Release Date:

October 3, 1942

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

A cat who is a wannabe-ladies’ man sings about his lust for felines of the opposite gender. A dumb dog named Rosebud who’s been chasing him attempts to take advantage of this by using a female cat puppet.

That’s Not All, Folks:

This is the very first Looney Tune to be in color (all color cartoons released before this one were Merrie Melodies). Since a few Looney Tunes were still in black and white during this period, I am going to point out which color cartoons are Looney Tunes, up until they were no longer in black and white (there was officially no longer a difference between Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, beginning in 1944, so starting from that year until we reach the very last cartoon in 1969, I am going to point out if a cartoon was released as a Looney Tune or a Merrie Melodie).

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue (which unfortunately leads to the average viewer not knowing this is supposed to be a Looney Tune, which is also the case for other cartoons released as a Looney Tune, but were given reissues). “The Five O’Clock Whistle” played under the opening credits:

Supervision: Robert Clampett

Story: Warren Foster

Animation: Bob McKimson

Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling

Even though neither appear in this cartoon, this is the first cartoon to use the Porky and Daffy headshots that were used up until mid-1944 and later redesigned in the late 1940’s.

This is also the first Looney Tune to use the opening rings (which up until this point had been used solely on the Merrie Melodies).

The cartoon is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

Rosebud resembles the dog from “The Heckling Hare” and the voice is nearly the same since Kent Rogers voiced both of these dogs.

This is the first use of Clampett’s sound effect: “Beeowoop”.

What I Like About This One:

The cat dancing through the alley to the tune of “The Five O’Clock Whistle” (animated by Virgil Ross).

Crashing into a fence while trying to catch the cat (animated by Rev Chaney), Rosebud is seen dazed in a pile of junk where an eavesdropping robin tells him, “Gee willikers, mister. You almost got him tonight!” Rosebud responds, “Gee willikers, I almost get him every night!” (animated by Rod Scribner)

The cat singing about his love for the ladies to the tune of “Java Jive”: “Oh, I love the girls, and the girls love me, just like the Shiek of Araby. My fatal charms make ‘em fall in my arms, I am sure a gorgeous hunk of man” (to which his head morphs into a caricature of Victor Mature; animated by Ross with Scribner animating the scene where the cat’s head turns into Mature). Upon spotting a female cat pass by, he attempts to woo her with an imitation of Charles Boyer, briefly morphing into a wolf. She gives him a literal cold shoulder, causing him to shiver (animated by Robert McKimson). He then continues his song: “I don’t know what they see in me, but what’s my word against a hundred and three? The leans and the fats all think I’m the cats, I must have an awful lot of oomph, yeah!” (animated by Ross)

After the song finishes, a brick is thrown at him with a note attached. Seemingly, it’s an invitation from a female cat to pitch some woo. “Oh, boy. A ren-daze-voos”, the cat says (animated by Chaney) before picking some flowers and heading behind the fence, where he is confronted by Rosebud (animated by McKimson).

Rosebud initially fails to notice the cat in a garden windowsill with the cat obliviously imitating Rosebud’s same movements. Upon looking down and up respectively (animated by Sid Sutherland), they cause dirt and flowers to fall on top of them with the flowers on top of Rosebud having dirt on them to resemble an angry expression (animated by Ross).

The cat is doing the same dance at the start of the cartoon when he suddenly hears a feminine “yoo-hoo” (animated by Ross). It appears to be from a female cat waiting for a kiss (animated by McKimson) but said cat is actually a puppet used by Rosebud who is saying “Yoo-hoo” in a feminine voice. At one point, he accidentally says it in his normal voice before correcting himself (animated by Scribner).

The cat zooms over to where “she” is to which “she” embraces him and gives him a kiss that causes him to happily melt and slide down the crates he was standing on before jumping up in the air (to the tune of Mendelssohn’s “Spring Song”) and yelling “WOW!” in excitement; one of several instances of Mel Blanc having a character shout at the top of their voice (animated by McKimson).

Upon caressing the cat puppet, the cat feels Rosebud’s nose, honks at it, and says in Jerry Colonna’s voice, “Well, something new has been added!” before he is kissed again. He does the same sliding down crates in happiness routine, but this time unknowingly grabs Rosebud and kisses him full on the mouth (animated by McKimson). Realizing this, he spits this off in disgust before another chase begins (animated by Ross).

At one point during the chase, the cat stops to ask in a demanding tone, “Say are you following ME?” The dog answers, “Yeah, yeah that I am. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s what I’m doing. Yeah.” The cat replies with a simple “Oh” and the chase continues (animated by Sutherland).

The cat slamming a gate in Rosebud’s face (animated by Chaney) and then crowning him on the head with a frying pan, causing Rosebud to do the “character runs his finger across lips” routine (animated by Ross).

Chasing the cat onto the clothes wires, Rosebud gets tangled up and falls into some baby clothes. To this, he cries like a baby (animated by Sutherland).

Now with Rosebud out of the way, the cat continues smooching with the cat puppet. The same robin from earlier tells him, “Gee willikers, mister. That ain’t a real girl!” Undeterred, the cat responds in Colonna’s voice, “Well, I can dream, can’t I?” and continues smooching with the puppet as the cartoon irises out (animated by Scribner).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