Release Date:

September 6, 1952

Main Character(s):

Claude Cat

Summary:

A mouse family with a teenage girl mouse moves in to a mouse hole from across the hole where a teenage boy mouse resides. The boy and girl mouse fall in love, but Claude Cat resides in the house, and attempts to catch the boy mouse, later using his newfound feelings for the girl mouse to his advantage.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1212 and was released as a Looney Tune.

This is Claude’s only solo cartoon. He also uses his same devious personality seen in his cartoons with Frisky Puppy.

The title is a pun for “heartwarming”.

This is a rare instance of a cartoon focusing on teenage romance, rather than adult romance.

The toy car that the girl mouse’s father drives is the slightly resembles a Hudson Hornet, the same model as Doc Hudson from “Cars” (2006).

Lloyd Vaughan’s last name is misspelled as “Vaughn” in the opening credits.

The cartoon has no dialogue, so Milt Franklyn is credited for orchestrations.

The filmography section in Steve Schneider’s excellent 1988 book, “That’s All Folks! The Art of Warner Bros. Animation” (which contains the most accurate Warner filmography in terms of release order and release date seen in any book about them) mistakenly lists Hubie and Bertie appearing in this one even though they had already been retired for over a year at this point (one of the movers does look a bit like Hubie, though). There is also a typo saying this was released on September 8, 1952 which is wrong, because September 8, 1952 was on a Monday, and Warner cartoons were released on Saturdays, so this was released on September 6, 1952.

Another bulldog named “Butcher” would appear in 1958’s “To Itch His Own”, also directed by Jones and also another cartoon with no dialogue.

“Reckless Night On Board an Ocean Liner” plays during the opening scene of the cartoon up until the point where the movers start bringing the furniture into the girl mouse’s family’s hole.

The 2012 DVD Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles The Chuck Jones Collection which contains the complete filmographies of Sniffles and Hubie and Bertie on its two respective discs fully restored also contains 11 unrestored bonus cartoons revolving around mice (of the 11, only “Mouse Mazurka” is restored). This one was the only one of the 11 to be a Jones cartoon. The cartoon was later restored for HBO Max in 2020, with this same restored print later appearing on the Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice Volume 4 Blu-ray set.

Favorite Scene:

Near the end, the boy mouse decides he can write fake notes too (as Claude had been sending phony notes) and sends one to Claude, fooling him into believing Butcher the bulldog has decided to stop tormenting him and wants him to come over for a game of Canasta. Claude completely falls for it, but after he’s set up the table, cards, snacks, and drinks, Butcher beats him up in rage for waking him up.

What Happens in This One:

An ACME Moving Co. van is seen driving along, before it’s revealed to be a wind-up toy as it’s mice as movers who driving it near a mouse hole as they start bringing in the furniture. After the family moving into the hole settles in, a sign is put on the door leading outside, “No Peddlers or Cats”. As the father mouse is reading the paper, and the mother mouse is knitting, their daughter, the girl mouse is looking outside her window facing outdoors, before she hears some driving noises and looks out her window facing the kitchen in curiosity. It turns out to be the boy mouse driving his car, a toy hot rod, that he soon parks in his “garage”, which is labeled “Hot Rod The Toy Car with a Genuine Gasoline Motor” (animated by Ben Washam).

As the boy mouse starts to go back into his hole, he suddenly stops upon sensing something and turns around to see that the girl mouse has been watching him. He immediately falls head over heels for her, and happily runs back into his hole to take an “ACME Cube Sugar” out of his sugar bowl, which he starts to walk over to the girl mouse’s hole with. Claude sees him and sneaks up to him, pretending to be a door. The boy mouse obliviously knocks on Claude’s teeth like a door, to which Claude opens them like one and has his tongue pose as a welcome mat. The boy mouse soon realizes where he is and runs back into his hole. Claude attempts to reach for him, but only ends up getting a mouse trap on his hand. He at first laughs at this, before yowling in pain upon realizing it (animated by Washam).

