Police!

Julius the cat uses a turtle with an extended neck to steal a pie from a third storey window sill in Alice The Jailbird (Disney, 1925).



The baking hippo, who has some kind of accent, calls for the police. The letters of the cry for help turn into a police officer.

I’ve always liked this kind of gag, but it became obsolete in the early ‘30s. Cartoons had sound, so there was no reason to spell words on the screen.

There’s a fun morphing gag to open the cartoon as Julius’ tail turns into a hand (with four fingers and a thumb) and waves at the theatre audience watching.