Feed the Kitty

Feed the Kitty Merrie Melodies (Marc Antony and Pussyfoot) series
Title card of Feed the Kitty.
Directed by	Chuck Jones
Produced by	Edward Selzer
Story by	Michael Maltese
Voices by	Mel Blanc, Bea Benaderet (uncredited)
Music by	Carl Stalling
Animation by	Ken Harris, Phil Monroe, Lloyd Vaughan, Ben Washam
Layouts by	Robert Gribbroek
Backgrounds by	Philip DeGuard
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s)	February 2, 1952 (USA premiere)
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7 min (one reel)
Language	English

Feed the Kitty is a Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese, in which Bulldog Marc Antony (spelled Marc Anthony on his food dish in the cartoon itself) adopts small cat Pussyfoot and tries to hide it from his mistress. It was released theatrically on February 2, 1952. In 1994 it was voted #36 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.

Synopsis

This cartoon is the first of a short series directed by Jones and using the characters of Marc Antony and Pussyfoot.

Marc Antony tries to scare off a cute little kitten, Pussyfoot, only to realize the cat is not scared of him, instead using him as a bed and resting on his back. The dog falls for the cat and decides to adopt it and to bring it home.

Upon his arrival, his human owner (voiced by Bea Benaderet), tired of picking up his things, warns him not to bring a single thing more inside the house. Afraid of his mistress but unable to get rid of the kitten, the dog tries to hide the cat by pretending it is a wind-up toy or a powder puff.

He barely finds the time to hide it in a flour bin before his mistress enters the kitchen. Terrified, he looks on as she takes some flour out of the box to bake some cookies. The cat is poured into the mixing bowl without the lady realizing it. Marc Antony unplugs the mixer before she can pulverize the poor kitten. Tired of the dog's antics, his mistress throws him out of the house while, unseen, the cat extracts itself from the bowl.

In the backyard, the bulldog watches through a window as what he thinks is his kitten is mixed, rolled and cut before being put in the oven (unaware that the kitten is perfectly safe) and cries a pond. Sobbing and heartbroken, he barely finds the strength to take the cat-shaped cookie his mistress gives to him and place it lovingly on his back where his kitten used to rest. (John Lasseter and his Pixar team created a similar scene in the movie Monsters, Inc.)

Only then does he hear the little meow of Pussyfoot right in front of him. He kisses the cat as his mistress realizes he has a pet. To the dog's surprise, she allows him to keep the cat as long as he takes care of it. Once again, Pussyfoot goes to sleep on Marc Anthony's back as the content dog smiles.

Notes

• The soundtrack for the film would be recycled for use in 1988's The Duxorcist.

Availability

Feed the Kitty is available on DVD on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 DVD box-set, supplemented with an audio commentary by Greg Ford and a music-only audio track. It is also available as a bonus feature (and was discussed as an example of how Jones used personality in animation) on the DVD release of the PBS documentary entitled Extremes & Inbetweens: A Life In Animation about the life and career of director Chuck Jones. It is also available on the DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection.

References

• Beck, Jerry and Friedwald, Will (1989): Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Company.

See also

• Looney Tunes
• Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1950–1959)
• Marc Antony and Pussyfoot

External links

• Feed the Kitty at the Internet Movie Database