Hal Roach Studios
Starring: Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon, Allen ‘Farina’ Hoskins
Directed by: Anthony Mack, Charles Oelze

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

Synopsis: Joe (Joe Cobb) is a boy who moves to a new neighborhood and tries to join an exclusive club run by some local kids.  The gang decides to put Joe through a hazing and then come to regret it when they find out his father is a police officer.

Featured Feline: We first see Joe riding on the back of the moving truck holding a dog under one arm and a black and white cat under the other.  His father pulls up alongside the truck in his car and warns, “Don’t let Tunney scratch you.”  Tunney is the cat and Joe holds him up to show that he has fitted Tunney with small boxing gloves on each of his paws.

When they arrive at their new home Joe places Tunney under a box to keep the dog away from him.  But Tunney escapes and runs away (boxing gloves and all), scampering in to the neighborhood kids’ clubhouse.  Joe follows and this is how he becomes acquainted with the gang.  After putting Joe through a nasty hazing he leaves and the kids find Tunney.  They decide to tie a threatening note to the cat’s tail to scare Joe.  They do this and then deposit Tunney through Joe’s window.  After Joe gets the note Tunney wisely decides to sit the rest of the short out.

Kitty Carnage Warning: While it doesn’t appear that any real harm comes to Tunney during this short film it is very clear that he was not enjoying himself at all, being snapped at by a dog when he was rendered helpless by having his paws covered and having notes tied to his tail.

Final Mewsings: Sometimes kids are not cat’s best friend.

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