Gay Purr-ee (1962)

 

Gay Purr-ee is a truly delightful, animated feature film from the 1960's. It is sad that such a lovely movie should have not only been completely underappreciated in its day and nearly forgotten today. It is high time this movie is appreciated for the pure charmer it is. 

In this animated film, Mewsette is a cat living on a French farm in the country. Tired of her country life, she dreams of a glamorous life in Paris. She hitches a ride on a carriage heading to Paris. However, when she reaches the big city, her naiveté is taken advantage of by a seemingly sophisticated cat named Meowrice, whose motives are anything but virtuous.

Charming is the best word to describe this movie. Many critics of the day (and some today) criticize the film for being too simplistic for adults and too sophisticated for children. Yet it is exactly the mixture of these elements that endears this movie so much to me. I find the simplicity and straight forwardness of the story very charming. In this way it feels like an old-fashioned story book in the best way possible. The sophistication of the artwork and the humor to me brings a sense of authenticity to this simple Paris based story. There is a delightful stylization to much of the artwork that makes the whole film simply a joy to look at. Many of the backgrounds look like French paintings and fully immerse you in this world. The humor is often cleverer and more sophisticated than it is actually funny. One of the best moments of this sophisticated humor is when we see Mewsette drawn in the style of various French painters. While not exactly funny, this is incredibly lovely. Yet this sophisticated humor fits the film to a tea. To me the sophistication brings this movie a real sense of atmosphere, while the simplicity brings a real sense of charm. Both elements work together to create a delightfully unique and lovely film.   

If there is one complaint to have about this movie, it is that it is obvious that the filmmakers did not have the same budget that was given to those making animated features for Disney. There are times when the animation is as limited as what was being made for TV at the time. However, the wonderful artwork often makes up for this fault. 

One of this film's greatest assets is having Judy Garland as the voice of Mewsette. Her career was going through a major revival around this time. In 1961 she had released what is considered to be one of the greatest live albums of all time, Judy at Carnegie Hall. This album was not only an artistic triumph but also a massive hit spending 13 weeks at number 1 on the Billboard charts. She had received critical acclaim for her dramatic role in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). She also had a CBS Television special on the horizon. She spent three weeks in November 1961 recording her voice for this her first and only animated movie. She was paid $50,000 plus 10% of the gross. She took to voice acting like a duck to water. She brings a real charm and likability to this role, while also seeming so authentic that you forgot that a well-known actress is voicing the character. Her singing voice is also in great form here and she sounds incredible in each of her song numbers. 

This movie reunites Judy with song writers Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. This was the songwriting team that penned the songs for the film Judy is best remembered for The Wizard of Oz (1939). In this film the team is at their best and every song is a pure delight. Some of these songs show the team at their absolute best. Little Drops of Rain and Paris is a Lonely Town are true musical classics perfectly enhanced by the vocal talents of Judy Garland. 

As well as Judy Garland this film also features a great cast of actors some (like Judy) best known for their live action work and other experienced cartoon voice actors. This includes such talent as Robert Goulet, Red Buttons, Paul Frees, Hermione Gingold, Morey Amsterdam, Mel Blanc, Joan Gardner and Julie Bennett. 

This marked the second and final feature length movie to be released by the UPA studio (the first being the Mr. Magoo feature 1001 Arabian Nights (1959)) and the only one not to feature any of UPAs characters from their theatrical cartoon shorts. The film was based off of a story written by animation legend Chuck Jones and his wife Dorothy. Chuck was working at Warner Brothers at the time and the heads of the Warners cartoon studio were unhappy with Chuck having moonlighted. This caused a rift that ended with Chuck leaving the studio. He would go on to work at MGM, where he would produce 34 Tom and Jerry shorts and would direct the holiday TV classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966). The movie was directed by Abe Levitow. Levitow had worked as an animator on some of Chuck's Warner Brothers cartoons. His association with Chuck would continue after this. He would direct some of the Chuck Jones produced Tom and Jerry shorts and him and Chuck would later co-direct the live action-animation feature film, The Phantom Tollbooth (1970). For UPA Levitow would direct a Christmas TV classic, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962). Regular Jones animators Ben Washam and Ken Harris also worked on this film. 

Unfortunately, this movie was a box-office failure, but I hope that soon it will be reassessed by cartoon lovers, Judy Garland fans and movie buffs. It certainly deserves more attention and love than it gets. 

Resources Used

The Animated Movie Guide Edited by Jerry Beck

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