Release Date:

January 1, 1955

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

A house cat finds out that the glasses-wearing mouse he had been trying to catch is a talented pianist. When his owners, John and Vi Jones, decide to investigate upon hearing professional piano playing, the cat hides the mouse and the toy piano he was playing (belonging to the Jones’ unseen daughter, Mary Lou) inside the real piano as the cat mimes playing it. This causes John and Vi to believe that the cat is a musical genius and he soon becomes a celebrity for it, only for his concert at Carnegie Hall to go awry when one of the piano hammers accidentally smashes the mouse’s glasses.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1320 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

From 1955 up until 1958 (when Carl Stalling retired), Milt Franklyn scored more cartoons than Stalling, so from this point on until the last cartoon Stalling scored (1958’s “To Itch His Own”), I will be pointing out what cartoons Stalling scored.

This and tomorrow’s cartoon, “Feather Dusted”, are the only two 1955 cartoons to use the 1954 orange rings with the blue background.

John and Vi use the same character designs as John and Ethel from “Goo Goo Goliath”.

This is Freleng’s first one-shot since “The Gay Anties”, all the way back in 1947. This is also one of only three one-shots that Freleng directed with Warren Foster as writer with the other two being 1957’s “Three Little Bops” and 1958’s “A Waggily Tale”.

Manuel Perez and Virgil Ross are the only animators on the cartoon.

Richard H. Thomas did the backgrounds for this one instead of Irv Wyner.

This is one of the few cartoons to be released on New Year’s Day.

The cartoon was considered for an Academy Award but was not nominated.

John and Vi’s last names being “Jones” is presumably a reference to Chuck.

The mouse could be considered a precursor to Velma Dinkley from “Scooby-Doo” in that they are both geniuses who are blind without their glasses.

The toy piano being capable of playing real music is similar to how Schroeder’s operates in “Peanuts”.

When the cat says, “This I gotta see”, his mouth doesn't move, once again showing dialogue very likely added in after the scene was animated.

Favorite Scene:

The disastrous concert scene.

What Happens in This One:

Through still pictures introducing them, the narrator tells us, “This is a story about an ordinary cat and an extraordinary mouse. This cat and mouse lived in an ordinary house occupied by an ordinary couple, Mr. and Mrs. Jones”. Vi then says, “Oh, John. I’ve been terribly disturbed about Mary Lou’s toy piano disappearing so mysteriously”. John puts his newspaper down and asks in an annoyed tone, “So what’s to be disturbed?” Vi continues, “It’s not only the piano but we keep missing sheet music. And besides, I keep hearing someone playing that piano”. John, even more annoyed, replies, “Oh, Vi, please”, to which Vi answers, “Well, it’s true” before she goes back to reading herself (animated by Manuel Perez).

Someone is heard playing Liszt’s “Liebestraum No. 3” (animated by Perez), but no one is seen at the actual piano. When the camera stops at the mouse hole and the music stops, it’s revealed to be the mouse who’s playing the toy piano when he sneaks out to get more sheet music from the real piano. The cat, who’s been asleep on the rug, opens his left eye and begins chasing the mouse, who is taking the sheet music he needs with him. After a chase under the sofa, the mouse trips, causing him to lose his glasses. He gropes around for them, only for the cat to kick them under the sofa when he’s about to grab hold of them. The cat then picks him up and gives the mouse his glasses back. “Oh, thank you, sir”, the mouse says before seeing the cat, wiping his glasses to make sure he saw correctly, and then putting them back on, before screaming, “Eee!” (animated by Virgil Ross)

The mouse informs the cat, “Please, Mr. Cat. You’ll be making a terrible mistake. I’m no ordinary mouse. I’m considered to be a very fine pianist. Eh, that is, by my friends”. The cat laughs at this, “A mouse playing a piano! Whoever heard of a mouse pianist!?”, but the mouse insists, “But it’s TRUE, sir! If you will just hand me my piano…” The cat does so and smirks, “This I gotta see”. He then grabs some challenging sheet music from the piano and tells him, “Okay, Padermouseski. Play”. Silently reacting in shock to the complicated music notes, the mouse promises, “Uh, yes sir. I shall do my very best, sir”. He then begins playing Chopin’s “Minute Waltz” masterfully, much to the cat’s amazement (animated by Ross).

