Hippety Hopper
Encyclopedia
Hippety Hopper is a young kangaroo
cartoon
character in the Warner Bros.
Looney Tunes
series of cartoons. Robert McKimson
introduced Hippety Hopper in Hop, Look and Listen
(1948), which established the pattern for future Hippety Hopper cartoons.
, circus, etc., and is mistaken for a giant mouse
by Sylvester the cat
. Sylvester tries to capture and eat his "prey", but the innocent and infantile Hippety mistakes Sylvester's predations for a game of rough-housing. Sylvester is repeatedly punched, kicked, juggled, spun, and pounced, but each failure only strengthens his desire to have the "mouse" for lunch. Hippety Hopper returns in McKimson's Pop 'Im Pop! (1950), in which proud papa Sylvester boasts of his mousing skills to his son, Sylvester Jr.
In Cats A-Weigh! (1953), Sylvester Cat accepts a position as mouse-catcher on a ship. He encounters Hippety Hopper being shipped from Australia
. Sylvester mistakes Hippety Hopper once again for a giant mouse, and the baby kangaroo promptly beats the cat soundly. Junior is mortified, but the true victim is Sylvester, humiliated by a mere "mouse" in front of his own son.
McKimson would continue the Sylvester/Hippety Hopper series for 16 years, varying it slightly from cartoon to cartoon. In Bell Hoppy
(1954), for example, in a twist on "belling the cat
", Sylvester must hang a bell around a mouse's neck in order to join the "Loyal Order of Alley Cats and Mousing and Chowder Club". In Lighthouse Mouse
, Sylvester must guard a lighthouse from the baby kangaroo who wants nothing more than to turn it off. Hoppy Go Lucky
(1952) was a parody of Of Mice and Men
, with Sylvester accompanied by the giant, simple-minded cat "Bennie," who wants a mouse "to hug and pet." The central theme is always the same: Sylvester is shamed for his failure to capture a simple "mouse".
The Hippety Hopper/Sylvester cartoons ended in 1964 when the Warner Bros. studio closed its animation unit. The character continues to appear in Looney Tunes marketing and other projects, such as cameo appearances in the crowd shots of the 1996 film Space Jam
, and in the ending scene of Looney Tunes Back in Action.
In an episode of Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries set in Australia, Sylvester stumbled into a group of baby kangaroos, who all resembled Hippety Hopper, and commented that this was the first time he had seen the "giant mice" for years. He said the same thing in Tweety's High-flying Adventure.
Hippety Hopper is set to appear in The Looney Tunes Show
.
.
Kangaroo
A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
character in the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
series of cartoons. Robert McKimson
Robert McKimson
Robert "Bob" Porter McKimson, Sr. was an American animator, illustrator, and director best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros., and later DePatie-Freleng Enterprises...
introduced Hippety Hopper in Hop, Look and Listen
Hop, Look and Listen
Hop, Look and Listen is a 1948 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Robert McKimson that features Sylvester and Hippety Hopper, as his first appearance. At the start of the short, Hippety Hopper escapes from a zoo. When Sylvester sees him, he believes that the kangaroo is actually a king-size mouse...
(1948), which established the pattern for future Hippety Hopper cartoons.
History
Hippety Hopper cartoons have a typical pattern: Hopper escapes from a zooZoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
, circus, etc., and is mistaken for a giant mouse
Mouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
by Sylvester the cat
Sylvester (Looney Tunes)
Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., Sylvester the Cat or simply Sylvester, is a fictional character, a three-time Academy Award-winning anthropomorphic Tuxedo cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies repertory, often chasing Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper...
. Sylvester tries to capture and eat his "prey", but the innocent and infantile Hippety mistakes Sylvester's predations for a game of rough-housing. Sylvester is repeatedly punched, kicked, juggled, spun, and pounced, but each failure only strengthens his desire to have the "mouse" for lunch. Hippety Hopper returns in McKimson's Pop 'Im Pop! (1950), in which proud papa Sylvester boasts of his mousing skills to his son, Sylvester Jr.
Sylvester Jr.
Sylvester J. Pussycat, Jr., or simply Sylvester Junior, is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. He is the son of Sylvester The Cat. Strangely enough, his mother is never seen nor mentioned in any of the Warner Bros. shorts...
In Cats A-Weigh! (1953), Sylvester Cat accepts a position as mouse-catcher on a ship. He encounters Hippety Hopper being shipped from Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Sylvester mistakes Hippety Hopper once again for a giant mouse, and the baby kangaroo promptly beats the cat soundly. Junior is mortified, but the true victim is Sylvester, humiliated by a mere "mouse" in front of his own son.
McKimson would continue the Sylvester/Hippety Hopper series for 16 years, varying it slightly from cartoon to cartoon. In Bell Hoppy
Bell Hoppy
Bell Hoppy is an animated Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon short starring Sylvester the Cat and Hippety Hopper. It was directed by Robert McKimson.-Plot:...
