Gay Purr-ee
Gay Purr-ee | |
---|---|
UPA | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 85 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Gay Purr-ee is a 1962 American
Plot
The story is set in 1895 France and takes place predominantly in Paris, but it begins on a farm in rural Provence. The lovely cat Mewsette and the accomplished but shy mouser Jaune Tom are in love, until the former is frustrated with his plebeian ways (and those of the farm), to the point of calling him a "clumsy country clod". Inspired by the human Jeanette's stories of glamour and sophistication in Paris, Mewsette runs away by taking a train to the big city, where she encounters the slick con-cat Meowrice. Taking advantage of the country kitty's naivete, he puts her in the care of the sultry Madame Henrietta Reubens-Chatte, who promises to turn Mewsette into a dainty debutante known as "The Belle of all Paris". Unbeknownst to Mewsette, Meowrice is grooming her to be the mail-order bride of a rich American cat in Pittsburgh known as "Mr. Henry Phtt". Meanwhile, Jaune Tom and his sidekick Robespierre arrive in Paris, searching for Mewsette.
Training does not go well. Just as Mewsette is about to give up and return to the farm, Meowrice takes her out to see the cat side of Paris, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs-Élysées and the Mewlon Rouge and then take a buggy ride back home. Reinvigorated, she returns to her studies. Jaune Tom and Robespierre arrive just at that moment but get waylaid by one of Meowrice's shadowy cat henchmen and barely escape drowning in Paris's famous labyrinthine sewers. By coincidence, Jaune Tom displays his incredible mouse-hunting skills in front of Meowrice (known as "Virtue-Mousety"), who sees a money-making opportunity, gets them drunk, and sells them as mousers to a ship bound for Alaska. On the ship, Robespierre consoles a depressed Jaune Tom, telling him that any problem, regardless of size, can be broken up into manageable pieces, by remarking that even the mighty ocean is made up of little drops of water. Jaune Tom has a vision of Mewsette singing about how no problem is unconquerable, and the importance of never giving up.
Mewsette finishes her training and is now lovely enough to impress even Meowrice, who commissions a series of
Meanwhile, not long after they reach Alaska (a howling wilderness of snow), Jaune Tom and Robespierre strike gold thanks to the former's mouse-hunting skills. Now wealthy, the two cats hurry back to Paris.
A disillusioned and homeless Mewsette wanders around the streets of Paris and stops atop a bridge over the river, considering ending her misery, but she is captured by Meowrice and his sidekicks. She is taken to the
Voice cast
- Judy Garland as Mewsette,[1] a beautiful white Turkish Angora and Jaune Tom's girlfriend.
- Robert Goulet as Jaune Tom,[1] an orange tabby cat.
- Red Buttons as Robespierre,[1] a young black and white cat and Jaune Tom's friend.
- tuxedo cat. Frees also plays the voice of the cat from the railway station.
- Hermione Gingold as Mme. Rubens-Chatte,[1] Meowrice's "sister" and a Persian cat.
