Lighthouse Mouse
Encyclopedia
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. First presented in 1955, it was written by Sid Marcus and directed by Robert McKimson
, with voice characterizations provided by Mel Blanc
.
on a small island, and the clock's pendulum
is intermittently deflecting the light from the beacon into a mousehole downstairs, keeping the resident mouse wide awake. The baggy-eyed
rodent crawls out of bed, climbs the steps to the beacon, and yanks the plug out of the outlet to turn it off. Polly the parrot immediately flies into the lightkeeper’s bedroom squawking “Lights out! Lights out!” The lightkeeper wakes up shouting, “Grrrreat Scott! It’s that crrrrazy moose (mouse) again!” Consequently, a cargo carrier named Australia crashes into the rocks on the shore of the island, causing several wooden crates to spill overboard. The frustrated captain admonishes the lightkeeper to keep the beacon lit, and the lightkeeper and Polly apologize for the mishap. Hippety Hopper
, a baby kangaroo intended for delivery to a city zoo, is inside one of the fallen crates, and after the ship departs, he hops off within the crate until it breaks apart against the rocks, setting him free.
While all this is going on, Sylvester
is downstairs sleeping. The lightkeeper abruptly wakes him up, rebuking, “While you sleep, that crrrrazy moose is loose in the hoose!” (which Polly repeats
), then orders him to go upstairs to catch him and to "Hurrrry up, now, hurrrry up, now" (which Polly also echoes). Sylvester tells Polly he can catch the mouse in a matter of seconds, and Polly starts counting the seconds.
Hippety then hops into the lighthouse and follows Sylvester up the stairs. Sylvester sets a mousetrap and attaches a string. When he hears a snap, he pulls on the string and sees he has caught Hippety, whom he thinks is a giant mouse, which makes his jaw drop to the floor. Sylvester then shoots like a bullet down the stairs as Polly keeps counting (“542...543...”), and dashes to the bathroom, thinking he must have “lighthouse eyes” or “stigmatism
”. He puts in eyedrops, then, grabbing a bottle of vitamins, gulps them down and showers himself with them.
Meanwhile, the mouse frees Hippety from the trap, and Hippety returns the favor by pulling the plug out of the wall. (“Lights out! Lights out!”) Sylvester runs out of the bathroom, tells Polly “Keep counting, buster” (“3,685...3,686...”), runs upstairs, puts the plug back in and pounds a few nails over it to prevent Hippety and the mouse from pulling it out again. He then prepares to knock Hippety out with a club and swings at him when he sees Hippety’s shadow approaching, but misses and sees that it is only the mouse wielding a mallet, which he uses to slam Sylvester’s foot. The mouse then zips behind the elevator door. Sylvester pounds on the door, and Hippety kicks him into the wall. Sylvester then sees Hippety and the mouse behind the door playing a back-and-forth switcheroo, making him think he must be hallucinating
. Sylvester then charges back toward the elevator and Sylvester, Hippety and the mouse get into a scuffle, which ends with Hippety sending Sylvester tumbling down the stairs. By this time, Polly has counted more than 70,000 seconds (which in reality is most of a day), but the punch-drunk
feline goes back for more, assuring Polly he will get the mouse “quicker than you can count up to Jack Robinson”.
The mouse cuts the extension cord in two places with a pair of scissors, putting the lights out again, and the furious lightkeeper stalks Sylvester with a club threatening to “fix that good-fer-nothin’ pussycat”. In a panic, Sylvester attempts to reconnect the cord and gets a massive electric jolt
, which turns the lights back on ("Lights on! Lights on!") and spares him a beating...for the moment.
As Sylvester tapes the cord back together, the mouse rigs dynamite
with the cord wrapped around it. It explodes, completely destroying the cord beyond any chance of repair. Immediately, the lightkeeper runs up the stairs and pummels Sylvester with the club.
In the final scene, the lightkeeper is sleeping soundly, as are Hippety and the mouse, while Sylvester is serving as the beacon, hooked up to a battery with the light projecting through his eyes. To this, he laments, “I never thought just being a pussycat could be so complicated!”
