Cheese Chasers
Encyclopedia
Cheese Chasers is a 1951 Merrie Melodies
cartoon directed by Chuck Jones
, and starring Hubie and Bertie
in their final appearances of the Classic era. Also starring are Claude Cat and a bulldog predecessor to Marc Antony
. Mel Blanc
plays Claude, Hubie, and the bulldog, while Stan Freberg
plays Bertie.
. They return home, where they write a generic suicide note ("Goodbye, cruel world!") with a not-so-generic postscript
("We've lived a full life."), and introduce themselves to the gullet of a sleeping Claude Cat.
Claude immediately wakes up and spits the mice out. Believing that there is "something rotten in Denmark", he figures the mice are poisoned, and refuses to eat them. He tries to convince himself it's a dream, but after several attempts realizes it's no dream. He tries to bribe the mice with cheese; when they vehemently refuse the offer, Claude questions his own sanity. The mice insist on being eaten and take to him with a hammer so as to make him angry enough to eat them, but Claude stops at the last second. Claude concludes that he's now too scared to eat mice, has no more reason to live, and also decides to commit suicide. Leaving an equally generic suicide note with a similarly-strange postscript ("No P.S."), Claude heads outside and punches the sleeping bulldog.
The bulldog sees Claude standing there blindfolded
and with a cigarette
(as if standing before a firing squad), and asks what's going on. When Claude begs the dog to "massacre" him, the bulldog thinks there is "something decidedly fishy here". It gets worse when Hubie and Bertie run out, trying to get Claude to eat them. The bulldog figures out that Claude no longer wants to eat mice, and now the mice don't like cheese, but after using an adding machine
to figure it out, concludes, "It just don't add up!" He runs after a dog catcher wanting to get committed
("Hey! Wait for me!! Wait for Baby!!"), with Claude ("Hey! Wait for me!! You gotta massacre me!!") and the mice ("Wait, you cowardly cat!!") in hot pursuit, still bent on ending their own lives.
DVD set. It is also occasionally available on the Looney Tunes website.
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
cartoon directed by Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
, and starring Hubie and Bertie
Hubie and Bertie
Hubie and Bertie are animated cartoon mouse characters in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. Though largely forgotten today, Hubie and Bertie represent some of animator Chuck Jones' earliest work that was intended to be funny rather than cute.-First film:Jones...
in their final appearances of the Classic era. Also starring are Claude Cat and a bulldog predecessor to Marc Antony
Marc Antony and Pussyfoot
Marc Antony and Pussyfoot are animated characters in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons...
. Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
plays Claude, Hubie, and the bulldog, while Stan Freberg
Stan Freberg
Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
plays Bertie.
Synopsis
At the end of a raid on a cheese factory, Hubie steps out of a wheel of cheese fat and nauseated. Bertie stumbles out after. Hubie determines that, based on the amount of cheese the average mouse eats in their lifetime (12 lbs.), they've eaten enough to have lived two thousand years (48 tons). Determining that they can no longer stomach cheese, and with nothing else to live for, they determine their only course of action: suicideSuicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. They return home, where they write a generic suicide note ("Goodbye, cruel world!") with a not-so-generic postscript
Postscript
A postscript, abbreviated P.S., is writing added after the main body of a letter . The term comes from the Latin post scriptum, an expression meaning "written after" .A postscript may be a sentence, a paragraph, or occasionally many paragraphs added, often hastily and...
("We've lived a full life."), and introduce themselves to the gullet of a sleeping Claude Cat.
Claude immediately wakes up and spits the mice out. Believing that there is "something rotten in Denmark", he figures the mice are poisoned, and refuses to eat them. He tries to convince himself it's a dream, but after several attempts realizes it's no dream. He tries to bribe the mice with cheese; when they vehemently refuse the offer, Claude questions his own sanity. The mice insist on being eaten and take to him with a hammer so as to make him angry enough to eat them, but Claude stops at the last second. Claude concludes that he's now too scared to eat mice, has no more reason to live, and also decides to commit suicide. Leaving an equally generic suicide note with a similarly-strange postscript ("No P.S."), Claude heads outside and punches the sleeping bulldog.
The bulldog sees Claude standing there blindfolded
Blindfold
A blindfold is a garment, usually of cloth, tied to one's head to cover the eyes to disable the wearer's sight. It can be worn when the eyes are in a closed state and thus prevents the wearer from opening them...
and with a cigarette
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
(as if standing before a firing squad), and asks what's going on. When Claude begs the dog to "massacre" him, the bulldog thinks there is "something decidedly fishy here". It gets worse when Hubie and Bertie run out, trying to get Claude to eat them. The bulldog figures out that Claude no longer wants to eat mice, and now the mice don't like cheese, but after using an adding machine
Adding machine
An adding machine was a class of mechanical calculator, usually specialized for bookkeeping calculations.In the United States, the earliest adding machines were usually built to read in dollars and cents. Adding machines were ubiquitous office equipment until they were phased out in favor of...
to figure it out, concludes, "It just don't add up!" He runs after a dog catcher wanting to get committed
Involuntary commitment
Involuntary commitment or civil commitment is a legal process through which an individual with symptoms of severe mental illness is court-ordered into treatment in a hospital or in the community ....
("Hey! Wait for me!! Wait for Baby!!"), with Claude ("Hey! Wait for me!! You gotta massacre me!!") and the mice ("Wait, you cowardly cat!!") in hot pursuit, still bent on ending their own lives.
Censorship
When this cartoon aired on The WB, the part where Hubie and Bertie hit Claude's foot with a hammer in an attempt to be eaten by him was cut.Availability
This cartoon can be seen (uncut and restored) on the second volume of The Looney Tunes Golden CollectionLooney Tunes Golden Collection
The Looney Tunes Golden Collection was an annual series of six four-disc DVD box sets from Warner Bros.' home video unit Warner Home Video, each containing about 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated shorts...
DVD set. It is also occasionally available on the Looney Tunes website.