Monday 22 April 2013

Goldimouse Hammer Bash

“No spoiled brat son of mine is going to have to eat porridge!” declares Sylvester. So he sets out to capture a blonde mouse with the expected end result in “Goldimouse and the Three Cats” (1959).

One gag has Sylvester building a contraption that’ll smash the mouse with a hammer when she goes through it from her mouse hole.



But the mouse simply bypasses the contraption.



Then she activates it when Sylvester chases her into her hole. You knew the gag was coming.



The cartoon is directed by Friz Freleng. What’s unusual is it features Sylvester, Jr., normally handled by Bob McKimson, and was written by Mike Maltese, who was long attached to the Chuck Jones unit. It could be that Freleng’s writer, Warren Foster, had left for the John Sutherland studio so Maltese was seconded and used whatever characters he felt like. The cartoon features a rare appearance by Sylvester’s wife.

Art Davis, Gerry Chiniquy and Virgil Ross handled the animation, likely assisted by Bob Matz, Art Leonardi and Lee Halpern.

3 comments:

  1. Other than the middle part of the cartoon, where Sylvester Jr. expresses the same sort of embarrassment for dad's failed schemes, Maltese and Freleng present junior as a far less passive figure and more of a "spoiled brat". You kind of get the feeling that the Friz and Mike wanted to use the Goldilocks story, and decided as along as there had to be a kid in the story, they might as well use the McKimson's character design and Mel's voice for Junior.

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    Replies
    1. I suppose they had no other choice and it was convenient.

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    2. Maltese was “warming-up” for Augie Doggie, with this one!

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