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
animated cartoon featuring 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...
, Hippety Hopper
Hippety Hopper
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 , which established the pattern for future Hippety Hopper cartoons....
, a lightkeeper who speaks with a pronounced Scottish brogue
Brogue
A brogue is a strong accent, notably in Irish dialects of English. For example, in the folksong "Finnegan's Wake", the character of the song, Tim Finnegan, was said to have a "beautiful brogue so rich and sweet"....
, a loquacious parrot named Polly, and a very restless and mischievous mouse. First presented in 1955, it was written by Sid Marcus and directed by 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...
, with voice characterizations provided by Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
.
Synopsis
It is 11 o’clock at night at a lighthouseLighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
on a small island, and the clock's pendulum
Pendulum clock
A pendulum clock is a clock that uses a pendulum, a swinging weight, as its timekeeping element. The advantage of a pendulum for timekeeping is that it is a resonant device; it swings back and forth in a precise time interval dependent on its length, and resists swinging at other rates...
is intermittently deflecting the light from the beacon into a mousehole downstairs, keeping the resident mouse wide awake. The baggy-eyed
Eye circles
Eye circles are distinguished circles around the eyes, caused by either:* Periorbital dark circles* Periorbital puffiness...
rodent crawls out of bed, climbs the steps to the beacon, and yanks the plug out of the outlet to turn it off. Polly the parrot immediately flies into the lightkeeper’s bedroom squawking “Lights out! Lights out!” The lightkeeper wakes up shouting, “Grrrreat Scott! It’s that crrrrazy moose (mouse) again!” Consequently, a cargo carrier named Australia crashes into the rocks on the shore of the island, causing several wooden crates to spill overboard. The frustrated captain admonishes the lightkeeper to keep the beacon lit, and the lightkeeper and Polly apologize for the mishap. Hippety Hopper
Hippety Hopper
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 , which established the pattern for future Hippety Hopper cartoons....
, a baby kangaroo intended for delivery to a city zoo, is inside one of the fallen crates, and after the ship departs, he hops off within the crate until it breaks apart against the rocks, setting him free.
While all this is going on, Sylvester
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...
is downstairs sleeping. The lightkeeper abruptly wakes him up, rebuking, “While you sleep, that crrrrazy moose is loose in the hoose!” (which Polly repeats
Psittacism
Psittacism is speech or writing that appears mechanical or repetitive in the manner of a parrot. More generally it is a pejorative description of the use of words which appear to have been used without regard to their meaning....
), then orders him to go upstairs to catch him and to "Hurrrry up, now, hurrrry up, now" (which Polly also echoes). Sylvester tells Polly he can catch the mouse in a matter of seconds, and Polly starts counting the seconds.
Hippety then hops into the lighthouse and follows Sylvester up the stairs. Sylvester sets a mousetrap and attaches a string. When he hears a snap, he pulls on the string and sees he has caught Hippety, whom he thinks is a giant mouse, which makes his jaw drop to the floor. Sylvester then shoots like a bullet down the stairs as Polly keeps counting (“542...543...”), and dashes to the bathroom, thinking he must have “lighthouse eyes” or “stigmatism
Astigmatism (eye)
Astigmatism is an optical defect in which vision is blurred due to the inability of the optics of the eye to focus a point object into a sharp focused image on the retina. This may be due to an irregular or toric curvature of the cornea or lens. There are two types of astigmatism: regular and...
”. He puts in eyedrops, then, grabbing a bottle of vitamins, gulps them down and showers himself with them.