Vi hears the music, “There’s that piano again. I’m sure I hear it this time”. John goes with her to investigate, “I don’t think she’s kiddin’” (animated by Perez). The cat hears them approaching so he hides the mouse and the toy piano in the real piano while the mouse is still playing. Once the door opens, the cat makes it look like he’s playing the music by pretending to play the piano (animated by Ross), even though he’s not actually touching the keys. Vi drops her book in shock upon seeing this, before she and John leave (animated by Perez). Curious as to what they’re doing, the cat rushes off to listen before shushing the mouse to get him to play quieter so he can hear what John and Vi are about to do. Vi calls on the telephone, “Hello? United Press?” Upon hearing this, the cat opens the piano and informs, “Alright, mouse. I’ll spare ya, but ya gotta do as I tell ya”. The mouse agrees, “Oh, yes, sir. I WILL, sir. Thank you, sir” (animated by Ross).

A few days later, the press and several people are seen outside the Jones residence, having found out about the “miracle cat”. A newspaper headline, “Miracle Cat Plays Piano” with the article, “Scientists Study Talented Feline” is shown, before a group of scientists are shown in a lab trying to find out how the cat is apparently a musical genius. “Looks like just an ordinary house cat to me”; “I don’t understand it”. The scientist who said the latter pulls a machine down over the cat’s head in order to see his brain, only to see nothing but a peanut inside, revealing the cat is a literal peanut brain. “THIS is a GENIUS!?” The cat is then shown stamping his paw print on numerous contracts (animated by Perez).

“Leopold Stabowski”’s Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall is canceled in favor of a concert performance by the cat, complete with the marquee advertising, “Miracle Cat Debut Tonite”. Before the curtain rises up to an audience that includes four snobby, stone-faced music critics, the cat takes the sheet music for the piece he is to “play” and the mouse across the stage before putting them in the actual piano, before instructing, “Now, listen, mouse. When I give you the signal, start playing. Get it?” The mouse answers, “Yes, sir”, before the cat sneaks back to exit the stage (animated by Perez).

The curtain then rises as the cat walks out on all four’s to the applauding audience and a beaming John and Vi in the balcony (animated by Perez). The cat turns his sheet music and taps the mouse on the head with one of the piano hammers, which is the signal for him to play. The mouse begins to play Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 14” with the cat miming it before falling out of his seat at the end of the movement. He taps the mouse on the head with the piano hammer again, only for the mouse to turn around at the wrong moment, causing the hammer to smash his glasses to pieces. No longer able to read the sheet music, the mouse’s playing now sounds very off-key and distorted, much to the cat and the audience’s shock. One of the critics exclaims, “Ridiculous!”, as the cat gives a silent nervous chuckle (animated by Ross). The critics all walk out angrily with one exclaiming, “Insulting!” and another one in an Italian accent, “That’s-a preposterous-a”. As the crowd is heard booing, John and Vi sneak out through the stage entrance. The newspaper headline reads, “‘Piano Playing’ Cat Exposed as Fraud”, with a picture of the cat with a sad expression and an article, “Music World in Uproar Over Hoax” (animated by Perez).

Back at the house, the cat is waiting outside the mouse hole, angry about the events of the previous night. The cat chases the mouse to a drum set and finds the mouse walking across one of them disguised as a Chinese before striking the cymbal he was using for his conical hat. Attempting to hit the mouse with the drumsticks, the cat realizes he is actually good at percussion (animated by Ross).

Pleased, the cat begins playing “Crazy Rhythm” on the drums, with the mouse soon joining in with the toy piano (animated by Ross). John and Vi witness this as Vi attempts to call the press again, only for John to put the phone down, “Oh, no! No ya don’t! We’re not gonna go through that again!” (animated by Perez) The narrator gives the closing line, “And so, Mr. and Mrs. Jones found themselves in a peculiar position. They were the lucky owners of unusually talented pets. BUT, they did not dare tell anyone”. The cat and mouse continue playing “Crazy Rhythm” with John and Vi listening contently as the cartoon ends (animated by Ross).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½