That's Not a Dog

Babbitt hypnotises the Costello mouse into thinking he’s a dog in The Mouse-Merized Cat, then sics him on the housecat keeping watch over the kitchen.

The cat is petrified and prays when he hears the barking, then looks down and sees it’s a mouse.

Here are some of the drawings in the take.



This is a Bob McKimson cartoon that doesn’t look like a Bob McKimson cartoon. There’s loads of energy and plenty of silly stuff. It has a beautiful opening as the camera trucks in from the stratosphere on the Earth, finally ending at a mouse hole, where self-aware Costello tells Babbitt “the people are here.” Tedd Pierce does a fine job playing Babbitt.

Art Davis, Don Williams, Cal Dalton and Dick Bickenbach are the animators and I imagine Bick is supplying a singing voice here as well.