Chow Hound

This article is about the 1951 Looney Tunes short. For the 1944 Private Snafu short, see The Chow Hound.= Deprecated =

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Chow Hound

Directed By: Chuck Jones Produced By: Eddie Selzer (uncredited) Released: June 16, 1951 Series: Looney Tunes Story: Michael Maltese Animation: Phil Monroe Ben Washam Ken Harris Lloyd Vaughan Layouts: Robert Gribbroek Backgrounds: Philip DeGuard Film Editor: Treg Brown (uncredited) Voiced By: Mel Blanc John T. Smith (uncredited) Stan Freberg (uncredited) Bea Benaderet (uncredited) Music: Carl Stalling Starring: Cat Mouse Bulldog K. Harris M. Hinkle C.M. Jones Zookeeper Doctor Preceded By: Room and Bird Succeeded By: French Rarebit Chow Hound (1951) - original titles recreation Chow Hound Looney Tunes - Chow Hound (Edited Version)

Chow Hound is a 1951 Looney Tunes short directed by Chuck Jones.

Plot

A large bulldog bullies two unwilling parties — a frightened red cat and a tough-talking brown mouse (resembling Chuck Jones' creation Hubie and Bertie) — into various scams to obtain dinner from various residences. The scheme involves the dog, who forever complains that he is "starving," using the cat to pose as the pet for three residents and a municipal zoo. The cat poses as (in order of appearance):

• "Butch," a turtleneck-wearing feline. The cat timidly walks to the waiting bulldog to hand him his steak, only to get slapped for forgetting the gravy.
• A bow-tied "Harold," who is scolded by his female "mistress" as he comes home. "Harold" tries to eat a leg of chicken when the mistress leaves the room, but is quickly grabbed by the bulldog, who again reprimands him for forgetting the gravy.
• "Timothy," the alley cat who serves as the mouse catcher for an older gentleman living in a brownstone apartment building. The mouse finds the whole ordeal undignifying. The cat swallows the mouse whole, earning more physical punishment; the mouse tries unsuccessfully to get away after he is spit out. After earning another steak from the owner, the cat is again slapped by the bulldog for forgetting the gravy again. The mouse tries to get tough, but is simply hit on the head.
• As a "saber-tooth alley catus," complete with fake fangs. The zookeeper shrugs his shoulders at the apparently new, unannounced "exhibit." It is at this point where the cat tries to one-up his captor by wrapping a TNT stick inside the steak. The result is only a small blast in the dog's stomach, which the embarrassed dog apparently misinterprets as gas and excuses himself. He smacks the cat (off-screen) for forgetting the gravy yet again. He looks through his little black book, then starts to complain that "week in, week out, it's the same thing; it's too slow!" He then sees a sign advertising a reward for lost animals and gets a sinister idea: Holding the cat hostage for weeks, the dog accurately anticipates that the cat's "owners" will post rewards in the newspaper. "I've got plans for you!" the dog snarls.

The bulldog reads the missing animals article in the newspaper for the addresses and reward amounts from the owners and prepares to execute his big scam (telling his cat comrade "C'mon stupid; this is the payoff.") The bulldog returns the cat to each of his masters, collects the reward and then reclaims his cat by means of a trick-bed, the largest of the rewards coming from the zoo. The dog, gloating that he is now "set for life" and will "never be hungry again," uses his ill-gotten gains to purchase a butcher shop, where "acres and acres" of meat hang from the ceiling.

At a "dog and cat hospital", the bulldog's gluttony has gotten the better of him, as his overindulgence on meat has rendered him grossly obese and unable to move a muscle. After two doctors diagnose "a distinct case of overeating" and depart from the operating room, two visitors march in: the cat and the mouse who both have the last laugh. The cat says, "This time, we didn't forget the gravy." The mouse jams a large funnel into the dog's mouth and smiles as the cat begins force-feeding the dog from an institutional-sized canister of gravy. The nervously-perspiring dog mutters "no" several times but is helpless to stop them as the dog gurgles.

Availability

• (1993) LaserDisc - Looney Tunes Assorted Nuts
• (1994) VHS - The Looney Tunes Video Show, Volume 13
• (1995) VHS - Classic Collection (WHSmith Exclusive Video) (United Kingdom only)
• (2008) DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6, Disc 4
• (2011) Blu-ray - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc 2
• (2012) DVD - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc 2
• (2020) Streaming - HBO Max

Censorship

• Almost every recent American TV airing of this short (particularly the airings on the Fox version of The Merrie Melodies Show in the early 1990s, the former WB! network in the mid-1990s, Nickelodeon throughout its run in the 1990s, and post-2001 Cartoon Network [pre-2001 Cartoon Network aired this uncut]) cuts the part where the dog (dressed as a game hunter) returns the cat (dressed as a sabre-toothed tiger) to the zoo because the mouse is depicted as an African savage. The edits on all four channels make it seem that the dog earned enough money from scamming the three owners rather than scamming the three owners and the head of the zoo (which was where the big reward was from).
• In addition to the above cut, the FOX Merrie Melodies Show version also cut the ending where the mouse and the cat visit the dog in the hospital (after being admitted for stuffing himself on the meats in the deli) and funnel gravy into his mouth as revenge.

Notes

• This cartoon also appeared in the films Cats & Dogs and Conspiracy Theory.

Gallery

Lobby Card

External Links

• Chow Hound at the Internet Movie Database
• Chow Hound at the Big Cartoon Database