Release Date:

October 21, 1950

Main Character(s):

Sylvester

Summary:

Sylvester and Mike the bulldog are the best of friends. Meanwhile, a hungry mouse wants some cheese, but Sylvester stands in his way, so the mouse decides to turn Sylvester and Mike against each other by manipulating Mike into believing Sylvester is intentionally trying to harm him.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1139 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

We have reached yet another coincidence with this blog. Released on this day in 1950, this very cartoon just so happens to be the one we’re talking about today.

Before Tedd Pierce and Warren Foster had switched to McKimson’s and Freleng’s units respectively, Freleng wrote this cartoon as well as 1951’s “Rabbit Every Monday” himself, hence why there is no story credit (the first cartoon where a director wrote a cartoon himself that he directed is 1955’s “Two Scents Worth”, which Jones directed and wrote).

This is also the last Warner cartoon to have animation by Gerry Chiniquy before he left for a few years. He would return in 1955 and stay until the original studio’s closure in 1964 (although his first credit upon his return was 1954’s “By Word of Mouse”, due to it having finished production early. But we’ll get to that when we do).

Freleng would rework this cartoon’s plot seven years later in “Bugsy and Mugsy”. Both cartoons also feature this genuinely hilarious line, “I DON’T KNOW HOW YOUSE DONE IT, BUT I KNOW YOUSE DONE IT!” (with both instances being among Mel Blanc’s best ever yells)

What I Like About This One:

The rendition of “Hickory Dickory Dock” over the opening credits.

Sylvester and Mike are shown to have a rather unusual friendship with them being cat and dog respectively as Sylvester is using Mike’s body as a pillow as the latter asks, “Comfy, pal?” to which Sylvester smiles while nodding his head and affectionately kisses him (animated by Gerry Chiniquy).

After sniffing deeply at the cheese’s scent, the mouse attempts to sneak out against the baseboard (animated by Emery Hawkins) and then sneaks past the seemingly sleeping Sylvester who opens his left eye at him as the mouse continues tiptoeing past them (animated by Virgil Ross). Sylvester wakes Mike up and whispers, “Psst. Psst. Hey. Hey, Mike. Look. The little squirt. (chuckles) He’s tryin’ to get the cheese again.” “He never learns, does he?”, Mike asks as Sylvester shakes his head in amusement (animated by Chiniquy).

The mouse continues sneaking across the baseboard as Sylvester waits for him with his open mouth. Once the mouse unknowingly enters Sylvester’s mouth, Sylvester closes his mouth and walks off on all fours, only for the mouse to lift his jaw open and run out. Sylvester chases the mouse back to his hole, before giving up after the mouse enters his hole (animated by Hawkins).

“Did ya catch him, chum?”, Mike asks as Sylvester comes back. Sylvester answers, “Nah. Missed him again. But I sure scared the pants off of him!” Mike: “That’s good, too. Just so long as ya have fun, buddy”. Sylvester: “Thanks, pal”. Mike: “Don’t mention it, chum” (animated by Chiniquy). After they both go back to sleep, the mouse saws a hole in the ceiling from the attic and lowers the earpiece of the telephone down to Mike before calling him and pretending to be his conscience. “Am I gettin’ through to ya, Mike? All the dogs in the alley are talkin’ about ya. They say you are a sissy. You like cats. How come?” This causes Mike to wake up but upon seeing nothing around him (due to the mouse always pulling up the earpiece before Mike can see it), happily shrugs and goes back to sleep (animated by Ross).

The mouse lowers the phone’s earpiece down towards Mike’s ear again and says, “He isn’t cuddled up to ya because he LIKES you (animated by Ross), ya dope! He just wants to get warm!” Believing this, Mike moves away from Sylvester. Thinking he had fallen off, Sylvester gives a sheepish smile and moves back towards Mike, putting himself back in his previous resting position on him (animated by Chiniquy).

