Release Date:

December 11, 1943

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

A woman has no idea why five of her canaries have suddenly disappeared in the same month. Her cat, Rudolph, knows why: he ate them of course but he is an expert at keeping this a secret from his mistress. When a new bird, Petey, is delivered to the house, Rudolph thinks this will be an easy meal as well. But Petey proves to be very capable of outsmarting Rudolph.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 13-13, the 13th Looney Tune in the 13th release season.

This is the very last Warner cartoon to be in black and white, marking the official end to differences between Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.

The cartoon’s premise would be reworked by Freleng for the second Tweety and Sylvester cartoon, “I Taw a Putty Tat” (1948).

This is the latest Warner cartoon to be in the public domain.

“Powerhouse” plays during the scene of Rudolph anxiously waiting for the pet shop truck to arrive, while “Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals” plays during the fight inside the cage sequence.

The title is a pun for “puss in boots”.

This is the first non-Clampett cartoon to be written by Warren Foster, who would also write several of Tashlin’s Warner cartoons of the 1940’s.

The cartoon has a special rendition of the 1941-1946 Looney Tunes end theme, probably to signify that it’s the end of an era.

Jerry Beck’s commentary for this cartoon on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4 DVD set confirms who animated what scene.

Porky and Daffy are featured in the intro, despite not appearing.

What I Like About This One:

Rudolph’s introduction pretty much shows what a despicable character he is: he hiccups feathers out of his mouth (animated by James Culhane) and then goes out of his way to “help” his mistress look for the recent bird he consumed who was named “Dickie”, first by digging through the paper in a waste basket, blowing out an envelope and then looking under the stamp (animated by Don Williams).

Then, in order to throw himself off of suspicion, Rudolph opens the window, imitates tweeting noises (animated by Cal Dalton), and waves out the window while crying to make it look like Dickie flew away. Then upon hearing the lady say “that’s the fifth canary we’ve lost this month!”, Rudolph counts his fingers to make sure that he did indeed consume five canaries before hiccuping. He then literally cries a large puddle in his bed to make it appear that he really misses his “little friend” (animated by Arthur Davis).

After the lady orders another canary to be sent to her address at 1605 Maple Drive (animated by Dalton), Rudolph is seen on the brick-constructed fence, first drumming his teeth in anticipation. Upon hearing a vehicle, he becomes excited but this turns to disappointment as this vehicle is not going to their house. He then starts pacing back and forth to the tune of “Powerhouse”. Seeing another vehicle heading to their house (animated by Davis up to here), he believes it’s the pet delivery truck and excitedly points to the “1605 Maple Drive” sign on the fence and actually pulls it out to show it to them (animated by Izzy Ellis). But it’s the truck for the gas company. Rudolph continues his pacing, but suddenly the pet shop truck comes by and passes their house, since Rudolph had previously torn out the address sign. Realizing it just missed their house (animated by Davis), Rudolph whistles to get their attention to which the truck backs up and he is promptly hit by the truck’s back door (animated by Ellis) .

As the pet delivery man brings in Petey’s cage, Rudolph follows closely behind with his pitter-patter being orchestrated with piano notes as seen in the screenshot used (animated by Culhane). This particular scene can be heard on The Carl Stalling Project Volume 1.

In the early evening, when Petey and Rudolph are given their respective dinners, bird seed and milk (animated by Williams), Rudolph spits his milk out the second the lady leaves the room and with an evil expression starts stalking towards Petey (animated by Ellis). Seeing Rudolph about to attack, Petey lifts up his cage (animated by Culhane) causing Rudolph to hit the wall and form into the shape of a coin (animated by Dalton).

In order to avoid the same result again, Rudolph ties down the cage with several pieces of yarn. This time, Petey opens both doors of his cage, sending Rudolph flying out the open window, burrowing into the ground and into the outside fountain. And to add insult to injury, a Cupid statue falls on to him arrow first with Rudolph yowling in pain underwater (animated by Davis).

That night, Rudolph stacks some books atop a chair in order to reach Petey’s cage and grab him but Petey mallets Rudolph’s hand sending him falling. Petey also sends the mallet down and listens out for it to hit Rudolph. When it does, he shuts his eyes and gives a big grin (animated by Davis).

Rudolph later sneaking to the cage via the ceiling support (animated by Ellis) but once he jumps on the cage it just bounces up and down (animated by Dalton), before he is hurled into the fridge, with Petey flying out of his mouth and giving a wolf-whistle. But Rudolph is now waiting for him inside the cage and this starts an in-cage fight (animated by Davis).

Woken up by the noise, the lady goes downstairs to see what’s going on (animated by Ellis). When she turns on the light, Rudolph is nowhere to be seen. When she asks Petey if he’s seen him, he shakes his head no, and then hiccups Rudolph’s bow tie out, indicating that he ate Rudolph! (animated by Davis)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