Fleischer Studios
Starring: Jack Mercer, Mae Questel
Directed by: Dave Fleischer

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

Synopsis: Betty Boop’s beauty sleep is interrupted by a cat wailing on her back fence.  Her loyal pup Pudgy chases after the cat but may not be enough of a match for the feral feline.

Cartoon Cats: Unlike the cats we’ve previously covered in Betty Boop shorts, the caterwauling black cat is one tough tom.  The film begins with the cat wailing on a back yard fence.

When Betty Boop comes to her window to tell the cat to be quiet, the cat tauntingly sings, “Not now!  Not now!”

Betty and the cat have words with each other in song.  At last Pudgy wakes up and jumps out of the window to confront the cat.  But poor Pudgy isn’t as surefooted on the fence as the cat!

A chase ensues across the back yard fences and then on top of taller apartment buildings.  Pudgy finally corners the cat on a flagpole and gets a scratched face, to which he gasps, “He pulled a knife on me!”

Undaunted, Pudgy continues to chase the alley cat and they get into a fight.  Pudgy manages to bite the black cat’s tail.

As the two scuffle, a large number of other alley cats come to their fellow’s aid.  They chase Pudgy through the streets and back to Betty’s back yard where Pudgy manages to capture them all in a garbage can.

Pudgy returns to Betty, who is relieved to see he is okay.  As they settle down to bed, Betty comments that at least they will be able to sleep.  But then we see all the cats on the backyard fence as they say, “Not now!” and start to meow.

Final Mewsings: Be careful when venturing onto an alley cat’s turf!

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