(1954), for example, in a twist on "belling the cat
Belling the cat
Belling the Cat is a fable also known under the titles The Bell and the Cat and The Mice in Council. Although often attributed to Aesop, it was not recorded before the Middle Ages and has been confused with the quite different fable of Classical origin titled The Cat and the Mice. In the...
", Sylvester must hang a bell around a mouse's neck in order to join the "Loyal Order of Alley Cats and Mousing and Chowder Club". In Lighthouse Mouse
Lighthouse Mouse
Lighthouse Mouse is a Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies animated cartoon featuring Sylvester the Cat, Hippety Hopper, a lightkeeper who speaks with a pronounced Scottish brogue, a loquacious parrot named Polly, and a very restless and mischievous mouse...
, Sylvester must guard a lighthouse from the baby kangaroo who wants nothing more than to turn it off. Hoppy Go Lucky
Hoppy Go Lucky
Hoppy Go Lucky is a 1952 Looney Tunes short film starring Sylvester and Hippety Hopper. Like all the Sylvester/Hippety Hopper shorts, it was directed by Robert McKimson...
(1952) was a parody of Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in California, USA....
, with Sylvester accompanied by the giant, simple-minded cat "Bennie," who wants a mouse "to hug and pet." The central theme is always the same: Sylvester is shamed for his failure to capture a simple "mouse".
The Hippety Hopper/Sylvester cartoons ended in 1964 when the Warner Bros. studio closed its animation unit. The character continues to appear in Looney Tunes marketing and other projects, such as cameo appearances in the crowd shots of the 1996 film Space Jam
Space Jam
Aside from Jordan, a number of NBA players and coaches appeared in the film. Larry Bird portrays a friend of Jordan who joins him for a game of golf. When the Monstars steal the NBA players' talent, they invade a game between the Phoenix Suns and the New York Knicks, causing the Knicks' Patrick...
, and in the ending scene of Looney Tunes Back in Action.
In an episode of Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries set in Australia, Sylvester stumbled into a group of baby kangaroos, who all resembled Hippety Hopper, and commented that this was the first time he had seen the "giant mice" for years. He said the same thing in Tweety's High-flying Adventure.
Hippety Hopper is set to appear in The Looney Tunes Show
The Looney Tunes Show
The Looney Tunes Show is a packaged show, created for Cartoon Network, and broadcast from 2002 to 2005. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The show featured cartoon shorts from the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon series produced from 1930 to 1969.-External links:...
.
Appearances
All of the shorts from 1948 to 1964 were directed by Robert McKimsonRobert McKimson
Robert "Bob" Porter McKimson, Sr. was an American animator, illustrator, and director best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros., and later DePatie-Freleng Enterprises...
.
- Hop, Look and ListenHop, Look and ListenHop, Look and Listen is a 1948 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Robert McKimson that features Sylvester and Hippety Hopper, as his first appearance. At the start of the short, Hippety Hopper escapes from a zoo. When Sylvester sees him, he believes that the kangaroo is actually a king-size mouse...
(1948) - Hippety Hopper (1949)
- Bushy HareBushy HareBushy Hare is an animated Bugs Bunny Cartoon made in 1949, released in 1950, by Robert McKimson. Bugs winds up switched with a baby kangaroo and has to deal with 'Nature Boy', an aborigine who is hunting Bugs. The title is a play on "bushy hair" along with aborigines stereotypically being from "the...
(1950) - cameo appearance, only speaking line - Pop 'Im Pop! (1950)
- Hoppy Go LuckyHoppy Go LuckyHoppy Go Lucky is a 1952 Looney Tunes short film starring Sylvester and Hippety Hopper. Like all the Sylvester/Hippety Hopper shorts, it was directed by Robert McKimson...
(1952) - Who's Kitten Who (1952)
- Cats A-Weigh! (1953)
- Bell HoppyBell HoppyBell Hoppy is an animated Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon short starring Sylvester the Cat and Hippety Hopper. It was directed by Robert McKimson.-Plot:...
(1954) - The Slap-Hoppy Mouse (1956)
- Lighthouse MouseLighthouse MouseLighthouse Mouse is a Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies animated cartoon featuring Sylvester the Cat, Hippety Hopper, a lightkeeper who speaks with a pronounced Scottish brogue, a loquacious parrot named Polly, and a very restless and mischievous mouse...
(1955) - Too Hop to Handle (1956)
- Mouse-Taken Identity (1957)
- Hoppy Daze (1961)
- Freudy CatFreudy CatFreudy Cat is a 1964 Looney Tunes animated short starring Sylvester and Sylvester Jr.. The cartoon is essentially a clip show, as a paranoid Sylvester flashes back to earlier cartoons such as Who's Kitten Who?, Cats a-Weigh!, and The Slap-Hoppy Mouse while describing to a psychiatrist that he...
(1964)