The boy mouse attempts to move a pipe towards the girl mouse’s door underneath the sleeping Claude, but Claude wakes up upon feeling the pipe move under him. Claude takes the door off of a doll house and puts it on his mouth before positioning himself in front of the girl mouse’s hole. The boy mouse obliviously enters Claude’s mouth, only for Claude to feel and hear the boy mouse descending down his stomach like stairs, before the boy mouse lights a match from inside Claude’s mouth as his silhouette is shown looking at Claude’s ribs. Seeing smoke emitting from his mouth, Claude jumps up in pain, yowling. Coming out with the lit match, the boy mouse retreats back to his hole as Claude crashes into the ceiling offscreen (animated by Ken Harris).

Spotting the boy mouse sighing contently in love while looking across the room, Claude is initially confused, but upon seeing that the boy mouse and the girl mouse are looking at each other lovingly, Claude finds out about the boy mouse’s crush and gives a silent smirking smile, realizing he can use this as an advantage. Using his claw to write by dipping it in ink, he writes a phony note from the girl mouse, “Dear Mister Mouse, I am in my teens- sixteen months- and deemed not unattractive by my friends. Can you meet me at eight tonight under the garbage disposal? Yours (?) Alice (the girl across the way)” before spraying it with perfume called “Desire No. 5” to make it convincing (animated by Washam).

Claude sends the note as a paper airplane into the boy mouse’s hole. Getting a whiff of the perfume, the boy mouse looks at the note, and falling for it, he faints happily on his bed (animated by Harris). At 8 pm, the boy mouse drives his hot rod to the garbage disposal, where the “girl mouse” is there, unaware that it’s actually a puppet looking like her, used by Claude hiding behind the disposal. “She” walks up to him and hugs him, but the boy mouse’s happiness disappears when he sees that he is moving up towards an evil-smiling Claude. The boy mouse gets out of his clutches, and takes the puppet with him, before he jumps on the disposal’s pedestal, causing it to bash Claude in the face like a cymbal, allowing the boy mouse to drive off (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

The boy mouse is seen back in his hole with the puppet (animated by Harris) as Claude writes another phony note this time writing a threatening one addressed to the girl mouse’s father that he slides under the door, “Look you! I saw that apartment first, so get out because I’m moving in!! The mouse across the way- P.S. or else!”, with the last two words double underlined. Believing this, the father mouse waits with a gun while tapping his foot. Claude then puts a handwritten “Boarder Wanted” sign on the baseboard of the girl mouse’s home and then gives a flirty whistle sounding like “Yoo hoo”. The boy mouse hears this and spots the “Boarder Wanted” sign, believing he’s allowed to move in with them. Wearing several hats atop his head, the boy mouse walks to the girl mouse’s hole with his bags packed and enters. He soon runs out into Claude’s waiting mouth, having seen the father mouse’s gun, but Claude ends up getting shot in the face instead. The boy mouse exits out of Claude’s mouth, using his teeth as a door, before going back into his hole (animated by Washam).

Deciding to write a phony note himself, the mouse uses his tail to write it. As Claude is irritably licking his still-charred face, the boy mouse tosses his note into the window as a paper airplane. It lands near Claude, who reads it, “Dear Cat (Pal), I’ve decided to give up my evil ways and be nice to you. Yours in friendship, The Dog- P.S. How’s about coming over for a game of Canasta?” (animated by Harris)

With his face back to normal, Claude looks out the window at Butcher the bulldog’s doghouse, while smiling. He walks into the doghouse with a foldable table that he places in front of the sleeping Butcher, who wakes up in confusion at this. Claude soon returns with drinks and a box of dog biscuits for Butcher while he deals the cards. After he drinks from his glass, and gives Butcher a wave while smiling, Butcher’s eyes turn red in rage before he rolls up his “sleeves” and kicks the table away. An offscreen fight from inside the doghouse ensues. Claude comes out, dazed, wearing the table around his neck, and tossing cards away, while walking away into the distance. Meanwhile, finally alone, the boy mouse and the girl mouse share a romantic drink together from the fridge (having their own separate straws while drinking from the same drink), with a heart-shaped iris out ending the cartoon (animated by Harris).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½