Cheese Chasers

Cheese Chasers is a 1951 Warner Bros. Cartoons Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese.[1] The cartoon was released on August 25, 1951 and stars Hubie and Bertie, with Claude Cat.[2]

At the end of a raid on The Hunka Cheese Co. (a cheese factory), Hubie and Bertie have eaten so much cheese, they vow never to eat it again; have nothing to live for; and become suicidal. They walk from the factory to the house where Claude Cat lives; and march into his mouth as he sleeps. The cat wakes up, discovers the mice in his mouth and realizes something is amiss. Believing he is dreaming, Claude attempts to awaken by sticking himself with a pin. However, the mice persist, and Claude, realizing he is not dreaming, offers the mice some cheese so they will leave him alone. When the mice reject the cheese, Claude questions his sanity. Realizing they have to get tough with the cat, the mice hit Claude in the foot with a hammer. Claude angrily and maniacally stuffs the mice in his mouth, but catches himself and spits them out. Claude concludes he can never eat another mouse and, like the mice, determines he has nothing to live for and becomes suicidal. Claude heads outside and punches a bulldog in the front yard, who runs out barking in anger. Then he looks back and sees Claude waiting for him, blindfolded and smoking a cigarette. Confronting Claude, he asks the cat why he doesn't run away. Claude says he wants the dog to massacre him. The bulldog suspects something is "fishy," at which point the mice come running out of the house begging Claude to eat them.

The bulldog asks Claude if cats eat mice, which he denies ("No!"); and asks Herbie and Bertie if mice eat cheese, which they also deny. The bulldog reasons that none of this adds up and chases after a passing dog catcher truck, begging the driver to wait for him to board, followed by Claude demanding the dog massacre him, followed by the mice taunting the cat to eat them.

This is the first appearance of the bulldog that would become Marc Antony in Feed the Kitty (1952), Kiss Me Cat (1953), Cat Feud (1958), and Feline Frame-Up (1954).[3]

The plot resembles that of the 1945 cartoon, Life with Feathers, directed by Friz Freleng and written by Tedd Pierce, which marked the first appearance of Sylvester the Cat in his mature form. In that short, a jilted suicidal Lovebird repeatedly tries to get Sylvester to eat him, and a paranoid Sylvester refuses, believing the bird is trying to poison him.

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.[4]