Heavenly Puss

Heavenly Puss is a 1949 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 42nd Tom and Jerry short, created in 1948, and released on 9 July 1949. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Fred Quimby. The cartoon's music was composed by Scott Bradley and the animation was credited to Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge.

Plot

A typical chase begins between Tom and Jerry. Tom loosens the carpet and pulls it down, along with it a large upright piano. With no time to react, Tom is squished to death by the piano. Tom's spirit rises and climbs the golden escalator of Heaven to the golden gates of the "Heavenly Express", a train that sends dead cats to heaven. At the gatekeeper's desk, cats are waiting to enter. The first one, Butch, had lost a fight with a bulldog (possibly Spike), Frankie, struck with flat iron while singing on a backyard fence, Aloysius, ran over by a steamroller and three kittens named Fluff, Muff and Puff, thrown into a river and drowned ("What some people won't do..."), which the gatekeeper allows them through. Tom tries to sneak past the gatekeeper to board the train, but is caught and has to stand in line while he looks up his record. Unfortunately, the gatekeeper refuses to let him enter because he has persecuted Jerry all his life. But since the Heavenly Express doesn't leave for an hour, he is given a certificate of forgiveness for Jerry to sign. He will be allowed through if Jerry signs it, but if he doesn't, Tom will be banished to Hell, where Spike, personified as the devil, awaits.

Tom comes back to life and pleads with Jerry to sign. First he brings cake, but Jerry eats the cake and sprays ink on Tom's face. Then Tom tries to forge Jerry's signature, but the gatekeeper sees this and stops him ("Thomas. Ah, ah, ah, ah"). Tom brings cheese but during his protests, Jerry thinks it's a scam and angrily rips the certificate, causing an angry Tom to attempt to smash Jerry. Spike pops in and reminds Tom of the consequence of doing so, tempting him to finish the job ("Attaboy, Tom! Hit him and let's go! Come on!"). Tom reattaches all the ripped pieces of the certificate, but Tom misses the deadline. Jerry then signs, and Tom frantically tries to climb the stairs but they fade away and Tom falls into a hole that leads directly to Hell with a SPLASH! where he will be tortured by Spike for all eternity.

Tom awakens when an ember from the fireplace lands on top of him. He sees that he is alive and that it was just a bad dream. Having learned his lesson, he runs over to Jerry and hugs him profusely. An utterly perplexed Jerry shrugs.

Voice cast

• Billy Bletcher as The Cat Gatekeeper
• Joshua Cabanna as the 'Hellkeeper' dog
• Linsay McGavin & Analeigh Cooper as the kittens in the bag

(all of the cast are uncredited)

References