Dough Ray Me-ow

Dough Ray Me-ow is a 1948 Merrie Melodies short directed by Arthur Davis.
== Title ==
The title is a play on "do re mi," solfège used to teach the first three notes of the scale. In addition, "dough" refers to money, and "me-ow," which is the sound a cat makes.
== Plot ==
Louie, a green pet parrot, is reading a book when Heathcliff the dumb cat yells for help. Heathcliff bounces up to Louie's perch, with a mousetrap on one of his fingers. Louie takes off the mousetrap, and Heathcliff gives Louie a hug. Not much later, Heathcliff comes back to Louie for help, his face purple. An angry Louie reminds Heathcliff to breathe, and Heathcliff does. Louie tells Heathcliff to go to the next room and play, but Heathcliff quickly comes back to Louie, this time with a paper. Heathcliff asks Louie to read to him what is on the paper, and Louie reluctantly does so. 
However, the paper is actually a last will and testament from Heathcliff's owner, and it says Heathcliff will inherit the owner's one million dollars. The paper adds, "In the event of his disappearance, the money goes to my pet bird, Louie." Louie, seeing dumb Heathcliff, realizes that if Heathcliff is gone, Louie will have the one million dollars to himself. Knowing this, Louie tells Heathcliff that he doesn't need to know what the paper is about. Louie tries to get rid of the cat.
# Louie's first plan is to ask Heathcliff if he wants to go on a vacation. Heathcliff quickly agrees, excited about "no more classes, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks". Louie lets Heathcliff out of the house and slams the door shut. Unfortunately for Louie, just a few seconds later, Heathcliff tells Louie that he's homesick.
# Louie pays a bulldog money to beat up Heathcliff, who is inside the house trying to catch his thumb. Louie screams for help, and Heathcliff sees that the bulldog is grabbing Louie's body. Not knowing it's a trick, Heathcliff runs outside to "save" Louie, just as the bulldog is getting ready. Louie reminds the bulldog to "get 'em good" as Heathcliff runs to Louie. The screen shakes several times, but Heathcliff is pounding the bulldog against the ground. Heathcliff remarks "You should not oughta done that, Louie is my friend, yes sir, my best little pal!" as he holds an angry Louie in his arms, continuing to beat the bulldog against the ground.
# Heathcliff, who is cracking nuts, is greeted by Louie, who places an apple on his head. Louie tells Heathcliff that he and Louie will play William Tell. Louie places a small apple on Heathcliff's head, and Heathcliff stumbles over to a wall in excitement. Louie, attempting to kill Heathcliff, fires thirteen arrows at Heathcliff. Much to Louie's surprise, they all hit the apple, and none of them hit Heathcliff.
# Louie tells Heathcliff to play radio with him, and Heathcliff agrees. Louie grabs a pair of wires attached to a plug, instructs Heathcliff to put them in his ears, and plug the wires into the wall, which he does. However, Heathcliff functions as a real radio, and he changes stations every time he presses his nose. Louie, angry that the "radio" works for Heathcliff, grabs the wires back and sticks them in his ears, only to be electrocuted and have "Eat at Joe's" blink on his chest over and over again.
# On some railroad tracks, Louie asks Heathcliff if he wants to play train, and Heathcliff, with a can on his head, agrees. Heathcliff begins to walk forward on the tracks, making train noises, not knowing a real train is arriving. As the train nears, Louie hides behind a signal. Heathcliff derails the entire train and crawls out from the debris unharmed, saying that he has done a bad thing, with a tear in his eye.
# Louie tells Heathcliff that there is a surprise for him, and Louie shows Heathcliff a birthday cake. Louie grabs three candles and a stick of dynamite, preparing to blow up Heathcliff. Heathcliff realizes that it is not his birthday, but Louie tells him that it is, and gives Heathcliff a match. Heathcliff lights the three candles and the stick of dynamite, but realizes that there are four candles, and says that he is only three. Heathcliff grabs the stick of dynamite from the cake, and hands it back to Louie, its fuse still lit. Louie hands the stick of dynamite back to Heathcliff, saying that he's four, but Heathcliff disagrees and hands it back. The two chase each other through the house, passing the stick of dynamite to each other, until Heathcliff stops Louie and tells him that he's four, and shows him his birth certificate, which states "You're Four". Heathcliff grabs the dynamite from Louie's hands, and it explodes.
Louie turns around, and is happy to see that Heathcliff is starting to die, with each of his nine lives floating into the air away from him. Heathcliff says goodbye to Louie, but just as Heathcliff's ninth life floats away, Louie laughs, and tells Heathcliff that if he hadn't died, he would've inherited one million dollars. Upon hearing this, Heathcliff's ninth life whistles to the other lives, and they all fly back into Heathcliff's body. Heathcliff wakes, saying, "If I can't take it with me, I'm not going!"
== Caricatures ==
* Billy Gray - "I'm only three years old."
== Availability ==
GUFFAW AND ORDER.jpg|(1994) LaserDisc Guffaw and Order: Looney Tunes Fight Crime
LTGC Vol.4.jpg|(2006) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4, Disc Four (restored; with optional audio commentary by Jerry Beck)
LTSC4.jpg|(2006) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 4 Disc 2
Lt cas5.jpg|(2007) DVD Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volume 5
LTPC VOL 2 Blu Ray.jpg|(2012) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc Two (restored)
LTPC VOL 2 DVD.jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc Two (restored)
Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection- Looney Tunes.jpg|(2013) DVD Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection: Looney Tunes
Lt spotlight df2.jpg|(2014) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 4-5 Repack
=== Streaming ===
Lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2023) (restored)
Lt max.jpg|Max (2023 - ) (restored)
Lt itunes.jpg|iTunes (-) (restored)
== Censorship ==
* When this short aired on FOX's Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends and on Nickelodeon's Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon, two scenes of dangerous, imitable activity were edited:http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-d.aspx
** Louie the parrot tricking Heathcliff into playing radio by sticking electric wires in his ears, only for Heathcliff to actually get radio transmissions through his ears, while Louie does the same thing and gets electrocuted.
** Louie then tricks Heathcliff into walking along railroad tracks with a can over his head—and Heathcliff derailing the train and somehow surviving.
== Notes ==
* Heathcliff is inspired by the then-popular radio show Duffy's Tavern. The radio program influenced other similar "dopey simpleton"-type characters such as Filligan from "Hush My Mouse" (1946), Junyer Bear, and Baby Huey from Famous Studios' Noveltoons.
* The original closing titles are presumed to be lost, as the short's restored copy only exists with the 1957–59 Merrie Melodies closing titles. Presumably this was intended for a Blue Ribbon reissue, which never happened.
* In 2003, Heathcliff the cat made a cameo appearance at the end of the movie Looney Tunes Back in Action.
* Heathcliff was originally going to appear in the Looney Tunes Cartoons short "Happy Birthday Bugs Bunny!" but was cut.https://twitter.com/AGuyWhoDraws/status/1287799398500429829
* This is the first cartoon directed by Arthur Davis to be in the post-1948 Warner Bros. package.
== Gallery ==
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== References ==
Category:1948
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Arthur Davis
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons written by Lloyd Turner
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:Cartoons animated by Basil Davidovich
Category:Cartoons animated by Bill Melendez
Category:Cartoons animated by Don Williams
Category:Cartoons animated by Emery Hawkins
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Don Smith
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Philip DeGuard
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons originally produced in Cinecolor
Category:One-Shot Cartoons