Release Date:

June 2, 1956

Main Character(s):

Sylvester

Summary:

Sylvester’s owners, John and Marsha, are fed up with his laziness and plan to get rid of him since there haven’t been any mice in the house. Overhearing this, Sylvester is desperate to keep his happy home and is relieved to find a mouse outside. He uses the mouse as a scheme for him to stay which works well for a while, only for the mouse to eventually wise up and turn on him.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1388 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

This one is notable for being McKimson’s only ever Sylvester solo cartoon (and the only Sylvester solo cartoon not directed by Freleng). Considering that Warren Foster wrote this one rather than Tedd Pierce, my theory is that this was going to be a Freleng cartoon, but Freleng didn’t really like the plot when Foster pitched the idea. McKimson, however, saw potential in it and had Foster write it for him.

Sylvester’s owners’ names, John and Marsha, are a reference to Stan Freberg’s novelty record of the same name.

June Foray, who voices Marsha, is a guest on Jerry Beck’s commentary for this cartoon on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4 DVD set.

The title is a pun for “unexpected guest”.

This and every other cartoon this week all use the 1954-1955 red-purple rings with the blue background in their “That’s all, Folks!” closing cards.

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

Carl Stalling scored this one.

I absolutely adore the lively music over the opening credits.

Favorite Scene:

The mouse’s dangerous stunts that Sylvester goes a little too far in preventing.

What Happens in This One:

John comes home from work and after closing the garage from parking his car in there, begins to walk into the house. He spots Sylvester’s “Kitty” bowl turned upside down and flies buzzing around it, along with fish skeletons laying near them. He comes in and finds Sylvester relaxing on the sofa, asleep (animated by George Grandpre). When John goes up to Sylvester (animated by Keith Darling), Sylvester wakes up and lets out a disgusted groan at him before pulling the pillow over his face (animated by Grandpre).

Annoyed with Sylvester’s laziness, John walks into another room (animated by Darling), with Sylvester sticking his tongue out at him, as the former asks, “Hey, Marsha. Why do we have to put up with that dirty old cat- scratching up the furniture and making a mess out of the house?” Marsha answers as Sylvester listens, “Well, John. We got him to get rid of those mice, remember?”, with Sylvester nodding. John: “Yeah, I remember. But there hasn’t been a mouse around the house for months!” Marsha: “Yes, that’s right, come to think of it. I’ll call the society tomorrow and get rid of him”. Falling off the sofa from listening to this, Sylvester is horrified, “Society? Rid of me? Sufferin’ succotash! I gotta get a mouse to keep my happy home!” He pushes the piano in front of a mouse hole out of the way and reaches in this hole, only to find nothing in there. He then reaches in the hole behind the curtains, but there isn’t anything in there either. “S-s-s-sakes alive! There isn’t a m-m-mouse in the h-h-house!” (animated by Ted Bonnicksen)

Sylvester then hears rattling noises outside and looks out the window (animated by Bonnicksen). It turns out to be a mouse walking around the trash cans, looking for food. Delighted, Sylvester exclaims, “A mou- a mou- mou- mou- mou- a LIFESAVER!” He climbs out the window and sneaks up behind the mouse, before posing behind him with a devious smile in ready to attack mode. Once the mouse realizes his presence and turns around to find Sylvester behind him, he faints in shock. Sylvester takes him back to the house (animated by Russ Dyson) and puts him under a pillow on the sofa before kissing it and running off. He comes back with a piece of cheese that he puts next to the mouse after removing the pillow (animated by Grandpre) before explaining to us, “Cheese works better than smelling salts for a mouse!” The mouse wakes up upon sniffing it and initially believes, “Ah! I know! I’m in heaven!” Once he spots Sylvester glaring at him, he then believes, “No! I must be in the other place!” Sylvester then replies, “Well, I’ll tell ya where you’re gonna be unless ya do as I tell ya, and that’s down the hatch!” (animated by Bonnicksen)

The mouse pleads, “Oh, please spare me, Mr. Pussycat! I’ll do anything you say!” Sylvester agrees while grabbing him and then warning, “Okay, but remember. You disobey me, it’s… down the hatch!” Mouse: “No! No! Not that! I’ll be your slave!” Sylvester: “Okay, slave! I got a job for ya! (chuckles evilly)” (animated by Bonnicksen) Sylvester walks with the mouse to the kitchen door and instructs, “Now you go into that kitchen and scare the lady good or- the hatch! Now get in and scare her!” (animated by Grandpre) The mouse walks into the kitchen and starts making random noises to get Marsha’s attention, which does indeed scare her, as she gets onto a chair in fright. Listening at the door, Sylvester does a Tarzan yell and acts as a rescuer, coming into the kitchen, and beating up on the mouse by pounding him on the head and slapping him around (animated by Bonnicksen).

