nest and fly out into the world”. The flying cat and eagle share a tearful goodbye before the former flies off for the new chapter in his life. In another town, he notices something below and zooms down there. What he spotted were three blackbirds on a telephone wire letting out chirps one by one. After all three of them do so, they are confused by a meow, pointing to each other, wondering who let out that sound. They all shake their heads and resume their one by one chirping but they hear the meow again and see this time, the flying cat sitting near them on the wire. Completely bewildered at this sight, the blackbirds jump off the wire and fly into the distance, repeatedly slamming their heads into each other (animated by Richard Thompson).

The flying cat then hears barking noises and witnesses the red cat being chased by the bulldog. He decides to spring into action and lets out every front claw before zooming down to attack the bulldog by scratching across his back from the air and then picking up the red cat and lifting her to safety on a tree branch. While she pants from running, she and the flying cat are immediately smitten with each other. The flying cat zooms back down just as the bulldog, looking at the large scratch on his back, hears a noise and begins snarling at it from the wrong direction. He then hears a meow and turns around still snarling to see this came from the flying cat who has landed on all four’s a good distance in front of him (animated by Abe Levitow).

The bulldog runs towards him to attack, with the flying cat just standing there and then letting out a yawn. The red cat covers her face in fright, only for the flying cat to go off the ground at the last second and scratch the still-running bulldog’s back again. The bulldog stops running and due to not paying attention to what’s in front of him since he’s so busy staring at the flying cat, ends up skidding off the edge of the bank and landing in the river (animated by Levitow).

The red cat watches the bulldog getting out of the river and sneaking along, so she tries to warn the flying cat with meowing noises. He only waves to her and blows a kiss. She continues attempting to warn him, but he only sighs at her contently. The bulldog suddenly jumps out from behind and begins presumably wrestling the flying cat. The red cat starts to worry, but she has no need to do that, as the flying cat flies up unharmed and points down to the oblivious bulldog. The bulldog doesn’t realize he’s ended up chewing on his own leg until it’s too late and then kisses it to relieve the pain. The flying cat lands atop the bulldog’s head and begins licking himself, so the bulldog attempts to club him. He only ends up hitting himself on the head due to the flying cat flying off of his head. The same thing happens a second time, before the bulldog starts uncontrollably hitting himself numerous times. The flying cat then lands on top of the club, with the bulldog also failing to get him off with hitting it on the ground. He throws the club aside and turns around to see the flying cat having presumably disappeared and is pleased, unaware that the flying cat is actually behind him. The flying cat startles the bulldog with a yowling noise, with the latter crashing into a nearby trash can (animated by Thompson).

Angry, the bulldog runs toward the flying cat with the can and traps him in it. The red cat is again worried while the bulldog chuckles at successfully capturing the flying cat, but the latter takes off from under the trash can, taking it and the bulldog with him. The bulldog stops chuckling upon realizing that he’s being carried high into the air, so he clings to the top of the can in fear. The flying cat takes the can and the bulldog all the way to the top of a skyscraper antenna and leaves them atop there as he waves goodbye and returns to the red cat. The bulldog nearly slides off the left side of the trash can and sees the very long drop below him. He gets back onto the can, which now tilts to the right and that too has a very long drop below. Not being able to go anywhere without potentially falling, the bulldog hangs on to the top of the can which teeters back and forth from his weight (animated by Thompson).

That night, the bulldog is still in his predicament while the flying cat and red cat gaze at each other lovingly. The airport worker ends the flashback with, “And that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship” (animated by Thompson). Back to the present as the red cat climbs back up to the rail, the worker concludes, “But every fall, he has to fly south for the winter, and each spring, she waits here for him to return”. The red cat’s look of anticipation turns to a beyond joyful smile as the flying cat enters the airport and stops in front of her. As they lovingly gaze at each other, their litter of lookalike airborne kittens join them and gaze at each other a similar way (animated by Harris).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½