Title - A Mouse Divided
Director - Friz Freleng
Released - 1953
Reason for Placement --
The directors at Termite Terrace were famous for including recurring background characters in their shorts; they weren't stars, but they would help shape the toon's story and feel. One of these was Freleng's drunken stork. Working with the classic myth that storks bring newborn babies to the Earth, this character would usually mess up his delivery by giving the baby to the wrong parents. Bob Clampett briefly introduced this character in 1946's Baby Bottleneck, and Freleng would use it again in 1954's Goo Goo Goliath, 1955's Stork Naked, & 1959's Apes of Wrath. One of the best shorts featuring this character was A Mouse Divided, where the stork accidentally gives a baby mouse to Sylvester and his wife!
This short has probably one of the sweetest moments in Looney Tunes history: after his wife leaves, Sylvester decides to go ahead and eat the mouse, and prepares him in a sandwich (see above photo). However, just as he is about to take the first bite, the baby mouse pokes his head out of the bread and says, "Daddy!" And with that, Sylvester giggles and finds himself unable to eat the mouse, officially considering it his son.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI am looking for a Looney Tunes cartoon where a mouse saves an eagle egg and when he hatches, he thinks the mouse to be his daddy. The mouse takes care of him as his son and when the eagle grows up, he realizes his true nature and tries various ways to eat the mouse. When he puts the mouse in a bread and tries to eat it, he remembers the kindness of the mouse and paints his body, saying that eagles with spot don't eat mice. If you find the name of this episode and the characters, please mail me shomerony@gmail.com. Thanks-Shomerony.
It's "Lost and Foundling", from 1944. The mouse is Sniffles, a Jones regular from the late '30s and early '40s.
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