- Narrator and Man on Ship.[1]
- Mel Blanc as Bulldog and additional voices.[1]
- business partners (singing voices).[1]
- Thurl Ravenscroft as Singing Hench Cat (uncredited).[1]
Production
Gay Purr-ee was the second and final feature film, following 1001 Arabian Nights with Mr. Magoo,[2] produced by UPA (United Productions of America), a studio which had revolutionized animation during the 1950s by incorporating design and limited animation.[2]
The script for Gay Purr-ee was written by Dorothy Webster Jones and her husband,
A copyright entry for a song titled "Free at Last" made for the film exists, though it is not included in the final production.[5][6]
When Warner Bros. became the film's distributor, they discovered that Chuck Jones had worked on the film. After a long debate with management over the details of Jones' exclusivity agreement, the studio fired Jones in July 1962 and laid off his staff after they had finished their next cartoon.[7] After Warner Bros. Cartoons was closed a year later, Jones hired his old unit for his first independent studio, Sib Tower 12 Productions.[7]
Reception
Gay Purr-ee was theatrically released on December 17, 1962. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 60% of 6 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10.[8]
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times felt the film's backgrounds were "good-natured tone and diverting" but felt "the characters almost pale by contrast".[9] Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "The animation, in Technicolor, is inventive enough, leaning toward the economy of motion with which UPA revolutionized the cartoon movie (to say nothing of the TV commercial) and filling in the backgrounds with charming semi-abstractions in consonance with what might be called the modern French manner."[10] Variety felt the film was "hampered by an uninspired storyline, but its otherwise slick and meticulous production values overshadow the weakness with ample artistry."[11] A Newsweek review felt that the film's subject matter was too sophisticated for an animated film, drily noting that its target audience seemed to be "the fey four-year-old of recherché taste".[12] Jerry Beck, in his 2005 book The Animated Movie Guide, felt Gay Purr-ee was "a good effort" and "unjustly underrated". Despite its "strong design sense" and voice cast, he agreed the animation quality is sometimes "on a television level or worse".[13]
Multiple analyses have noted its modernist style, called "remarkably designed" in one such review.[14]
One analysis claims the modernist aesthetic has plot implications: though both urban and pastoral landscapes are equally "highlighted", the plot praises the triumph of "pastoral nature over corrupt urban technology".[12]
Home media
Gay Pur-ee was released on
Soundtrack
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
New Record Mirror | [18] |
On November 4, 2003,
- Overture – Judy Garland and Chorus (3:59)
- Mewsette – Robert Goulet (3:09)
- Take My Hand, Paree – Judy Garland (2:58)
- Roses Red, Violets Blue – Judy Garland (2:02)
- The Money Cat – Paul Frees and the Mellomen (2:17)
- The Horse Won't Talk – Paul Frees (1:45)
- Bubbles – Robert Goulet, Red Buttons, and the Mellomen (2:48)
- Little Drops of Rain – Judy Garland (3:29)
- Little Drops of Rain – Robert Goulet (1:30)
- Portrait of Mewsette – Orchestra (3:30)
- Paris is a Lonely Town – Judy Garland (4:15)
- Mewsette Finale – Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, and Chorus (2:38)
- Paris is a Lonely Town (variation) – Orchestra (1:58)
- Roses Red, Violets Blue (demo) – Harold Arlen and E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (1:43)
- The Money Cat (demo) – Harold Arlen and E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (2:10)
- The Horse Won't Talk (demo) – Harold Arlen (3:46)
- Little Drops of Rain (demo) – Harold Arlen (2:39)
- Paris is a Lonely Town (demo) – Harold Arlen (2:46)
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8160-6599-8.
- ^ a b Maltin 1987, pp. 341–342.
- ^ Jones 1999, p. 277.
- ^ Barrier 1999, pp. 562–563.
- ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries 1961 Music July-Dec 3D Ser Vol 15 Pt 5
- ^ WebVoyage Record View 1
- ^ a b Barrier 1999, p. 563.
- ^ "Gay Purr-ee (1962)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
- ^ Crowther, Bosley (December 6, 1962). "Screen: Sartre's 'No Exit' in Premiere at Sutton". The New York Times. p. 55. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
- ^ Tube. (October 17, 1962). "Film Reviews: Gay Purr-ee". Variety. p. 17. Retrieved January 28, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ ISBN 9780803235120.
- ISBN 978-1-556-52591-9.
- ISBN 9780674030916.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ "Gay Purr-ee". LaserDisc Database.
- ^ "JustWatch". JustWatch. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
- ^ Blu-ray.com
- New Record Mirror. No. 98. p. 10. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
- ^ Ehrbar, Greg (October 24, 2017). "UPA's "Gay Purr-ee" on Records". Cartoon Research.
Bibliography
- Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. ISBN 978-0-1980-2079-0.
- Jones, Chuck (1999). Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist. ISBN 978-0-374-52620-7.
- Maltin, Leonard (1987). Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons (Revised ed.). ISBN 0-452-25993-2.
External links
- Gay Purr-ee at IMDb
- Gay Purr-ee at the TCM Movie Database
- Gay Purr-ee at AllMovie
- Gay Purr-ee at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Gay Purr-ee at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on August 3, 2016.
- The Judy Garland Online Discography "Gay Purr-ee" pages