Meanwhile, the mouse frees Hippety from the trap, and Hippety returns the favor by pulling the plug out of the wall. (“Lights out! Lights out!”) Sylvester runs out of the bathroom, tells Polly “Keep counting, buster” (“3,685...3,686...”), runs upstairs, puts the plug back in and pounds a few nails over it to prevent Hippety and the mouse from pulling it out again. He then prepares to knock Hippety out with a club and swings at him when he sees Hippety’s shadow approaching, but misses and sees that it is only the mouse wielding a mallet, which he uses to slam Sylvester’s foot. The mouse then zips behind the elevator door. Sylvester pounds on the door, and Hippety kicks him into the wall. Sylvester then sees Hippety and the mouse behind the door playing a back-and-forth switcheroo, making him think he must be hallucinating
Hallucination
A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
. Sylvester then charges back toward the elevator and Sylvester, Hippety and the mouse get into a scuffle, which ends with Hippety sending Sylvester tumbling down the stairs. By this time, Polly has counted more than 70,000 seconds (which in reality is most of a day), but the punch-drunk
Dementia pugilistica
Dementia pugilistica is a type of neurodegenerative disease or dementia, which may affect amateur or professional boxers as well as athletes in other sports who suffer concussions...
feline goes back for more, assuring Polly he will get the mouse “quicker than you can count up to Jack Robinson”.
The mouse cuts the extension cord in two places with a pair of scissors, putting the lights out again, and the furious lightkeeper stalks Sylvester with a club threatening to “fix that good-fer-nothin’ pussycat”. In a panic, Sylvester attempts to reconnect the cord and gets a massive electric jolt
Electric shock
Electric Shock of a body with any source of electricity that causes a sufficient current through the skin, muscles or hair. Typically, the expression is used to denote an unwanted exposure to electricity, hence the effects are considered undesirable....
, which turns the lights back on ("Lights on! Lights on!") and spares him a beating...for the moment.
As Sylvester tapes the cord back together, the mouse rigs dynamite
Dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...
with the cord wrapped around it. It explodes, completely destroying the cord beyond any chance of repair. Immediately, the lightkeeper runs up the stairs and pummels Sylvester with the club.
In the final scene, the lightkeeper is sleeping soundly, as are Hippety and the mouse, while Sylvester is serving as the beacon, hooked up to a battery with the light projecting through his eyes. To this, he laments, “I never thought just being a pussycat could be so complicated!”
Censorship
- On CBS and ABC, the part where SylvesterSylvester (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...
catches the mouse in an elevator and the elevator door opens and closes, alternately showing Sylvester beating up the mouse and Hippety HopperHippety HopperHippety 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 , which established the pattern for future Hippety Hopper cartoons....
(the baby kangaroo that Sylvester mistakes for a giant mouse in the Robert McKimsonRobert McKimsonRobert "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...
cartoons) beating up Sylvester was cut (even though it was shown as a teaser clipTeaser trailerA teaser campaign is an advertising campaign which typically consists of a series of small, cryptic, challenging advertisements that anticipate a larger, full-blown campaign for a product launch or otherwise important event. These advertisements are called "teasers" or "teaser ads"...
on CBS's "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show" and ABC's "The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show") - On NickelodeonNickelodeon (TV channel)Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
, the part where the mouse uses a pair of household scissors to cut the electric wire was replaced with a repeat shot of Polly squawking, "Lights out! Lights out!" - On the (now-defunct) WB! networkThe WB Television NetworkThe WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
, two different scenes were cut:- The scene where Sylvester runs into the bathroom and ingests pills to fix his supposedly faulty eyesight (this scene was left intact on ABC, despite that a similar scene in "The Last Hungry CatThe Last Hungry CatThe Last Hungry Cat is a "Merrie Melodies" cartoon animated short starring Tweety and Sylvester. Released December 2, 1961, the cartoon is directed by Friz Freleng and Hawley Pratt...
" was cut). - The scene where Sylvester grabs the severed wires and gets electrocuted.
- The scene where Sylvester runs into the bathroom and ingests pills to fix his supposedly faulty eyesight (this scene was left intact on ABC, despite that a similar scene in "The Last Hungry Cat
External links
- Lighthouse Mouse at Internet Movie Database
- Lighthouse Mouse cuts at Censored Cartoons Page (L): http://web.archive.org/web/20000521112453/www.megalink.net/~cooke/looney/ltcutsl.htmlhttp://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/ltcuts/ltcutsl.html