Mice Follies

Mice Follies is a 1960 Looney Tunes short directed by Robert McKimson. 
== Title ==
The title is a play on the Ice Follies, a touring ice show founded in 1936.
== Plot ==
Ralph Crumden and Ned Morton leave their lodge meeting later than expected. On the way home, Morton peeps through a mail slot and spies a sleeping cat. He lassos the cat's tail and pulls it through the slot. Ralph grabs the rope from his hands just as the cat pulls back, yanking Ralph through the slot. He frantically climbs back outside, and the two mice continue home.
The cat exits through a side window follows them. When they reach their mousehole, the cat jumps into the house through an open window. It puts its mouth against the other side of the hole and Ralph and Ned walk right in. Remarking how dark it is, Ralph strikes a match and the cat spits them out.
The mice try to be quiet so their wives won't hear them coming home so late. The cat sneaks into the crawlway where they live and, in the dark, Ralph mistakes it for his wife. He feels its fur and gets mad thinking she bought a new fur coat so he rips it off and walks back out to Ned. The cat reaches its paw out and slices Ralph. Morton goes in to talk to his wife and the cat attacks him too. They run all the way back out to the street and decide to go sleep in the park.
Alice and Trixie return home from a movie, feeling bad about telling their husbands to be home at an earlier hour, and the cat attacks them too. They too take refuge in the park and unknowingly seat themselves on a bench behind the one where Ralph and Ned are sleeping.
== Caricatures ==
* Jackie Gleason
* Art Carney
* Audrey Meadows
* Joyce Randolph
== Availability ==
Saturday Morning Cartoons 1960s Volume 1.jpg|(2009) DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Volume 1, Disc 1 (as a part of The Porky Pig Show, without the opening and closing titles)
L.T.M.C..jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: The Chuck Jones Collection, Disc 1
lt mouse chronicles blu.jpg|(2012) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: The Chuck Jones Collection, Disc 1
=== Streaming ===
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2022) (restored)
== Television ==
* This short appeared on The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show on 7 February 1998.https://web.archive.org/web/20120509213611/http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/tv/bugstweety/bntmem1.html
== Notes ==
* This cartoon was the third of three parodies of The Honeymooners, following 1956's "The Honey-Mousers" and 1957's "Cheese It, the Cat!"
* This is the only one of the three Honeymousers cartoons to feature Ned Morton's wife Trixie Morton.
* This cartoon shares the name of a 1954 Tom and Jerry cartoon.
* Like the previous two Honeymousers cartoons, both the Ralph Crumden and Ned Morton mice are antagonized by a mean cat bent on eating both of them. This time, the mice are not facing Sam Cat; instead, they face an unnamed black cat with a similar character design to this early "prototype" of Sam.
* According to the commentary for "Transylvania 6-5000" on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5 DVD, Julie Bennett also did voices in this cartoon, although this cartoon is not found on any of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVDs.
* The working title was "Mouse Trapped".
== Gallery ==
MiceFolliesCredits1.png
MiceFolliesCredits2.png
MiceFolliesRestored.jpeg|Cropped screenshot of 2020 restoration
Mice follies-1.png|Trixie at left, with Alice at right
MiceFolliesProductionBackgroundSc-17-1542.jpg|Production background
MiceFolliesLeadSheet1.jpg|Animator draft
MiceFolliesLeadSheet2.jpg|Animator draft
MiceFolliesLeadSheet3.jpg|Animator draft
== References ==
Category:Cartoons directed by Robert McKimson
Category:Shorts
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:1960
Category:Cartoons written by Tedd Pierce
Category:Cartoons with music by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons animated by George Grandpré
Category:Cartoons animated by Ted Bonnicksen
Category:Cartoons animated by Warren Batchelder
Category:Cartoons animated by Tom Ray
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Robert Gribbroek
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Bob Singer
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Daws Butler
Category:Cartoons produced by John W. Burton