Cheese Chasers
| Cheese Chasers | |
|---|---|
| Merrie Melodies (Hubie and Bertie) series | |
 "This is a dream?!" Claude Cat with suicidal mice Hubie and Bertie in a scene from Cheese Chasers. | |
| Directed by | Charles M. Jones |
| Produced by | Eddie Selzer |
| Story by | Michael Maltese |
| Voices by |
Mel Blanc Stan Freberg (uncredited) |
| Music by | Carl W. Stalling |
| Animation by |
Ken Harris Ben Washam Lloyd Vaughan Phil Monroe |
| Studio |
Warner Bros. Cartoons The Vitaphone Corporation |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | August 25, 1951 |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7 min (one reel) |
| Language | English |
Cheese Chasers is a 1951 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Hubie and Bertie in their final appearances of the Classic era. Also starring are Claude Cat and first appearance of Marc Antony. Mel Blanc plays Claude, Hubie, and Marc Antony, while Stan Freberg plays Bertie.
Plot
At the end of a raid on a cheese factory, Hubie determines that, based on the amount of cheese the average mouse eats in their lifetime (12 lbs.), they've eaten enough to have lived two thousand years (48 tons). Believing they have nothing else to live for, Hubie and Bertie get suicidal and try to get eaten by Claude Cat. Claude figures the mice are poisoned, and refuses to eat them. Claude finally concludes that he's now too scared to eat mice, has no more reason to live, and also decides to commit suicide. Claude heads outside and punches Marc Anthony.
Marc Anthony sees Claude standing there blindfolded and with a cigarette and asks what's going on. When Claude begs Marc to "massacre" him, the Marc figures out that Claude no longer wants to eat mice, and now the mice don't like cheese. Finding that "it just don't add up," he runs after a dog catcher wanting to get committed ("Hey, wait for me! Wait for baby!"), with Claude ("Hey, wait for me! You gotta massacre me!") and the mice ("Wait, you cowardly cat!") in hot pursuit, still bent on ending their own lives.
Availability
This cartoon can be seen (uncut and restored) on the second volume of The Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD set.