The obvious aspect of "Cat-Tails for Two" is that it's Speedy Gonzales's film (er, cartoon) debut, although he looks noticeably different from the Fastest Mouse In Mexico whom we know and love today. Moreover, he's a supporting character here. The main characters are a pair of cats: there's George, the intelligent but hapless one, and Benny, a seemingly retarded klutz (as I understand it, they were based on George and Lennie from John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men"). The two felines are hungry for Mexican food, when they find a ship from south of the border, and George quickly derives that there must be mice on board (after which Benny kind of throws him on board). Sure enough, the only rodent on the ship is the untrappable Speedy. Most of the cartoon consists of George setting up traps and telling Benny what to do, only Speedy messes with things so that Benny ends up maiming George ("George is my friend!"). Towards the end, when George sets up a trap and Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" starts playing, you know that you're in for something good. And boy are you! Anyway, a pretty fun cartoon.
5 Reviews
The first appearance of Speedy Gonzales, in a markedly different form than the one most people know and recognize
llltdesq30 November 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This short is the first short where Speedy Gonzales made an appearance, though he doesn't look much like the version most familiar to the average viewer. This is Speedy, Version 1.0. The redesign is an improvement over the original depiction. Because I want to discuss the cartoon in some detail, this is a spoiler warning:
Even though this is Speedy's first appearance, the cartoon is actually centered around an old device used in Warner Brothers shorts (and MGM shorts, once Tex Avery switched studios) in that it has two cats modeled after the characters Lennie and George, from Of Mice and Men. Here, they're called Bennie and George. The two are trying to catch mice for dinner and Bennie is asking George if he can help catch the mice. George no doubt will regret agreeing to let Bennie "help" him when the evening is over, as the kind of "help' Bennie gives can land its "beneficiary" in either the emergency room or the morgue-possibly both in very short order.
George asks Bennie if he likes Mexican food, to which Bennie replies, "It gives me the heartburn and I love it!", so they head over to a docked ship from Mexico to seek out mice-and meet Speedy, "the fastest mouse in all Mexico".
The rest o9f the short is basically George trying time and time again to come up with a successful plan to catch Speedy and Bennie doing things which very nearly result in George's funeral. Bennie drops a heavy crate of anvils on him, douses him in "petrol" instead of water after a series of dynamite explosions leave him singed (the results of this are rather grim and obvious) and also clobbers him over the head. Then Speedy, apparently tired of being a spectator and letting Lennie have all the fun of giving George's insurance adjuster an ulcer, decides to get in on the act and re-routes a pipe so that the dynamite they are trying to use to blow Speedy sky high ends up behind them and they are blown sky high instead. George loses interest in Mexican food at that point.
Speedy's presence is just motivation in this cartoon, but he later became the star of his own series of shorts, like Foghorn Leghorn did when he stole the show in Walky Talky Hawky, which started out as a Henery Hawk short. The animators must have seen something in the mouse and took him back to the drawing-board-literally! This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4 and is well worth seeing. The Collection, like the three previous ones, is excellent. Recommended.
Even though this is Speedy's first appearance, the cartoon is actually centered around an old device used in Warner Brothers shorts (and MGM shorts, once Tex Avery switched studios) in that it has two cats modeled after the characters Lennie and George, from Of Mice and Men. Here, they're called Bennie and George. The two are trying to catch mice for dinner and Bennie is asking George if he can help catch the mice. George no doubt will regret agreeing to let Bennie "help" him when the evening is over, as the kind of "help' Bennie gives can land its "beneficiary" in either the emergency room or the morgue-possibly both in very short order.
George asks Bennie if he likes Mexican food, to which Bennie replies, "It gives me the heartburn and I love it!", so they head over to a docked ship from Mexico to seek out mice-and meet Speedy, "the fastest mouse in all Mexico".
The rest o9f the short is basically George trying time and time again to come up with a successful plan to catch Speedy and Bennie doing things which very nearly result in George's funeral. Bennie drops a heavy crate of anvils on him, douses him in "petrol" instead of water after a series of dynamite explosions leave him singed (the results of this are rather grim and obvious) and also clobbers him over the head. Then Speedy, apparently tired of being a spectator and letting Lennie have all the fun of giving George's insurance adjuster an ulcer, decides to get in on the act and re-routes a pipe so that the dynamite they are trying to use to blow Speedy sky high ends up behind them and they are blown sky high instead. George loses interest in Mexican food at that point.
Speedy's presence is just motivation in this cartoon, but he later became the star of his own series of shorts, like Foghorn Leghorn did when he stole the show in Walky Talky Hawky, which started out as a Henery Hawk short. The animators must have seen something in the mouse and took him back to the drawing-board-literally! This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4 and is well worth seeing. The Collection, like the three previous ones, is excellent. Recommended.
A Mexican ship tail of two cats and one mouse
TheLittleSongbird8 February 2018
Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.
'Cat-Tails for Two' is notable for having the first appearance of Speedy Gonzales (always has been one of those take or leave characters for me), but not as we know him. Oddly enough the cartoon's most notable asset is from personal opinion one of its weaker ones. Speedy is more a supporting character here and is little more than a plot device that could have been filled than any character easily.
Didn't expect much from the story in the first place, and apart from some lively energy there is not a whole lot to it and it could have done with more freshness.
However, the animation is nicely drawn, detailed and colourful. The music from Carl Stalling is full of beautiful and clever orchestration and lively energy. The songs sung are very catchy. No cheapness or repetitiveness here whatsoever.
