The Fella with the Fiddle

The Fella with the Fiddle, reissued as The Fella with a Fiddle, is a 1937 Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng.
== Title ==
The title is derived from the cartoon's theme song, written by Charlie Abbott.
== Plot ==
When his grandchildren fight over a coin for ice cream, J. Field Mouse tells them the story of a mouse whose greed and dishonesty became his undoing.
Feigning blindness and playing the fiddle on the street corner, this mouse collects enough money to live an opulent lifestyle. His home, marked by a shabby exterior, turns out to be a mansion where he lives it up with his riches. All the fiddler's luxury is in jeopardy when the tax assessor knocks on the door. The fiddler scurries around to hide his opulence and make his home look like a hovel. He succeeds in confusing the tax assessor to the point that he flees in frustration, but an eavesdropping cat plays on the fiddler's greed and lures him into his jaws by placing a gold crown on his tooth.
And that, says J. Field Mouse to his grandchildren, was the end of the greedy mouse. One of the grandchildren asked if the greedy mouse got eaten. The grandfather said, "Yes, he ate him all up." But one of his grandchildren notices grandpa's gold tooth watch fob and begins to doubt the story, but then blows his party blower.
== Availability ==
Golden-Age-of-Looney-Tunes-5-F.jpg|(1997) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 5, Side 4, Musical Madness (1995 Turner dubbed version)
== Notes ==
* This was the final re-released cartoon to credit Leon Schlesinger. This meant that cartoons originally released between 1936 and 1944 that were re-released after 1945 also had their original ending titles scrapped out.
* This short is the first Merrie Melodies short with Mel Blanc voicing characters.
* The original ending titles were found on a VHS.https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5hke9u​
* The gold tooth watch fob looks nothing like the cat's gold crown, so it's unclear whether grandpa is the fiddler or not.
* Even though this short has its original ending title card replaced with altered 1937-1938 Merrie Melodies dubbed ending rings, the original reissue print is known to exist.https://www.ebay.com/itm/16mm-Warner-Bros-Cartoon-THE-FELLA-WITH-A-FIDDLE-1937-Merrie-Melodies-LOW-FADE/153318368443?hash=item23b27ca4bb:g:8zoAAOSwhexcJCXz:rk:1:pf:0
== References ==
== External links ==
* Big Cartoon Database entry
 
Category:Cartoons directed by Friz Freleng
Category:Shorts
Category:1937
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Berneice Hansell
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:One-Shot Cartoons
Category:Mice