The Gold Cream Trophy Winner

The camera pans down to see what Hubie and Bertie can see in “Mouse Wreckers”: Claude the Cat, underneath his vast array of honours. Claude proves no match for the wise-guy Hubie and the enthusiastic dullard Boit.

The backgrounds in this cartoon are by Pete Alvarado from layouts by Bob Gribbroek. As you’d expect in a cartoon directed by Chuck Jones, there’s some really fun animation. Next time you see the cartoon, watch the staggering, hoppy entrance that Bert makes onto the window sill. It’s a great little bit of work. Then Ben Washam picks up the scene after the cut to Claude and his trophies with some really nice finger and head movements on the mice. They do logical things with their bodies to demonstrate emotions, they don’t just stand and talk.

The Hubie and Bertie cartoons show Warners at their best—expressive animation from Jones’ character layouts with little extras, subtle scoring that sets the mood by Carl Stalling and a string of gags by Mike Maltese that build to something incredibly imaginative (in this cartoon, the upside-down room). Everything works together.