The Goldwyn Follies (1938)

Directed by: George Marshall

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

Synopsis: An all-star cast fills out the story of a movie producer named Oliver Merlin (Adolph Menjou) who hires a young country woman (Andrea Leeds) to act as the moral compass for his films.

Cat Cattle Call: In one scene The Ritz Brothers, who have been trying to get the studio to use their trained animals, infiltrate an audition for male tenors who can act. The trio break into a song called Here Pussy Pussy about “Old Man Jenkins” who lost his cat and repeatedly calls “Here Pussy Pussy Pussy Pussy Pussy Pussy Pussy!” For the last segment the trio switches to swing style and open the door to the office, letting in a flood of countless cats!

The Goldwyn Follies - cats flooding into office with The Ritz Brothers
The Goldwyn Follies - cats flooding into office with The Ritz Brothers
The Goldwyn Follies - cats flooding into office
The Goldwyn Follies - cats flooding into office
The Goldwyn Follies - cats flooding into office with The Ritz Brothers animated gif

The cats continue into the office and The Ritz Brothers even let the enthusiastic felines sing one line of the song.

The Goldwyn Follies - group of cats in office
The Goldwyn Follies - cats singing a line of a song with The Ritz Brothers animated gif

As the trio dances out of the office the cats follow them down the hall. One can see how during these segments there were probably several people shoving the cats through the door en masse.

The Goldwyn Follies - cats flooding into hallway
The Goldwyn Follies - cats flooding into hallway and following the Ritz Brothers
The Goldwyn Follies - cats flooding into hallway and following the Ritz Brothers
The Goldwyn Follies - cats flooding into hallway and following the Ritz Brothers
The Goldwyn Follies - cats flooding into hallway behind The Ritz Brothers animated gif

The song Here Pussy Pussy was written in 1937 by Sid Kuller and Ray Golden. The song was earlier performed as simply Pussy Pussy with slightly different lyrics and vocals by Victor Cornelius with the Teddy Petersen Orchestra.

After the song the scene fades to sometime later when several people are seen carrying what is presumably the last of the cats from Merlin’s office.

The Goldwyn Follies - cats being carried out of office past Merlin Adolph Menjou
The Goldwyn Follies - cats being carried out of office
The Goldwyn Follies - cats being carried out of office
The Goldwyn Follies - people carrying cats from Merlin Adolph Menjou office animated gif

You can now read our Behind the Scenes Special Feature on this film by clicking here.

Final Mewsings: Cinema Cats do what they can to break into show business.

Many thanks to Ted Davis and Nick Wale for letting us know about the cats in this film.

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