''The Mouse That Jack Built'' is a 1959

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

'' Merrie Melodie''

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

short starring

Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky; February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success as a violinist on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...

and the regular cast of ''

The Jack Benny Program ''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio and television comedy series. The show ran for over three decades, from 1932 to 1955 on radio, and from 1950 to 1965 on television. It won numerous awards, including the 1959 and 19 ...

'' as mice. The short, released on April 4, 1959, was written by Tedd Pierce and directed by

Robert McKimson Robert Porter McKimson Sr. (October 13, 1910 – September 29, 1977) was an American animator and illustrator, best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons from Warner Bros. Cartoons and later DePa ...

Plot

Somewhere in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...

, in the house of

(a sign out front proclaims, "Star of Stage * Screen * Radio * Television...also cartoons"), a mouse version of Jack is practicing his violin—off-key—and saying to himself, "Who is this guy

Isaac Stern Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist. Born in Ukraine, Stern moved to the United States when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union a ...

?" (In real life Benny and Stern were good friends.) Outside Jack's mouse hole, a cat is lying in wait, wearing ear muffs to filter out the discordant sound of Jack's violin. Jack calls his servant, Rochester (portrayed as a dark brown mouse) to get his white suit, which Rochester is wearing at the time. Jack tells the valet that his rental period is up (a week for $5.00, equal to $ today) and he needs the suit because he is taking Mary Livingstone out for her birthday, and, true to character, is looking for a good ''cheap'' restaurant. While waiting for Mary, Jack decides to count his cheese in a basement vault. Using a coin on a string, he opens the lock, which appears to be a coin-operated lock from a pay toilet. As soon as he walks through the door, he takes a cane from a nail on the wall and starts humming " We're in the Money". When he reaches the bottom of the stairs, he reaches through a hole and trips a razor blade hanging above the passageway like a

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

. He then comes up to a

derringer A derringer or deringer is a small handgun that is neither a revolver, semi-automatic pistol, nor machine pistol. It is not to be confused with mini-revolvers or pocket pistols, although some later derringers were manufactured with the pepp ...

and uses the cane to trip the trigger on the derringer. Finally, he comes up to another hole, reaches through with the cane and trips a mousetrap. He then reaches the vault door, opens a combination lock, pulls the door open and numerous sound effects including various alarms, a

foghorn A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. ...

and machine gun noises are heard. Ed, the vault guard, asks "Halt! Who goes there?", and then an exchange is heard where Ed, apparently having been in the vault for a long time, asks "We win the war yet?" When Benny assures Ed that the war has been won, thinking that Benny was referring to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Ed says: "Good. What do you think they'll do with the Kaiser?" Mary arrives while Jack is inspecting his cheese vault, and he emerges wondering who has been pilfering his best

gorgonzola Gorgonzola (, ) is a famously pungent Italian blue cheese made from unskimmed cow's milk; believed to have been created in the 9th century; now with use of its name controlled under the criteria of a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Gorg ...

. A fat rodent version of Don Wilson attempts to deliver a commercial when Jack advises him that this is a movie and not a television program, Don storming off in a huff when Jack refuses to let him do a scene. When Mary suggests a place, Jack's eyes ring up like an old

cash register A cash register, sometimes called a till or automated money handling system, is a mechanical or electronic device for registering and calculating transactions at a point of sale. It is usually attached to a Cash register#Cash drawer, drawer fo ...

with a dollar sign ($) and "no sale", they discuss other options (she sarcastically suggests the Monkey House at the

Griffith Park Zoo Griffith Park Zoo, referred to today as the Old Los Angeles Zoo, is a city-owned former zoo now in ruins, located in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California. The zoo opened in 1912, closed in 1966 with the opening of the Los Angeles Zoo, and now ...

). As they discuss their options, the cat writes a message extolling the "Kit Kat Club" ("entertainers admitted ''free''") and sends it to Jack as a paper airplane. Jack and Mary putter off in his

Maxwell Maxwell may refer to: People * Maxwell (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** James Clerk Maxwell, mathematician and physicist * Justice Maxwell (disambiguation) * Maxwell baronets, in the Baronetage of N ...

with Rochester behind the wheel until they reach the Kit Kat Club by following the arrows pointing to it. While en route, Mary asks for

champagne Champagne (; ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, which demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

, while Jack says that he prefers a good " mousecatel". Unbeknownst to them, the "club" is actually the maw of the cat, and as Jack and Mary enter, the cat's mouth closes on them. Jack cries: "Help! Help!" as the camera cuts to the live-action Jack Benny, who wakes up and, breaking the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

, tells the audience: "Gee, what a crazy dream! Imagine, Mary and me as two little mice trapped inside a cat! And I was playing the violin!" At that point, Jack is interrupted by the sound of a discordant " Rock-a-Bye Baby" played on the violin, coming from within Jack's live-action cat. From there, the rodent versions of Jack and Mary emerge unharmed from the live-action cat. Following one last bit of animation (where the rodent Jack and Mary return to their mousehole), the real Jack Benny does one of his famous "takes" as the cartoon fades out.

Voice cast

The cartoon is noticeable to credit all of the voice actors rather than only crediting Mel Blanc. The list of actors includes: *

as Jack/Himself * Mary Livingstone as Mary * Don Wilson as Don *

Eddie "Rochester" Anderson Edmund Lincoln Anderson (September 18, 1905 – February 28, 1977) was an American actor and comedian. To a generation of early radio and television comedy audiences, he was known as "Rochester". Anderson entered show business as a teenager on ...

as Rochester *

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for come ...

as the

/ Ed, the vault guard

Production

The cartoon was released on April 4, 1959. Written by Tedd Pierce, it is a parody of ''

'' starring the voices of

, Mary Livingstone (in her final public performance), Don Wilson and

as rodent caricatures of their respective radio and television characters, with

reprising his imitation of Benny's Maxwell automobile (also assuming the voice of "Ed", Jack's underground vault guard, usually portrayed on radio and TV by

Joseph Kearns Joseph Sherrard Kearns (February 12, 1907 – February 17, 1962) was an American actor, who is best remembered for his role as George Wilson ("Mr. Wilson") on the CBS television series '' Dennis the Menace'' from 1959 until his death in 1962. He ...

). The title is a play on the

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. Fr ...

This is the House that Jack Built "This Is the House That Jack Built" is a popular English nursery rhyme and cumulative tale. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20854. It is Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index type 2035. Lyrics This is perhaps the most common set of modern lyr ...

". As revealed on the audio commentary for this short, Benny only supplied his voice, but not his violin playing, as evidenced by the "pre-score" music of the violin soloist attempting to play as badly as Benny did on the radio show.

Home media

''The Mouse That Jack Built'' is available on '' Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3'', Disc 2.

References

External links

*
''The Mouse That Jack Built''
at

Big Cartoon Database The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) was an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows, and cartoon shorts. The BCDB project began in 1997 as a list of Disney animated f ...