Studio: Leon Schlesinger Productions (Looney Tunes)
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Produced by: Leon Schlesinger
Short Synopsis
A swaggering alley cat strolls through a vacant lot and runs into Rosebud, a bulldog who gives chase. Escaping, the cat sings a parody of "Java Jive" and sets about wooing a female cat, failing completely. A package comes over the fence with flowers and a note kissed in lipstick, inviting him to meet "guess who" on the other side; he prances over and finds Rosebud. The chase resumes, and the dog's masterstroke is a puppet of the cat's dream girl, worked from behind the fence, which the cat falls for every time. After a run of Clampett's sight gags the cat finally puts Rosebud out of action and ends the film in a clinch with his love, who is still the puppet.
Why It Matters
- It was the first Looney Tune made in Technicolor, the series having been black and white since 1930 while the Merrie Melodies had colour; from here the two series were indistinguishable. Clampett's cat, a zoot-suited hipster who talks to the audience and sings scat, is a new kind of Warner character, closer to Avery's wolves than to Porky.
- The Hep Cat has been easy to see for decades, often in poor prints that hide how handsome the first colour Looney Tune was. McKimson's animation of the cat's swagger is some of his best work before he became a director.
Notes and Trivia
- Sara Berner, who voices the puppet and the bird, was the studio's regular female voice of the early 1940s.
- The cat's "Java Jive" parody dates the film to the Ink Spots' 1940 hit.
- See also: A Tale of Two Kitties (1942), The Wacky Wabbit (1942), Sittin' on a Backyard Fence (1933).