As Sylvester runs out of the kitchen with the mouse, he listens to John entering and asking, “Marsha, what’s going on in here!?” When Marsha answers, “Oh, John, we’ll have to keep (animated by Dyson) the cat! He just caught a great big mouse and there may be others around!” Sylvester chuckles, “Or the same one lots of times, sister!” A montage of this going on for a while (from May 29 to June 15, to be exact) is then shown (animated by Bonnicksen).

With this scheme having gone on for about two weeks, Sylvester takes the mouse out of the jar he’s been hiding him in, “Come on, slave! Time to do your stuff!” The mouse, however, has caught on, “Just a minute, cat! I’ve been doing some thinking!” Sylvester replies in a mocking tone, “Oh, yeah? And what about, peanut brain?” The mouse answers, “Well, uh, it looks like you need ME to keep your happy home!” Sylvester: “Oh, yeah? And what’s that make YOU?” The mouse starts to become bold, “Well, from now on, it makes me BOSS around here!”, as he pulls out one of Sylvester’s whiskers. After exclaiming in pain, Sylvester starts to become angry, “Why, you little- I’ll-!” The mouse asks, “You’ll what?” Sylvester: “Why, I’ll-!” The mouse jumps into Sylvester’s mouth and continues, “Down the hatch? I dare ya! I DOUBLE dare ya!” He starts pulling on Sylvester’s upper lip to shut his mouth, with Sylvester shaking his head and trying to tell him not to, but unable to form words, due to the mouse’s pulling. Sylvester takes the mouse out of his mouth, as the mouse decides, “Okay! But you’d better keep an eye on me! You just can’t afford to have anything happen to me! And away he go!” before running off (animated by Keith Darling).

Sylvester begins looking around for the mouse, “Hey, mouse! Where are ya!? Where’d ya go!? Mouse!?” The mouse answers from offscreen, “Up here, cat!” He is on the plate rail about to push a dish off. Sylvester shouts in horror, “Don’t do it! Don’t do it!” and races to catch it, bashing face-first into the wall in the process. He also catches a mug that was pushed off by the mouse. The mouse then starts running along the plate rail pushing everything off of there and Sylvester catching them all. Sylvester then hears the mouse call, “Oh, pussycat!” and then faking a suicide, “Goodbye, cruel world!” by jumping off the plate rail. This causes Sylvester to drop everything he caught in shock and run over to catch the mouse, again bashing into the wall face-first (animated by Dyson).

Looking for the mouse again, Sylvester hears the mouse calling to him, “Hey, cat! Look at me!”, causing Sylvester to react in horror, “Ooh! No!” It turns out the mouse is attempting to remove a piece of cheese from the mousetrap and he runs off before Sylvester can catch up to him. The mousetrap instead snaps on Sylvester’s hand, causing him to scream in pain. Sylvester then makes a silent horrified take when the mouse calls, “Hey, pussycat!” (animated by Dyson) The mouse is about to drop an iron onto his head, “I might get hurt!”, before Sylvester runs in and catches the mouse, causing the iron to drop on Sylvester. Upon coming to, Sylvester hears the mouse whistling to him, “Hey, pussycat!” (animated by Grandpre) This time, the mouse is sitting on a dynamite stick which Sylvester takes away and throws it outside where it explodes. Unfortunately for him, it turns out it exploded on John coming into the house, who angrily confronts him in his ruined clothes, “Why, you fleabitten- Ooh!”, causing Sylvester to give him a sheepish smile (animated by Darling).

Later, a bandaged Sylvester is seen walking along the trail, revealing that John beat him up badly and ousted him. No longer showing the same amount of concern he did at the start of the cartoon, Sylvester says to himself, “Hmmph! That’s not the ONLY place to live! A good pussycat can ALWAYS find a home!” Hearing a whistle and familiar voice calling, “Hey, pussycat!”, Sylvester spots the mouse seemingly about to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, “I’m ending it all! Goodbye!” Unbeknownst to Sylvester, the mouse faked this suicide and actually jumped onto one of the bridge’s arches. The mouse literally says, “Splash!” and makes the appropriate gargling noises to make it seem convincing. Sylvester remarks, “And good riddance, too!” before walking away and scatting happily to himself (animated by Grandpre up to here). The mouse gets back up on the bridge and explains to us why he did this, “After all he’s been through, I thought he deserved a happy ending!” (animated by Darling)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

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