Furthermore, Mel Blanc's vocals as expected are very exuberant and full of vigour, few actors have voiced multiple characters in one cartoon alone and give all of them a different identity with such conviction. Bennie and George are a very charismatic and amusing double act and are the characters that carry the cartoon by default, oafish Bennie is funnier but one really feels bad for poor George as he gets the worst of some pretty wild violence.
The dialogue is not particularly fresh but it is quite sharp-witted and amusing and there is a crisp pace throughout. The gags are nothing innovative but raised still a number of smiles and laughs, especially towards the end. The traps are pretty inventive and the wild violence doesn't get too sadistic.
In summation, very nice cartoon although its interest point is overridden by everything else being done better. 8/10 Bethany Cox
'Cat-Tails for Two' is notable for having the first appearance of Speedy Gonzales (always has been one of those take or leave characters for me), but not as we know him. Oddly enough the cartoon's most notable asset is from personal opinion one of its weaker ones. Speedy is more a supporting character here and is little more than a plot device that could have been filled than any character easily.
Didn't expect much from the story in the first place, and apart from some lively energy there is not a whole lot to it and it could have done with more freshness.
However, the animation is nicely drawn, detailed and colourful. The music from Carl Stalling is full of beautiful and clever orchestration and lively energy. The songs sung are very catchy. No cheapness or repetitiveness here whatsoever.
Furthermore, Mel Blanc's vocals as expected are very exuberant and full of vigour, few actors have voiced multiple characters in one cartoon alone and give all of them a different identity with such conviction. Bennie and George are a very charismatic and amusing double act and are the characters that carry the cartoon by default, oafish Bennie is funnier but one really feels bad for poor George as he gets the worst of some pretty wild violence.
The dialogue is not particularly fresh but it is quite sharp-witted and amusing and there is a crisp pace throughout. The gags are nothing innovative but raised still a number of smiles and laughs, especially towards the end. The traps are pretty inventive and the wild violence doesn't get too sadistic.
In summation, very nice cartoon although its interest point is overridden by everything else being done better. 8/10 Bethany Cox
"George is my friend."
slymusic17 September 2009
Warning: Spoilers
"Cat-Tails for Two" is a Warner Bros. cartoon that marks the very first appearance of that fast mouse from Mexico: Speedy Gonzales! He's not really the star of this cartoon, though, and he doesn't quite look the way we're all used to seeing him look, but it's still a fine film. Speedy's pursuers are two cats, fat dumb Benny and small wiseacre George.
My two favorite scenes from "Cat-Tails": Benny promises George that he will be real smart and use his head, which immediately gets conked and Benny's roly-poly body flattens George like a hotcake. Speedy runs around lighting dynamite sticks with George chasing after him; the dynamite sticks explode as George approaches each one, and Benny then douses George with gasoline!
Thanks to Carl W. Stalling, "Cat-Tails for Two" boasts a nice music score; among the songs I recognize are "Moonlight Bay", "La Cucaracha", "Blow the Man Down", and "Powerhouse". Plus we have the fine vocal talents of Mel Blanc and Stan Freberg. If you listen to Freberg's audio commentary for the DVD (Disc 3 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4), you may be able to detect a hint of resentment in his voice when he talks about how Mel Blanc was the only voice actor who received screen credit for many years at the Warner Bros. cartoon department.
My two favorite scenes from "Cat-Tails": Benny promises George that he will be real smart and use his head, which immediately gets conked and Benny's roly-poly body flattens George like a hotcake. Speedy runs around lighting dynamite sticks with George chasing after him; the dynamite sticks explode as George approaches each one, and Benny then douses George with gasoline!
Thanks to Carl W. Stalling, "Cat-Tails for Two" boasts a nice music score; among the songs I recognize are "Moonlight Bay", "La Cucaracha", "Blow the Man Down", and "Powerhouse". Plus we have the fine vocal talents of Mel Blanc and Stan Freberg. If you listen to Freberg's audio commentary for the DVD (Disc 3 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4), you may be able to detect a hint of resentment in his voice when he talks about how Mel Blanc was the only voice actor who received screen credit for many years at the Warner Bros. cartoon department.
Apparently, the audio track "hosted" by . . .
oscaralbert12 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
. . . self-proclaimed Looney Tunes Historian Jerry Beck as a "bonus" option with CAT-TAILS FOR TWO on LT Golden Collection, Volume 4, Disc 3, was recorded after the Babe Ruth of cartoon voices--Mel Blanc--croaked. Beck eggs on blowhard braggart "voice artist" wannabe Stan Freberg to do his best to vilify, trash, and totally besmirch Mr. Blanc's reputation. Apparently, Beck and Freberg live by the credo, "Speak ill of the dead, since they're no longer here to defend themselves." Since Fair is Fair, and Freberg kicked the bucket himself last year (2015), let me point out that even 10 years ago Stan was totally addled--most likely a congenital condition with him. He lies, and claims that he did "several" vocal parts in CAT-TAILS, when he only voiced the idiot feline "Benny." He also relates several old saws about legendary Warner Bros. incidents that occurred when he was in diapers. His sour grapes lament about being paid handsomely to "work" at a microphone but not getting the same on-screen credit as Mr. Blanc overlooks two crucial facts: Through the miracle of variable tape playback speeds, Mel could have done ALL the Looney voices far better than the jealous, petty, back-stabbing hangers-on bit players such as Freberg, and 2)TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT actually WOULD have been a far better flick if Warner had let Bogart play both his own and Bacall's roles!
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