tavm Review of Cat, Dog & Co.

Cat, Dog & Co. (1929)

Cat, Dog, & Co. was another funny "Our Gang" effort

[8/10 · 7 February 2008]

This Hal Roach comedy short, Cat, Dog, & Co., is the eighty-seventh in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series. It's also the next to last silent one. The beginning H. M. Walker inter-title reads, "Be kind to all animals-Even an oyster appreciates sympathy." As Joe, Harry, and Farina race their kiddie cars, which are all propelled by a pulling dog under each one, a lady snitch tells them she's notified the society about this and the cat they chase up a tree. The Mrs. President of the Be Kind to Animals Society (Hedda Hopper) convinces all three to show compassion to every living creature. Joe first demonstrates this newfound lesson when, after seeing Jean and Mary Ann attempt to step on fleas that bother Pete the Pup, tells them not to hurt even the smallest living thing. One of them (in animated form) then says, "Hooray! A friend! I'll stick to him!" which he does to Joe throughout the short in constant irritation. Then Weezer gets a talking to after trying to chop a chicken's head but it takes a dream in which he's being tried before a jury of giant poultry with a prosecuting monkey and an owl judge he previously threw things at to convince him. So the gang frees dogs, rabbits, and mice to the consternation of various passersby as they twitch and grimace at every turn before the policeman tells them all to put them back in. And then there's Pete with the flea problem again...Another funny "Our Gang" short that milks as much laughs as possible out of the "Be Kind to Animals" theme. Highlights are Weezer's dream trial especially when one giant chicken pecks him on the head and the nightmarish ending, before he wakes up, as they all try to devour him! That sequence, as well as the animated flea that also was in an earlier "Our Gang" short-Thundering Fleas, was the work of Roy Seawright whose subsequent work would include the invisibility effects in Roach's "Topper" series and who would then become an associate of animation director Tex Avery. About Ms. Hopper, she would eventually become a famous Hollywood gossip columnist that occasionally printed "Our Gang" items, especially about Farina. One more note: while silent, Cat, Dog, & Co, did have synchronized music score and sound effects (like dogs barking or chickens clucking), originally on disc only, that was pretty effective here.