The Rocket Man (1954)

by Brian H

Directed by: Oscar Rudolph

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Timmy (George ‘Foghorn’ Winslow), a little boy in an orphanage, is temporarily invited into the home of Amelia Brown (Spring Byington), a middle-aged Justice of the Peace. Amelia and her family are campaigning in an election against the crooked local political boss, Big Bill Watkins (Emory Parnell). At a promotion for a television program, a real spaceman (Lawrence Ryle) appears and hands Timmy a large “ray gun,” later revealing that anyone he points it at will be forced to speak only the truth. At a town meeting Big Bill Watkins gives a speech and Timmy points his “truth gun” at him. Big Bill then starts bragging about his plans to loot the city and sell the orphanage to an oil company. Big Bill is run out of town and a later scene shows the orphanage still in business with an oil derrick in front.

Kitty Cameo: To help raise money for Amelia, Timmy opens a small museum of “outer space animals” represented by a frog, a St. Bernard dog, and a ginger tabby cat. The animals are kept behind box spring mattress frames with wooden barriers separating them. The frog and dog appear with signs stating “HORN FROG FROM MARS” and “BAD MONSTIR (sic) FROM OUTER SPACE”. The cat’s sign is not shown clearly and is too hard to make out in the wide shot, although Amelia points to the cat and refers to him as Tabby.

The Rocket Man - ginger tabby cat behind mattress frame

It is possible this is another screen appearance by cat actor Orangey but we cannot confirm it at this time.

The Rocket Man - Timmy George Foghorn Winslow with animals on exhibit including ginger tabby cat animated gif

Final Mewsings: We’d love to know what the cat’s sign said!

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