A Close Call

A Mickey and Minnie Mouse-like couple are dancing and cavorting. A hungry, mouse-crazed cat kidnaps the Minnie clone and takes her to a barn. He offers her a pearl necklace, which she declines. Her boyfriend is in hot pursuit to find and rescue her. Flowers are transformed into xylophones, and the mouse's skirt becomes an accordion. Plus, there is a classic damsel-in-distress situation to add to the fun. The cat is about to attack when the boy mouse breaks into the barn and is quickly overcome and tied to a buzz saw! To the rescue come the Royal Mounted Mice. All ends well as the boy and girl mouse get married. Then a little mouse with a big dog next to him gives us the moral: "All's Well That Ends Well."

Cat, Mouse, Boyfriend

A series of animated short subjects created by Paul Terry and actor-turned-writer Howard Estabrook. Estabrook suggested making a series of cartoons based on Aesop's Fables. Although Terry claimed he had never heard of Aesop, he felt that Estabrook's idea was something worthwhile. Terry immediately began to set up a new studio called Fables Studios and received backing from the Keith-Albee Theatre circuit.

The earliest films were loose adaptations of the actual fables. Later entries usually revolved around cats, mice, and the disgruntled Farmer Al Falfa. Each short concluded with a "moral" that usually had nothing to do with the actual cartoon itself.

In 1929, Terry quit to start his own TerryToons Studios and John Foster took over the series under Amadee J. Van Beuren's brand new Van Beuren Corporation, a renamed Fable Studios. The series finally came to a close in 1933.