A discussion on Warner Bros. cartoon mice...

[Matthew Hunter]

Since that T&J thread was a hit, I decided that we need some broader topics around here, because we spend a lot of time discussing minutia. Minutia's fun, but some balance is nice too....big group discussions that take their own directions are fun and an aspect that's been missing lately.

So anyway, enough about that. One topic that I find interesting is how many cartoons Warner Bros. made about mice. Of course MGM had Jerry, Paramount had Herman, Disney Mickey...but Warner bros. had literally dozens of mice. Why were there so many Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons involving mice? They had stars like Hubie and Bertie, Sniffles and Speedy Gonzales, but then there were shorts like "Mouse-Placed Kitten", "The Cat's Tale", Avery's series of cute mice cartoons, the Babbit and Catsello mice, "The Cat Came Back", "Haunted Mouse", "Lyin' Mouse", "Paying the Piper"....

I think maybe mice were just an interesting topic for animated cartoons because of their size. Mice are small so animators could experiment with their point of view, drawing/animating things in proportion to the mouse, something Disney never did with Mickey. McKimson's Honey-Mousers and Jones' Sniffles are good examples....look at the backgrounds.

So....what are your favorite Looney mouse cartoons?

-Matthew

[Brandon Pierce]

Actually Disney did try to make some cartoons featuring normal mice and their point of view. "The Flying Mouse" is an example.

I still find it odd in "The Worm Turns", how you see a small teeny mouse, yet Mickey is like 4 feet tall?! How did Mickey and Minnie get so big? Were they part of some bad Nimh experiment? We'll never know.

[#60]

I have to disagree with Mathew Hunter. WB had the most mice characters but not the most mice cartoons. Not sure about Herman but T&J and Mickey cartoons are far more than those from WB. I could be wtrong there but I know that'd be the case minus the Speedy cartoons and that's just as well since Speedy stunk up the place the whole time he was there.

I enjoyed some mice cartoons though. The Porky/Sylvester/mice cartoons were great.

[shogunthethird]

Stupid question: Do Hippety Hopper cartoons count as "mice" cartoons?

[Matthew Hunter]

I suppose so, considering that several had real mice that confused the heck out of Sylvester. Yeah, definitely mouse cartoons.

[Cartman]

Actually Disney did try to make some cartoons featuring normal mice and their point of view. "The Flying Mouse" is an example.

I still find it odd in "The Worm Turns", how you see a small teeny mouse, yet Mickey is like 4 feet tall?! How did Mickey and Minnie get so big? Were they part of some bad Nimh experiment? We'll never know.
There was one Mickey Mouse cartoon in which Mickey and Minne are the size of real mice. It's called WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY and was released in 1929. It's quite similar to the WB cartoon IT'S GOT ME AGAIN.

Anyway, my favorite cartoons with WB mice are:

CHEESE CHASERS
MICE FOLLIES
MOUSE WRECKERS
BEDTIME FOR SNIFFLES
most Speedy Gonzales cartoons, especially SEE YA LATER GLADIATOR (just kidding:D )
THE MOUSE THAT JACK BUILT
MOUSE MENACE
CANNED FEUD

[Davesnothere]

Don't forget "Mouse Warming" and "Trap-Happy Porky".

[Matthew Hunter]

I'm not sure why several people have blasted Speedy Gonzales...I like Speedy a lot. Maybe you haven't seen the earlier, better cartoons with Sylvester as opposed to Daffy Duck? If you've never seen "Speedy Gonzales", "Pied Piper of Guadelupe", or "Gonzales' Tamales", look for them....I think any Speedy skeptic can be converted by watching those.


-Matthew