The Hep Cat

The Hep Cat is a 1942 Looney Tunes short directed by Bob Clampett.
== Title ==
The title can be taken two ways. Figuratively, a "hep cat" is slang for someone who knows the latest in music, fashion, and other things. In the context of the film this is taken literally, as the main protagonist is literally a hep cat.
== Plot ==
The titular hep cat waltz over a fence and through an abandoned lot. However, he walks past the dog house of Rosebud. Upon noticing the cat, he gives chase, until the cat jumps over the fence which the dog slams into. A red bird tells Rosebud that he almost got him tonight, and having failed to catch the cat over several nights, Rosebud plans a way to get back at him.
The cat sings on the other side of the fence, just when the cat sees an attractive female cat. He tries to woo her, but fails utterly. Rosebud throws a brick with a note attached to tell the cat to go to the other side of the fence to encounter the female cat. The cat falls for this, and another chase pursues that ends with Rosebud dazed under a set of dirt.
Rosebud tries to use a puppet of a cat to attract the hep cat. The ruse proves to be more successful than the cat's previous attempt with a real cat, but once the cat notices the dog's nose behind the puppet, he gets suspicious. He attempts to kiss the "cat", but ends up kissing Rosebud. Angered yet again, Rosebud pursues the cat throughout the city. Eventually, the cat manages to corner Rosebud into being hanged into a clothespin line in baby clothing. Now able to keep the puppet for himself, the cat swoons over it, much to the disgust of the red bird, who says that isn't a real cat, although the hep cat states he can always dream.
== Caricatures ==
* Victor Mature
* Charles Boyer
* Jerry Colonna
== Availability ==
Cartoon Moviestars 7.jpg|(1990) VHS Cartoon Moviestars: Daffy Duck and Company
Golden Age LT Vol 1.jpg|(1991) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 1, Side 4: Bob Clampett
The golden age of looney tunes vhs 4.jpg|(1992) VHS The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 4: Bob Clampett
Golden Collection box 2.jpg|(2004) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2, Disc Four
Large.jpg|(2005) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 2, Disc 2
lt cas3.jpg|(2005) DVD Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volume 3
lt the big street.jpg|(2007) DVD The Big Street (USA 1995 Turner dubbed print)
LT Platinum Collection VOL 3 DVD Cover.png|(2014) DVD Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3, Disc One
LTPC Volume 3 Cover.png|(2014) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3, Disc One
lt spotlight df.jpg|(2014) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 2-3 Repack
lt spotlight v1-3.jpg|(2018) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 1-3 Repack
=== Streaming ===
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2023)
lt max.jpg|Max (2023 - 2024)
== Production ==
According to Milton Gray, beginning from this cartoon, Bob Clampett's creativity and experimentation reaches his peak, as subsequent Looney Tunes cartoons became wilder, zanier, and loonier in tone, direction and timing.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZce6l9HGgk In cartoons Clampett directed after this one such as "A Tale of Two Kitties" or "A Corny Concerto", there is a notable increase in violence, irreverent humor, more exaggerated double takes and surrealism.
== Music Cueshttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034845/soundtrack/ ==
* Five O'Clock Whistle - Josef Myrow [Credits and continues in the opening sequence, dog & cat chase sequence]https://books.google.com/books/about/Tunes_for_Toons.html?id=Rz2WJ_-NxsAChttps://www.patreon.com/posts/whats-score-81644429
* Java Jive - Ben Oakland & Milton Drake [Sung with substitute lyrics by the cat]
* Always in My Heart (Siempre en mi corazón) - Ernesto Lecuona [The cat wooing the female cat, cat embraces the puppet]
* Frühlingslied [Spring Song] - Felix Mendelssohn [Cat reads the note, Cat slides down the stairs and kisses Rosebud]
* Rock-a-Bye Baby - Effie I. Canning [Dog in diaper]
== Notes ==
* This cartoon is the first Looney Tunes short to be produced in color. Also starting with this short, the Looney Tunes series adopted the "bullseye" rings originating from Merrie Melodies, the opening familiar to Warner Bros. cartoon audiences generally; in this series, the rings are usually thicker. This continued for the remaining seven black-and-white cartoons and all color shorts in the series up until 1964.
* Of the six Looney Tunes shorts produced when color and black-and-white shorts were made concurrently, this is the only one to be a one-shot; the other five star Daffy Duck.
* A cultural reference is made when the cat claims to be a "gorgeous hunk of man", as his face turns into a caricature of Victor Mature. As the cat feels Rosebud's hand beside the puppet he's kissing he exclaims, "Ah, something new has been added!" At the end of the cartoon the cat says, "Well, I can dream, can't I?" Both quotes were used often in Looney Tunes cartoons of this era (like for instance "Plane Daffy") and are both catch phrases by Jerry Colonna. "Ah, something new has been added" was a slogan for Old Gold (cigarette).
* The song the cat sings is a parody of the 1940 song "Java Jive," made famous by The Ink Spots.
== Gallery ==
Thehepcat.jpg
Hepcat2.jpg
Hepcat1.jpg
Hepcat5.jpg
Hepcat4.jpeg
Hepcat3.jpg
Tumblr pgj3flL4dr1s92nono1 1280.jpg
Screen Shot 2015-08-15 at 23.35.26.png
Colonna cat.png|"Well, I can dream, can't I?"
Milt gross like dog.jpg
16387385 10208490710327718 7329314007546741144 n.jpg|Lobby card
File:Tumblr ngnbnxXVgh1s92nono1 1280.jpg|Looney Tunes title card sketch
File:Screenshot 2024-02-03 111216.png|Animation drawings
File:Screenshot 2024-02-03 111221.png|Animation drawings
File:PAN WarnerBros-11.webp|Animation drawing
File:PAN WarnerBros-12.webp|Animation drawing
== References ==
 
Category:1942
Category:Cartoons directed by Bob Clampett
Category:Hollywood in Cartoons
Category:Shorts
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Cartoons written by Warren Foster
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Kent Rogers
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by John Didrik Johnsen
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:One-Shot Cartoons
Category:Cartoons with missing Leon Schlesinger credits