Gay Purr-ee

Gay Purr-ee
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Abe Levitow
Written by	Dorothy Jones Chuck Jones
Produced by	Henry G. Saperstein Lee Orgel
Starring	Judy Garland Robert Goulet Red Buttons Hermione Gingold Paul Frees Mel Blanc
Edited by	Earl Bennett Sam Horta
Music by	Harold Arlen
Production company	UPA
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	October 24, 1962(1962-10-24)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Gay Purr-eeis a 1962 Americananimatedmusical filmproduced byUnited Productions of Americaand released byWarner Bros.It features the voice ofJudy Garlandas Mewsette, a feline living in the French countryside wanting to go toParisin her only animated-film role, as well asRobert Gouletin his first feature film as her love interest Jaune Tom. While the film did received positive reviews, in reality, it was a box office failure. It is also the first animated feature film to be theatrically released by Warner Bros, and the second and final animated film by UPA.

Plot

The story is set in 1895 and takes place predominantly inParis,but it begins on a farm in ruralProvence.The lovely cat Mewsette and the accomplished but shy mouser Jaune Tom are in love, until the former is frustrated with his plebeian ways (and those of the farm), to the point of calling him a "clumsy country clod". Inspired by the human Jeanette's stories ofglamour and sophistication in Paris,Mewsette runs away by taking a train to the big city, where she encounters the slick con-cat Meowrice. Taking advantage of the country kitty's naivete, he puts her in the care of the sultry Madame Henrietta Reubens-Chatte, who promises to turn Mewsette into a daintydebutanteknown as "The Belle of all Paris". Unbeknownst to Mewsette, Meowrice is grooming her to be themail-order brideof a richAmericancat inPittsburghknown as "Mr. Henry Phtt". Meanwhile, Jaune Tom and his sidekick Robespierre arrive in Paris, searching for Mewsette.

Training does not go well. Just as Mewsette is about to give up and return to the farm, Meowrice takes her out to see the cat side of Paris, theEiffel Tower,theChamps-Élyséesand theMewlon Rougeand then take a buggy ride back home. Reinvigorated, she returns to her studies. Jaune Tom and Robespierre arrive just at that moment but get waylaid by one of Meowrice's shadowy cat henchmen and barely escape drowning in Paris's famous labyrinthinesewers.By coincidence, Jaune Tom displays his incredible mouse-hunting skills in front of Meowrice, who sees a money-making opportunity, gets them drunk, and sells them as mousers to a ship bound forAlaska.On the ship, Robespierre consoles a depressed Jaune Tom, telling him that any problem, regardless of size, can be broken up into manageable pieces, by remarking that even the mighty ocean is made up of little drops of water. Jaune Tom has a vision of Mewsette singing about how no problem is unconquerable, and the importance of never giving up.

Mewsette finishes her training and is now lovely enough to impress even Meowrice, who commissions a series ofpaintingsof her so that he can send them to Phtt. Meowrice quietly writes a check withinvisible inkto pay his "sister" Madame Reubens-Chatte, and takes Mewsette to his hideout inNotre Dame.There, he reveals his plan to ship her to America and tries to coerce her to enter a luggage crate, but after seeing a portrait of Phtt, unseen by the audience, she manages to escape Meowrice and his sidekicks. In the resulting chase scene, she leads them to abulldog,who injures Meowrice badly enough to put him out of action for six weeks. Meanwhile, his sycophants (who are nowhere near as intelligent as he is) comb the city without success, searching for Mewsette. Meanwhile, not long after they reach Alaska, Jaune Tom and Robespierre strikegoldthanks to the former's mouse-hunting skills. Now wealthy, the two cats hurry back to Paris.

A disillusioned and homeless Mewsette wanders around the streets of Paris and stops atop a bridge over the river, considering ending her misery, but she is captured by Meowrice and his sidekicks. She is taken to theGare du Nordrailway station,en route to a boat to America, and all hope seems lost, when Jaune Tom and Robespierre arrive. They have been aided by Reubens-Chatte, who is outraged that her own "brother" double-crossed her and tears up the worthless check. Fighting inside the boxcar of a moving train, the three heroes defeat Meowrice and pack him into the crate intended for Mewsette instead of kicking him off the train, as a surprise for Phtt. The film concludes with Mewsette, Jaune Tom and Robespierre enjoying the high life in Paris that Mewsette was seeking when she left home.

Voice cast

• Judy Garlandas Mewsette,a beautiful whiteTurkish Angoraand Jaune Tom's girlfriend.
• Robert Gouletas Jaune Tom,an orangetabby cat.
• Red Buttonsas Robespierre,a young black and white cat and Jaune Tom's friend.
• Paul Freesas Meowrice,a slimtuxedo cat.Frees also plays the voice of the cat from the railway station.
• Hermione Gingoldas Mme. Rubens-Chatte,Meowrice's "sister" and aPersian cat.
• Morey AmsterdamasNarratorand Man on Ship.
• Mel BlancasBulldogand additional voices.
• The Mellomenas Meowrice'sbusiness partners(singing voices).
• Julie BennettandJoan Gardneras two ladies fromProvence.
• Thurl Ravenscroftas Singing Hench Cat (uncredited).

Production

Gay Purr-eewas the second and final feature film, following1001 Arabian NightswithMr. Magoo,produced by UPA (United Productions of America), a studio which had revolutionized animation during the 1950s by incorporating design andlimited animation.

