- This article is about the 1949 cartoon. For the character, see Hippety Hopper.
Hippety Hopper is a 1949 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.
Plot[]
A mouse is attempting to commit suicide but is stopped at the last minute by a baby kangaroo named Hippety Hopper. In gratitude, the mouse releases the kangaroo, who "is as big and strong as the cause of (his) misery." The kangaroo then agrees to terrorize the mouse's tormentor, Sylvester.
The mouse heads to Sylvester's home and wakes him up by plucking one of his whiskers. The mouse states that he will take vitamins in hopes to grow as big as the cat, all while the cat laughs at such ridiculous idea. However, the mouse calls in Hippety to swap roles, scaring Sylvester. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the two continues to swap roles to sock Sylvester when he tries to physically attack, while the mouse taunts him.
Sylvester is eventually kicked out of the house and is launched into a talking bulldog. The bulldog states that it looks bad for Sylvester to be thrown out, and throws him back in. Finding Hippety, Sylvester grabs onto the kangaroo but is bounced repeatedly under a table and dizzily walks out of the house. Sylvester tries to explain to the bulldog that the mouse is big and hops erratically, but the bulldog only sees the mouse, causing further humiliation for Sylvester.
Fed up with Sylvester's failures afterwards, the bulldog aims to fight the mouse. The mouse indeed swaps himself out for Hippety, but the mouse also concurrently fights back by biting the bulldog in the foot, rendering him vulnerable to be kicked out of the house. The mouse taunts the canine and feline, stating "If you come in again, I'll pin your ears back!" The bulldog states that if the mouse can do so, he'll take up ballet dancing; just as he tries again, he is thrown out with his ears pinned by a clothespin. With the two losing their sanity, the bulldog takes Sylvester out for ballet dancing as the two leaves the house dancing.
Availability[]
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6, Disc 1 (Blue Ribbon titles; unrestored)
Looney Tunes Super Stars' Sylvester & Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem (original opening restored)
Streaming[]
Censorship[]
- When this cartoon aired as part of FOX's Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny & Friends compilation show, the entire opening sequence where the mouse is at the docks contemplating suicide in order to get away from Sylvester, only for Hippety Hopper to save him was cut, making the cartoon start on the scene of the mouse rescuing Hippety Hopper from his crate. Surprisingly, this wasn't edited from other channels that have a history of editing out spoken and visual references to suicide, such as CBS, ABC (though ABC did eventually drop this short in 1994), Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang,[2] nor were other dubious parts cut, like the homeless man hitting another homeless man after Hippety Hopper jumps on the first man's head or the mouse and Hippety Hopper scaring the college coeds at the Eta Bita Pi sorority house.
Notes[]
- This is the first Hippety Hopper short to be in the post-1948 package, as his previous short, "Hop, Look and Listen", was sold to Associated Artists Productions, making that short part of the pre-1948 package of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts.
- This is also Hippety Hopper's first appearance in a Merrie Melodies short, since his previous short was part of the Looney Tunes series.
- This is the first short that Hippety Hopper is given his name, as he was unnamed in his previous short.
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