Robert McKimson's "Kiddin' the Kitten" is a delightfully crazy look at turning manipulation and exploitation on its head. When slothful cat Dodsworth is ordered to rid his house of mice, he doesn't quite know what to do (after all, for generations no Dodsworth has ever stooped to physical labor). So, he opens a bogus mouse-catching school and "trains" an anonymous kitten how to trap rodents, so that it looks as though he, Dodsworth, has been doing his job. But not only is this kitten cleverer than Dodsworth throughout the whole "lesson", once the little guy wises up to Dodsworth's shenanigans, things won't go so easily! All in all, I have to disagree with some people who in other reviews belittled McKimson's work. He really did have his own interesting style. For example, whereas Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng portrayed Bugs Bunny as a stay-at-home type whose life gets invaded, McKimson would often portray him as an adventurer. Honestly, if Warner Bros. had closed McKimson's animation unit instead of Arthur Davis's*, we wouldn't have Foghorn Leghorn, Hippety Hopper or the Tasmanian Devil.
Anyway, this is a good one. McKimson cast Dodsworth and the kitten the following year in "A Peck o' Trouble", only that time the kitten had yellow fur.
*In the late 1940s, due to a financial situation, Warner Bros. couldn't keep four animation units opened, and had to close one. Since Jones, Freleng and McKimson were all tenured, they discontinued Arthur Davis's unit (which had been Bob Clampett's unit until Clampett left). During his approximately two years as a director, Davis did turn out some interesting shorts, namely "Bowery Bugs".
PS: Sheldon Leonard, who provided Dodsworth's voice, produced "The Danny Thomas Show", "The Andy Griffith Show" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show".
Anyway, this is a good one. McKimson cast Dodsworth and the kitten the following year in "A Peck o' Trouble", only that time the kitten had yellow fur.
*In the late 1940s, due to a financial situation, Warner Bros. couldn't keep four animation units opened, and had to close one. Since Jones, Freleng and McKimson were all tenured, they discontinued Arthur Davis's unit (which had been Bob Clampett's unit until Clampett left). During his approximately two years as a director, Davis did turn out some interesting shorts, namely "Bowery Bugs".
PS: Sheldon Leonard, who provided Dodsworth's voice, produced "The Danny Thomas Show", "The Andy Griffith Show" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show".