Catch as Cats Can
| Catch as Cats Can | |
|---|---|
| Merrie Melodies series | |
| Directed by | Arthur Davis |
| Produced by | Edward Selzer |
| Story by | Dave Monahan |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc |
| Music by | Carl Stalling |
| Animation by |
Emery Hawkins J.C Melendez Basil Davidovich Don Williams Herman Cohen A. C. Gamer (effects animation) |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | December 6, 1947 |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7 mins |
| Language | English |
Catch as Cats Can is a 1947 animated cartoon featuring caricatures of Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby as birds, and a cat that resembles Sylvester the Cat.
It was only one of three non-Bugs Bunny cartoons from 1947 not to be reissued. The others were Mexican Joyride and A Pest in the House.
Plot
An emaciated canary, singing like Frank Sinatra and attracting the attention of all the admiring chicks, is getting on the nerves of a pipe-puffing parrot, who speaks like Bing Crosby. The parrot spots a cat, foraging through the trash. Telling the cat he needs more vitamins (which the canary has been swallowing in bulk), he lures the cat inside to snare the canary. The straightforward approach fails (the canary bops him in the nose). He carves a female canary from soap, lures Frankie there; the birds slide down a greased counter, into the sink, and down the drain, but only the soap bird goes through the pipe and down the cat's throat. A trail of birdseed into the garage seems to work, but Frankie jacks the cat's mouth open. The cat laces the vitamins with buckshot, but the magnet attracts everything metal in sight except his prey. The canary turns the cat's vacuum cleaner against him, with a crash in the fireplace giving the cat a hot-stomach; as he buries his head in the sink, the bird adds Foamo-Seltzer to the water; the cat rockets off, crashing into a wall.
The cat finally realizes the portly parrot is a better meal; he is later shown sitting on the parrot's perch, imitating his mannerisms.