Paying the Piper

Some of the coolest Warner Bros. cartoons were their riffs on children's stories. One example is Robert McKimson's "Paying the Piper", in which pied piper Porky Pig rids Hamelin of the rats. While the citizens rejoice, it disturbs the cats that they won't have any food. So, their New Jersey-accented "Supreem Cat" dresses as a rat, hoping to make it look as though Porky hasn't fulfilled his duty and therefore won't get his reward. Are cartoon cats just the biggest tricksters of all?! While the cartoon may sound like a one-joke premise, they have some great gags to move it along, such as Supreem's insults to Porky. I'd never even heard of corn silk before watching this cartoon. Is there even such a thing as corn silk, does anyone know? But also, I liked how Porky and Supreem trick each other throughout the cartoon. Maybe not the greatest short to come from the Termite Terrace crowd, but entertaining enough for the few minutes that it runs. Just became available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 Disc 2.

I might have expected Bugs Bunny in that scene; after all, it's the sort of thing that he would do.