Eatin' on the Cuff or The Moth Who Came to Dinner

Title Card

Eatin' on the Cuff or, The Moth Who Came to Dinner is a 1942 Looney Tunes short directed by Bob Clampett.

Plot

The film begins and ends with a live-action piano player, his singing inexplicably voiced over by Mel Blanc and carried as narration throughout the cartoon, the moth character appears in both scenes, and in the final shot eats the guy's pants right off, sending him clumsily running off into the distance. Plotwise, a wiseguy moth is preparing for his wedding day ("Here comes the groom, straight as a broom, all purtied up with ten-cent perfume"!). He wakes up late, and after getting some breakfast at the bar (A few peoples' pant cuffs) he gets held up by a Black Widow spider, who seduces him with a cigarette lighter (moths are attracted to light, of course).A wacky chase ensues. His bride-to-be, a bee, thinks he's ditched her, and cries...until she realizes something might be wrong and comes to the rescue ("confidentially, she stings!") Also keep an eye out for another unique cartoon filming technique, the photographic backgrounds used for the moth's suit-pocket home and other key scenes.

Gallery

Video

Eatin' on the Cuff, or The Moth Who Came to Dinner (Restored)