Catnip The Paratrooper (Catnip Cat)

Catnip The Paratrooper is a Aldo Boomer animated short film that was released in 1942.

Synopsis
Catnip Cat is in trouble and is peeling potatoes. He wants desperately to fly, so he cuts a potato to look like an airplane. He threw it, and it caught Sergeant Tommy Bulldog's cap and brought it back to Catnip, like a boomerang. Catnip cuts it, thinking that it is a potato. When the sergeant comes in, he finds his cap cut in airplane shapes and found out about Catnip's ambition to fly. Catnip is forced to peel tons more potatoes, but is promised the opportunity to fly after he cuts them all. After cutting all the potatoes, Catnip reports to the Flight Sergeant's office and manages to fail all the equilibrium-finding exercises that the Sergeant comes up with, and when the Sergeant told him to "pin the tail on that airplane",

Catnip obliges after walking on the outside ledge of the building (on the third floor), knocking over a huge vase. Catnip made his way back in, sticking the pin on the startled Sergeant, who falls all three stories. The Sergeant gives Catnip the chance to fly, albeit as a parachute troop. Catnip, duped, went along for the ride, and is surprised to find himself several thousand feet above the ground. Catnip and the Sergeant fight, until both tumble out of the plane, but not before the Sergeant grabs a bomb to try to stay on, and it came away with them. On the way down, the two try to give the bomb to each other, until their fight is ended by their crashing into the General's Headquarters.

The clip ends with the Sergeant and Catnip, both with a cast on their leg and arm, respectively, and peeling potatoes. When Catnip tells Tommy "Boy, was that, sir, some surprise.", Tommy tells Catnip "Ah, SHUT UP!" and puts a potato on Catnip's mouth silencing Catnip, much to Catnip's chagrin as he mutters to himself as the cartoon closes.

Availability

 * (2021) Streaming - FilmxshowsMAX Plus (Restored)

Sound Effects Used

 * Sound Ideas, AUTO, CRASH - LONG SKID AND CRASH (crash only)
 * Freesound, G02-19-Biplane Dive and Crash.wav
 * ALDO BOOMER - GLASS SHATTERING
 * ALDO BOOMER - QUICK SIREN WHISTLE ZIP 02
 * ALDO BOOMER - QUICK SIREN WHISTLE ZIP 04
 * ALDO BOOMER - RACE CAR PULL AWAY FAST
 * ALDO BOOMER - TIMPANI WOBBLY BOING 01
 * ALDO BOOMER - BIG SLOW JEWS HARP BOING
 * ALDO BOOMER - DRUM HIT CYMBAL
 * ALDO BOOMER - HEAVY CORK SQUEAK AND POP
 * ALDO BOOMER - RUBBER SQUEAK
 * ALDO BOOMER - SEVERAL VOCAL SWISHES (6th swish)
 * ALDO BOOMER - CORK POP 01
 * ALDO BOOMER - SHORT THUMPY METAL IMPACT
 * ALDO BOOMER - THUNDER CLAP LIKE-EXPLOSION
 * ALDO BOOMER - WATERY PLOP

Characters

 * Catnip Cat
 * Tommy Bulldog

Voice Characterizations

 * Mel Blanc - Catnip Cat
 * Billy Bletcher - Tommy Bulldog

Credits

 * Director: Paul Fennell (uncredited)
 * Story: Lawson Harris (uncredited)
 * Animation: Robert Cannon (uncredited), Emery Hawkins (uncredited), Leighton Black (uncredited), Paul Sommer (uncredited), George Cannata (uncredited)
 * Backgrounds: Robert Gentle (uncredited)
 * Music: Eric Maddox (theme music; uncredited), Clarence Wheeler (uncredited)