The script forGay Purr-eewas written by Dorothy Webster Jones and her husband,Chuck Jones,who was a veteran director forWarner Bros. Cartoons.One of the former animators from his Warner Bros. unit,Abe Levitow,directed the film.According to the production notes on theDVDedition, it was Garland who suggested that herWizard of Ozsongwriters,Harold ArlenandE.Y. Harburg,should write and compose the songs forGay Purr-ee.

A copyright entry for a song titled "Free at Last" made for the film exists, though it is not included in the final production.

When Warner Bros. became the film's distributor, they discovered that Chuck Jones had worked on the film. After a long debate with management over the details of Jones' exclusivity agreement, the studio fired Jones in July 1962 and laid off his staff after they had finished their next cartoon.After Warner Bros. Cartoons was closed a year later, Jones hired his old unit for his first independent studio,Sib Tower 12 Productions.

Reception

Gay Purr-eewas theatrically released on December 17, 1962. On thereview aggregatorwebsiteRotten Tomatoes,60% of 6 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10.

Bosley CrowtherofThe New York Timesfelt the film's backgrounds were "good-natured tone and diverting" but felt "the characters almost pale by contrast".Philip K. Scheuer of theLos Angeles Timeswrote: "The animation, in Technicolor, is inventive enough, leaning toward the economy of motion with which UPA revolutionized the cartoon movie (to say nothing of the TV commercial) and filling in the backgrounds with charming semi-abstractions in consonance with what might be called the modern French manner."Varietyfelt the film was "hampered by an uninspired storyline, but its otherwise slick and meticulous production values overshadow the weakness with ample artistry."ANewsweekreview felt that the film's subject matter was too sophisticated for an animated film, drily noting that its target audience seemed to be "the fey four-year-old of recherché taste".Jerry Beck,in his 2005 bookThe Animated Movie Guide,feltGay Purr-eewas "a good effort" and "unjustly underrated". Despite its "strong design sense" and voice cast, he agreed the animation quality is sometimes "on a television level or worse".

Multiple analyses have noted itsmoderniststyle, called "remarkably designed" in one such review.

One analysis claims themodernist aesthetichas plot implications: though both urban and pastoral landscapes are equally "highlighted", the plot praises the triumph of "pastoral nature over corrupt urban technology".

Home media

Gay Pur-eewas released onVHSandLaserDiscin 1991 byWarner Home Video(under theWarner Bros. Family Entertainmentlabel). The film was reissued on VHS in 1992 and 1994, then released onDVDfor the first time in 2003, and later also re-released on DVD in 2014 as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) title from theWarner Archive Collection.It has been released in HD onstreamingservices.The film was released onBlu-rayon August 29, 2023 from Warner Archive.

Soundtrack

1962 LP cover

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
New Record Mirror

On November 4, 2003,Rhino Handmade,a division of theWarner Music Group,released thesoundtrackon CD.This was identical to the 1962 LP version but contained 5 additionaldemotracks. The demo tracks are performed byHarold ArlenandE. Y. "Yip" Harburg,the composers of the songs for the film. They were also the primary songwriters for the music ofThe Wizard of Oz,the 1939 Garland feature. Garland stated that the song "Little Drops of Rain" was one of her favorite songs. The CD track listing is as follows:

1. Overture – Judy Garland and Chorus (3:59)
2. Mewsette – Robert Goulet (3:09)
3. Take My Hand, Paree – Judy Garland (2:58)
4. Roses Red, Violets Blue – Judy Garland (2:02)
5. The Money Cat – Paul Frees and the Mellomen (2:17)
6. The Horse Won't Talk – Paul Frees (1:45)
7. Bubbles – Robert Goulet, Red Buttons, and the Mellomen (2:48)
8. Little Drops of Rain – Judy Garland (3:29)
9. Little Drops of Rain – Robert Goulet (1:30)
10. Portrait of Mewsette – Orchestra (3:30)
11. Paris is a Lonely Town – Judy Garland (4:15)
12. Mewsette Finale – Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, and Chorus (2:38)
13. Paris is a Lonely Town (variation) – Orchestra (1:58)
14. Roses Red, Violets Blue (demo) – Harold Arlen and E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (1:43)
15. The Money Cat (demo) – Harold Arlen and E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (2:10)
16. The Horse Won't Talk (demo) – Harold Arlen (3:46)
17. Little Drops of Rain (demo) – Harold Arlen (2:39)
18. Paris is a Lonely Town (demo) – Harold Arlen (2:46)

See also

• List of American films of 1962
• The Aristocats
• A Cat in Paris

Bibliography

• Barrier, Michael (1999).Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age.Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-1980-2079-0.
• Jones, Chuck (1999).Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist.Farrar, Straus and Giroux.ISBN978-0-374-52620-7.
• Maltin, Leonard (1987).Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons(Revised ed.).Plume.ISBN0-452-25993-2.

External links

• Gay Purr-eeatIMDb
• Gay Purr-eeat theTCM Movie Database
• Gay Purr-eeatAllMovie
• Gay Purr-eeat theAFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Gay Purr-eeatDon Markstein's Toonopedia.Archivedfrom the original on August 3, 2016.
• The Judy Garland Online Discography "Gay Purr-ee" pages