The Aristo-cat

The Aristo-cat is a 1943 Merrie Melodies short directed by Charles M. Jones.
== Title ==
The title is a play on an "aristocrat"; this pun would later be used by Disney for their 1970 animated feature film The Aristocats.
== Plot ==
Meadows, a butler, is tired of the constant practical jokes of the family cat, Pussy, so much that he decides to quit his own job, leaving the cat home alone much to his chagrin. The cat doesn't know what a mouse looks like, so when Hubie and Bertie show up, he is terrified. 
Hubie and Bertie take advantage by tricking him into believing that the family bulldog Rover is the mouse he wants to eat. After a narrow escape from the dog, the cat realizes that Hubie and Bertie are the real mice, and starts giving them a chase to eat them. The chase leads back to the very same doghouse where a violent cat-and-dog fight ensues, until the main problem is revealed to be a bad dream which both Hubie and Bertie, Pussy the cat and Rover the bulldog had all at the same time.
== Availability ==
Cartoon Moviestars 11.jpg|(1990) VHS Cartoon Moviestars: Porky Pig and Company
Golden Age LT Vol 1.jpg|(1991) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 1, Side 5: Chuck Jones
The golden age of looney tunes vhs 5.jpg|(1991) VHS The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 5: Chuck Jones
LTCE VOL 13 COMIC CAT-TASTROPHIES.jpg|(1999) VHS Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 13: Comic Cat-Tastrophies (1995 Turner dubbed version)
LTGC Vol.4.jpg|(2006) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4, Disc Four (restored)
LTSC4.jpg|(2006) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 4 Disc 2
lt cas5.jpg|(2007) DVD Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volume 5
L.T.M.C..jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: The Chuck Jones Collection, Disc 2 (restored)
lt mouse chronicles blu.jpg|(2012) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: The Chuck Jones Collection, Disc 2 (restored)
lt spotlight df2.jpg|(2014) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 4-5 Repack
=== Streaming ===
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2023)
lt max.jpg|Max (2023 - 2024)
Lt itunes.jpg|iTunes (-) (restored)
== Notes ==
*This cartoon features the debut of Hubie and Bertie. The short also contains an early version of Claude Cat, whom is known as "Pussy".
*Hubie and Bertie's design looks slightly different from later shorts to follow: in this one, both of them look less anthropomorphic and more like "realistic" mice and notably lacking visible buck teeth from their elongated upper jaws, similar in vein to the unnamed grey mouse from Friz Freleng's "The Fifth-Column Mouse" released earlier that year. Both Hubie and Bertie would later be redesigned to look more anthropomorphic and cartoonish with bigger eyes, larger noses, longer upper jaws and with visible buck teeth on one of them in later appearances, though their respective fur colors would eventually swap starting with House Hunting Mice.
*This short continue to experiment with strongly graphic, nearly abstract backgrounds, seen throughout Jones cartoons from late 1942–1943, especially during the scene of proto-Claude's mental breakdown upon learning of Meadows the butler's resignation.
*Unlike later cartoons where Hubie and Bertie are voiced by Mel Blanc and Stan Freberg respectively (or vice-versa), here they are voiced by screenwriters Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce. In addition, both Hubie and Bertie have deeper voices in comparison to their later appearances.
*As late as 2008, a 35mm print of this cartoon with its original titles was known to exist.https://blueribbonblues.neocities.org/checklist.html
*This cartoon was shown in theatres with Rocky Mountain during its reissue.
== Music-Cueshttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035646/soundtrack/ ==
* For You (by Paul Whiteman)
** Played during the opening credits.https://www.patreon.com/posts/whats-score-81644429https://books.google.com/books/about/Tunes_for_Toons.html?id=Rz2WJ_-NxsAC
* In an 18th-Century Drawing Room (by Raymond Scott)
** Plays during the opening scene.
* Singin' in the Bathtub (Music by Michael Cleary & Lyrics by Herb Magidson and Ned Washington) 
** Sung by Pussy.
* Inflammatus et accensus [From "Stabat Mater"] (by Gioachino Rossini)
** Plays when Pussy screams for Meadows.
* Who Calls? (by Johnny Marks)
** Plays when Pussy hides to Hubie and Bertie.
* Twilight in Turkey (by Raymond Scott)
** Plays near the end when Pussy bed jumps around.
== Gallery ==
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==References==
es:The Aristo-Cat
Category:Hubie and Bertie Cartoons
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:1943
Category:Claude Cat Cartoons
Category:Cartoons written by Tedd Pierce
Category:Cartoons animated by Rudy Larriva
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with layouts by John McGrew
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Gene Fleury
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Bernyce Polifka
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Tedd Pierce
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 with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:Cartoons with missing Leon Schlesinger credits
Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist