Monday 11 April 2016

Mucho Mouse

Mucho Mouse was a test cartoon for MGM. The studio wanted to see what would happen if it released an animated short in a foreign country before making it available to North American theatres. Mucho Mouse was the result. It was slated for release in Latin America around Christmas 1956 and then in the U.S. and Canada in late 1957.

Frankly, it’s a bore. And the animation’s odd in that you have classy, attractive versions of Tom and the orange cat (by Ken Muse in some spots) coupled with angular, thick-lined animation that looks like it belongs in a Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon.

Here’s an example when the orange cat thwaps Tom with his guitar strings.



Muse is one of the credited animators, along with Lew Marshall, Bill Schipek, Jack Carr, Ken Southworth and Herman Cohen. Daws Butler’s Tom sounds like Huckleberry Hound trying to read Spanish at one point of the cartoon.
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5 comments:

  1. J Lee11 April 2016 at 08:06

    Hearing Tom with Daws' wolf/future Huckleberry Hound voice is also jarring. But it is a historical bridge between Avery's original use of the southern voice and how Bill & Joe would then use it as the foundation of their TV animation empire.

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  2. Jonathan Wilson11 April 2016 at 09:54

    "Coupled with angular, thick-lined animation that looks like it belongs in a Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon."

    Perhaps that's a early glimpse of what's next to come from the duo....

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    Replies
    1. Chris Sobieniak12 April 2016 at 20:23

      I forgot how lush the backgrounds are in this cartoon, at this point in time, they were already going for the abstract route that served them well after MGM.

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  3. Howard Fein11 April 2016 at 17:58

    I always thought Daws' speaking voice for Tom sounded more like Super Snooper. Maybe it's because of the latter's penchant for mispronouncing words.

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  4. Yowp11 April 2016 at 21:34

    Not here, Howard, simply because he's drawing out his words.

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