Mouse-Taken Identity

Mouse-Taken Identity is a 1957 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.
== Title ==
The title is a play on "mistaken identity."
== Plot ==
Hippety Hopper is sent to the zoo, but he escapes and hops to the nearby museum where Sylvester works at. Taking his son to work, Sylvester wants to show his overly-excited son his job of catching stray mice from the museum. Sylvester finds a small mouse to go after, but he crashes into a knight armor statue. Junior catches the mouse by its tail, but he says that his father told him that mice were usually big and ferocious, but Sylvester tries to cover up the myth by stating that mice comes in different sizes, such as small ones around the museum and large ones such as a stuffed kangaroo. However, Hippety confuses said kangaroo as a live one, and when Sylvester gets near it, he gets kicked into a wall.
Realizing that the "mouse" is alive but has "surely been cut down to size", Sylvester tries to go after Hippety. Junior watches his father try to pursue the "giant mouse" inside a cave in a cavemen display, but Sylvester is beaten in his attempts which results in Junior being ashamed and covering his head with a paper bag:
# Sylvester first tries to smoke Hippety out with a stick and fire, but he overignites it and burns himself.
# Using a turtle shell, Sylvester heads inside the cave to fight Hippety with extra protection. However, Sylvester comes out with Hippety's set of legs when Sylvester states that he couldn't find him. However, Hippety pulls him inside the shell and beats him up until he lands at a lion head display. Stuck, Junior uses a wooden club and a rifle to get his father out from the "living" lion.
# At an Indian display, Sylvester tries to chase Hippety with a tomahawk, but eventually Hippety gets the tomahawk and scalps Sylvester.
# Sylvester corners Hippety and attempts to punch him with a metal fist by launching himself with a large crossbow. Hippety hops away, and Sylvester ends up inside a sarcophagus.
Junior finds his father inside the sarcophagus, and unwinds him from the bandages as Junior states that "now you can be my daddy and my mummy too!" Sylvester groans at this response, especially when Hippety hugs him.
== Availability ==
lt vs11.jpg|(1984) VHS The Looney Tunes Video Show Volume 11
24Karat-SylvesterAndTweety.jpg|(1985) VHS Sylvester and Tweety's Crazy Capers
lt stcc beta.jpg|(1985) Beta Sylvester and Tweety's Crazy Capers
lt bumper woolworths.jpg|(1995) VHS Bumper Edition (Woolworths Exclusive)
Gjhniulk.jpg|(1996) VHS Looney Tunes Collection - Sylvester and Tweety 
L.T.M.C..jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: The Chuck Jones Collection, Disc 2
lt mouse chronicles blu.jpg|(2012) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: The Chuck Jones Collection, Disc 2
LooneyTunesSuperStars SylvesterAndHippetyHopper.jpg|(2013) DVD Looney Tunes Super Stars' Sylvester & Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem (restored)
=== Streaming ===
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2022) (restored)
== Censorship ==
* When this cartoon aired on ABC's The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, the scene of Sylvester getting caught in the lion's head and Sylvester Jr. blasting him in the rear end with a gun to get him out was cut. Also cut was Sylvester chasing Hippety Hopper around an American Indian display because it showed Sylvester dressed as an Indian and whooping before getting scalped. Curiously, the American Indian display scene was not censored on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Boomerang, all of which have a history of censoring and banning cartoons due to Native American stereotypes.
* While Nickelodeon didn't censor the scene of Sylvester chasing Hippety Hopper around the American Indian display, they did cut the part where Sylvester Jr. uses a rifle to blast Sylvester in the rear after he gets stuck in the lion's head due to concerns over showing a child character with a gun.
* The recent version shown on MeTV left in the part where Sylvester Jr. shoots Sylvester out of the lion's head in an attempt to rescue him, but cut the part where Sylvester chases Hippety Hopper around the American Indian section of the museum. The difference between ABC's cut and MeTV's cut is that MeTV left in the part where Sylvester shows his son that he had been scalped, which made for an obvious plot hole, while ABC cut the entire part, including the scalping part. The airing on MeTV Toons on 20 July 2024 was uncut.
== Gallery ==
Mouse Taken Identity Lobby Card.jpeg|Lobby card (color version)
Mouse-taken Identity ABC Censorship
=== TV Title Cards ===
Mouse Taken Identity TV Titles.jpg|The Road Runner Show
File:Screenshot 2021-03-15 at 2.26.40 PM.png|The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show
Category:1957
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Robert McKimson
Category:Sylvester Cartoons
Category:Sylvester Junior Cartoons
Category:Hippety Hopper Cartoons
Category:Cartoons written by Tedd Pierce
Category:Cartoons with music by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons animated by George Grandpré
Category:Cartoons animated by Ted Bonnicksen
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Robert Gribbroek
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by William Butler
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer