One in a series of posts dedicated to pop-culture depictions of mice — as symbolic representations of abject other, rebellious scamp, intrepid explorer, scrappy survivor, resourceful collaborator, and habitat experimenter — from 1904–2003.

Herman the Mouse and Katnip the Cat starred in theatrical animated shorts produced by Famous Studios in the 1940s and 1950s. To be more precise: From 1944 to September 1950, Herman was a solo star of theatrical animation shorts. Katnip made his first appearance in November 1950 with “Mice Meeting You,” one of several Noveltoons cartoons from Paramount’s Famous Studios. From 1952–59, the pair would co-star in over 25 short films.

The cat-vs.-mouse cartoon field was a crowded one, at the time! Herman and Katnip competed with numerous Merrie Melodies shorts in which the cat Sylvester deals with mice (e.g., 1953’s “A Mouse Divided,” not to mention several Hippety Hopper theatrical cartoons [1948–64- in which Sylvester mistakes a young kangaroo for a giant mouse); Tom and Jerry shorts from the same period (114 shorts from 1940–58. from Hanna-Barbera / MGM, then more directed by Gene Deitch [1961–62], and even more produced by Chuck Jones [1963–67]); Warner Bros. Looney Tunes shorts featuring the mice Hubie and Bertie and the cat Claude (1943–52); Terrytoons’ mouse Roquefort and cat Percy (1950–55); and let’s not forget the 57 episodes of Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks (Hanna-Barbera, 1958–61).

Herman and Katnip cartoons, however, were extra-brutal.

Wikipedia tells us:

Frequently Herman and his mouse companions would sing a victory song as they observed Katnip being brutally tortured; e.g. being eaten by sharks, killed in a rockslide while mountain climbing, strung up with Christmas lights and plugged into an electric socket, getting electrocuted by a “shock tester” machine, then flattened by it; or even dying and his ghost being warned about “the fiery furnace” in “Of Mice and Menace.”

Leonard Maltin once described the Herman and Katnip series as the ultimate example of the “violent cat versus mouse” battles that were commonplace among Hollywood cartoons of the 1920s through the 1960s. The Simpsons writer/producer Mike Reiss agrees; he’s claimed that The Itchy & Scratchy Show is based on the Herman and Katnip shorts.

Cat vs. mouse fables are about the underdog vs. the powerful bad guy. America, during the postwar years, doesn’t merely want to understand itself as the under(mouse), but also as an implacable foe who tortures and obliterates anyone foolish enough to stand in its way.