The mouse then plants a knife in the sleeping Sylvester’s hand and then goes back up to the attic, continuing to act as Mike’s conscience. “Listen, Mike. Don’t kid yourself. Cats is treacherous. What makes you think he isn’t waitin’ for ya to fall asleep so he can (makes throat-cutting noise) cut your throat?” After Mike makes a hilarious cringing face at the mouse’s throat-cutting noise, he wakes up in horror and upon seeing that what the mouse said is apparently true, berates a confused Sylvester: “EEE! Gimme that knife! Your dirty scheme didn’t work!” Sylvester keeps trying to explain, “But-but-but-but-” Mike snaps, “Shut up and get on the other side of the room!” Sylvester sadly says in confusion, “But-but-but you’re my buddy”. Not in a listening mood, Mike orders, “Buddy, schmuddy! The other side of the room!” After Sylvester goes over there, he asks the audience in a puzzled, hurt tone: “Wh-what happened?” (animated by Ross)

Sylvester sneaks back on all fours towards Mike, presumably thinking he will have calmed down by this point but sleeps next to him instead of on him. The mouse appears and hits Mike on the head with a mallet, putting it in Sylvester’s paw as he runs off. Thinking Sylvester was responsible, Mike grabs him by the throat: “Look, ya alley buzzard, CUT OUT THE CUTE STUFF!” He then throws Sylvester down and threatens, “Now go to sleep before I have to rough ya’s up!” Still confused, Sylvester gives us an awkward chuckle (animated by Ross).

The mouse puts an explosive cigar in Mike’s mouth and a sign saying “April Fool” in Sylvester’s hand. However, the cigar explodes quicker than the mouse expected it to and he resorts to hiding in Sylvester’s mouth in order to avoid getting caught and exposed. Furious, Mike asks, “What’s the matter? YA DEEF OR SOMETHING!? I said to cut out the clownin’!” as he slaps Sylvester around. He then tosses Sylvester, whose hands and feet are now handcuffed, into the other room. “The friendship is over! Now get in there and STAY there!” Not only does Sylvester become dazed from hitting the floor, the mouse does as well, due to still being in his mouth, as he staggers back into his hole (animated by Arthur Davis).

Thinking Sylvester can’t bother him anymore (unaware that it’s actually the mouse who’s responsible), Mike is pleased: “Ha! At last! Sleepin’ like a baby”. Shortly, the mouse saws the floor out from under Mike, causing him to crash into the basement. Seeing a saw in Sylvester’s hand, he grabs him by the throat and yells, “I DON’T KNOW HOW YOUSE DONE IT, BUT I KNOW YOUSE DONE IT!” before again slapping him (animated by Davis).

Finally, the mouse puts some horseshoes in a boxing glove and ties it onto Sylvester’s paw before going down under the floor and using a magnet to cause Sylvester to uncontrollably slide across the room on his chest with his fist sticking out. Seeing Sylvester about to punch him, Mike says in anger, “You wouldn’t DARE!” before he gets hit. Sylvester attempts to explain that he has no idea how that happened but it only comes out as incoherent sputtering as Mike lets out an enraged “Why, you!” and punches Sylvester back across the room. The mouse slides him towards Mike a second time, who again says, “Why, you…” and punches Sylvester back across once more. Every time, the mouse pulls the magnet across the ceiling on the bottom of the floor, the magnet slides back to the other side from Mike punching Sylvester. This goes back and forth a few times before the scene fades out (animated by Ken Champin).

Later, the mouse looks out and sees that Mike and Sylvester have knocked themselves unconscious from the fight he caused and have wrecked the living room. Seeing the cheese still on the table, the mouse happily walks out to get it but the magnet from below the floor causes a light fixture from the ceiling to fall down atop the mouse and knock him silly, causing him to stagger towards Mike and Sylvester, landing next to the latter (so presumably when they regain their senses, they’ll very likely put two and two together and realize the mouse was the one behind all this upon seeing him). A wrecked “Home Sweet Home” sign then falls to the ground as the cartoon irises out (animated by Davis).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