Claude Cat

***Claude Cat*** is an animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Brothers.

## Info and biography

Claude Cat (a pun on the homonym "clawed cat") had his origins in several other cat characters used by animator Chuck Jones from 1943 to 1946. These cats were mostly similar in appearance and temperament, with black fur and anxious personalities. For example, in the 1943 film The Aristo-Cat (the character's first speaking role), Jones paired his unnamed cat against the mind-manipulating mouse duo, Hubie and Bertie. In the 1943 film Fin'n Catty the same cat has a manipulation with water with a goldfish in the style of Sylvester the Cat and Tweety. He appeared in the 1943 film An Itch in Time such as Elmer Fudd's mascot and in the 1944 The Stupid Cupid. Also he appeared in Odor-able Kitty (1945, in the debut of Pepé Le Pew) and in the 1946 film Roughly Squeaking this early version of Claude had his last appearance with Hubie and Bertie before his official redesign in 1949. [1]

Jones redesigned the neurotic feline for the 1949 film Mouse Wreckers (perhaps to distinguish him from Friz Freleng's popular puss, Sylvester). The short is another Hubie and Bertie vehicle, only this time, the antagonist they antagonize is Claude, drawn as he would appear in all future cartoons: yellow, with a red shock of hair and a white belly (his exact markings would vary from cartoon to cartoon). In this as in all future Claude Cat cartoons, Jones' careful attention to personality is easily evident. Claude is a nervous and lazy animal. His attempts to protect his home from the manipulative mice Hubie and Bertie prove futile as the rodents torment him by (among other things) putting upside down and sideways landscape paintings and an aquarium in the windows or by nailing his furniture to the ceiling. Jones set the mice on Claude once more in the 1950 film The Hypo-Chondri-Cat. This time, the miniature Machiavellis convince the neurotic Claude that he's dead. Claude would run afoul of the mice once more in 1951's Cheese Chasers and against another mouse duo in Mouse Warming in 1952.

Jones added another idiosyncrasy to Claude's id in another 1950 film, Two's a Crowd. Here, Claude is scared out of his mind by a diminutive dog named Frisky Puppy, newly adopted by Claude's owners. The main theme, however, is jealousy as Claude's attempts to oust the intruder repeatedly fail due to the cat's intense cowardice - a running gag has Claude repeatedly shooting up and clinging to the ceiling after the pup playfully comes up behind him and barks. At the end, however Claude gets revenge by pulling the same trick causing the dog to comically leap up and cling to the ceiling. Jones repeated the scenario with slight variations in Terrier Stricken in 1952 and No Barking in 1954 (the latter featuring a cameo by Tweety Bird).

In future cartoons, Jones recast Claude as a silent villain, still possessing his full set of neuroses. This stage of the character's evolution is best exemplified by the 1954 film Feline Frame-Up. Here, Claude convinces his owner that fellow pet Marc Antony is trying to eat the precious kitten Pussyfoot. Marc Antony is tossed out, allowing Claude the run of the house. That is, until Marc Antony outwits the cat and makes him sign a confession admitting to his crimes.

Claude's final cartoon was in 1962's Louvre Come Back to Me! who is a French cat (named Pierre) that loved Penelope Pussycat, when he is insulted by Pepé Le Pew.

Claude was played by voice actor Mel Blanc using a quirky, strangulated voice similar to that of Marvin the Martian (but without Marvin's precise enunciation).

Jones retired Claude in the mid-1960s due to concentrating on Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. Nevertheless, the character enjoys some popularity as one of Jones' more humorous, if forgotten, creations.

## Modern appearances

One of the versions of Claude Cat was planned to be made as a cameo in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral" from the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He appears with other animated characters scared when Casper appears at the funeral. [2]

Claude appears in the episode "Mr. Popular's Rules of Cool" of Tiny Toon Adventures.

In the 2006 Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas, Claude Cat has a very brief cameo as a Lucky Duck Superstore employee going home for Christmas.

Claude briefly appears in The Looney Tunes Show opening.

Claude appears in New Looney Tunes.

## Trivia

In some appearances outside Warner Bros., he is close friends with Sylvester and sometimes enemies.

In the early 2000s, during the 1998 dubbed versions of *The Hypo-Chondri-Cat* and *Cheese Chasers*, Ian James Corlett voiced him, while Michael Donovan plays the bulldog.

 **Animators** | Ken Harris
Bob Cannon
Abe Levitow
Lloyd Vaughan
Barry Temple
Michael Stocker
 **Voice** | Mel Blanc (1943-1958)
John Stocker (1993-1996)
Ian James Corlett (1999-2011)