The Mouse-Merized Cat

The Mouse-Merized Cat
Directed by	Robert McKimson
Story by	Warren Foster
Starring	Mel Blanc
Music by	Carl Stalling
Animation by	Richard Bickenbach Arthur Davis Cal Dalton Don Williams
Layouts by	Cornett Wood
Backgrounds by	Richard H. Thomas
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	October 19, 1946(1946-10-19)
Running time	6:24
Language	English

The Mouse-Merized Catis a 1946Warner Bros.cartoonin theMerrie Melodiesseries, directed byRobert McKimson.It is a sequel to 1945'sTale of Two Mice,with theAbbott and Costellocharacterizations ( "Babbit and Catstello") cast as mice.A 1942 cartoon,A Tale of Two Kitties,cast Abbott and Costello as cats and introducedTweety Bird.They are voiced byTedd PierceandMel Blancrespectively. This cartoon marks the final appearances for Babbit and Catstello during theGolden age of American animation.

Plot

The cartoon opens in outer space, and moves in slowly on the planet Earth, the United States, and a fictional state called "Mouseachewsetts." The camera continues to move closer, to an overhead view of Fluger's Delicatessen, wedged in between two skyscrapers. The camera pans the interior of the deli, finally coming to Catstello waiting patiently at the entrance of a mouse hole. He addresses the camera and audience: "I thought you'd never get here." He alerts Babbit that the people/audience are here, but Babbit is angry. Catstello failed to gather food as directed, because he fears the cat.

After much resistance, Babbit hypnotizes Catstello and turns him, in turn, intoBing Crosby(voiced byRichard Bickenbach),Frank Sinatra,Jimmy Durante,Rochester(which is removed fromCartoon Networkin the United States) and a chicken. Satisfied that his hypnotic powers work, Babbit then hypnotizes Catstello into believing he is a dog. He sends Catstello out to chase the cat away.

At first, Catstello's barking frightens the cat, who hides under a trash bin. But Catstello picks up the bin, and the cat is shocked to see Catstello, rather than a dog. Catstello comes out of his trance and flees back into the mouse hole, where Babbit hypnotizes him again. Catstello runs out barking to confront the cat, but the cat, with a hypnosis book, undoes Babbit's spell and Catstello flees back to Babbit. Then a battle begins between Babbit and the cat for control of Catstello. Like a ball in a tennis match, Catstello bounces back and forth several times between the hypnotic powers of Babbit and the cat.

Finally, Catstello produces two hand mirrors that reflect the hypnotic beams at Babbit and the cat. Then Catstello, hypnosis book in hand, turns the cat into abroncoand Babbit into a cowboy. They ride off together out of the deli, leaving Catstello happily eating cheese, reading the bookLive Alone and Like It,and remarking "Oh — I'm a baaaaad boy!" (The book was written byMarjorie Hillis,the editor ofVogue,around 1936 for unmarried women.)

See also

• Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1940–1949)

External links

• The Mouse-Merized CatatIMDb