A Mouse Divided is a 1953 Merrie Melodies animated short directed by Friz Freleng.[3] The short was released on January 31, 1953, and stars Sylvester.[4] The title is a pun on Lincoln’s House Divided Speech.
In the film, Sylvester and his wife receive their first son from a drunken stork, and this son is a mouse. Sylvester struggles between his desire to eat the mouse and his protective feelings about his son.
Plot
At a nightclub, a stork gets drunk just before delivering a baby. Meanwhile, Sylvester’s wife complains to her husband that she wishes she had a baby. The stork, unable to continue, leaves the bundle to be delivered to Sylvester and his wife’s house. The two cats find a baby mouse inside, and while the female immediately takes a liking to the newcomer, Sylvester wants to eat it, but his wife stops him. Later, as Sylvester’s wife goes out, he takes a liking to the rodent and takes it for a walk, but finds himself chased by a horde of cats, who want to eat the mouse. Even at home, Sylvester isn’t safe, as several cats try to break into the house to eat the mouse, but Sylvester thwarts all their attempts. Meanwhile, the stork from earlier, having to retrieve the baby animal and return it to its real parents, lowers a slice of cheese from the chimney with a fishing rod. Believing it to be yet another trap and wanting to teach the cats a lesson, Sylvester reels in the fishing line, but the stork hauls him up and, still drunk, mistakes Sylvester for the mouse. The cat is then handed over to a pair of mice, where the female declares that such a thing has never happened among her family, while her husband looks at the audience with wide eyes.
Voice Cast
- All Other Voices are provided by Mel Blanc
- Bea Benaderet voices Mrs. Sylvester, Female Mouse
References
- ^ Beck, Jerry (1991). I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat: Fifty Years of Sylvester and Tweety. New York: Henry Holt and Co. p. 114. ISBN 0-8050-1644-9.
- ^ a b c Webb, Graham (2011). The Animated Film Encyclopedia: A Complete Guide to American Shorts, Features and Sequences (1900-1999). McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-7864-4985-9.
- ^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 244. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 140–142. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.