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Mouse Warming is a 1952 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Chuck Jones, starring Claude Cat.
Plot
In a garden, a wind-up toy truck labelled under ACME Moving Co. pulls up to a mousehole door and two moving mice move the contents of the van into the hole. Afterwards, a young girl mouse named Alice and her parents move in. Alice soon sees a boy mouse driving a motorized hot rod toy into his garage and walking up to his own mousehole. When he sees her, the boy mouse instantly falls head over heels in love. He quickly empties his sugar bowl of the one sugar cube in it and takes the empty bowl over to Alice's home. However, Claude Cat sees him and tries to eat the boy mouse, but he escapes back to his mousehole. Claude tries to grab him but ends up getting his hand caught in a mousetrap.
Later on, the boy mouse tries using a pipeline to sneak past Claude but the cat takes a doll house front door, puts it over his own mouth and places himself at the end of the pipeline. The mouse, with an empty jug in hand, unknowingly enters and travels down into Claude's stomach where he lights a match. The flame causes Claude to jump in pain and the mouse to escape simultaneously.
Later, Claude observes the two lovers and gets an idea to entrap the boy mouse. Claude writes a fake letter to the boy mouse that reads "Dear Mister Mouse, I am in my teens - sixteen months - and deemed not unattractive by my friends. Can you meet me at eight tonight under the garbage disposal? yours (?) Alice (the girl across the way)" and sprays some "Desire No.5" perfume on it for good measure. Claude sends the fake letter to the boy mouse who, upon reading it, falls over in lust. By 7:55pm, the boy mouse drives to the trash can in the kitchen where he meets what he thinks is Alice but is really a puppet being used by Claude to ensnare him. Upon seeing Claude, the boy mouse escapes with the puppet and knocks Claude out with a garbage can lid.
As the boy mouse sighs over both his failure and being deceived with the puppet, Claude writes another fake letter, this time sending it to Alice's father. The letter itself delivers a warning apparently from the boy mouse that reads, "Look you! I saw that apartment first, so get out - because I'm moving in!! The mouse across the way - P.S. or else!!" The father mouse promptly grabs a revolver as if to say "we'll see about that!" while outside Claude puts out a sign that reads "Boarder Wanted" and gets the boy mouse's attention to it. Upon seeing it, the boy mouse packs his things and moves in. Claude positions himself so that he catches the fleeing boy mouse in his mouth, but his plan not only succeeds when the boy mouse runs into his mouth but also backfires when the father mouse shoots him in the face, allowing the boy mouse to escape.
Not wanting Claude to get the better of him again, the boy mouse writes a fake letter of his own and sends it to him. The letter this time reads, "Dear Cat (Pal) I've decided to give up my evil ways and be nice to you. Yours in Friendship, The Dog - P.S. How's about coming over for a game of Canasta?" Claude falls for it and gets a huge beating from Hector (here named Butcher) when he tries to go over to his kennel for a game of poker. Meanwhile, the two young mice, having gotten Claude out of the way, raid the fridge and sip on some soda as the cartoon ends.
Availability
UK
- The Looney Tunes Video Show - Volume 13
- Classic Collection (WHSmith Exclusive Video)
US
Censorship
When this cartoon aired on ABC and The Merrie Melodies Show, the scene where Alice Mouse's father shoots Claude in the face is cut (though while ABC cut the entire scene, The Merrie Melodies Show showed the part, but replaced Claude Cat getting shot in the face with a still shot of Alice Mouse looking out the window). ABC also edits out the scene where Claude licking his face after being shot by the father mouse for continuity reasons.
Gallery
Trivia
- This was the final cartoon to use the "MPPDA" circle during the credits; the cartoon before this, "A Bird in a Guilty Cage", started using a new version of the circle utilizing lettering that says "MPAA" to reflect the company's name change in 1947 (even though Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons, including this one, continued to use the MPPDA version of the circle by 1952 at the latest).