The Cat's Meow

It's no longer true but once upon a time, a non-Disney animated feature was like non-Heinz ketchup: Few people knew it existed and even fewer spent money on it. When Gay Purr-ee came out in 1962, it was just such a time. It had star names providing voices — Judy Garland and Robert Goulet, for instance, though the outstanding performance was by professional voice actor Paul Frees. It had a score by Harold Arlen and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, who'd written the songs for The Wizard of Oz, among many other credits. It had a script by Chuck Jones and his then-wife, and sprightly direction and animation by Abe Levitow and U.P.A. Studios. What it didn't have was much of an audience…a shame because while it's not a great animated feature, it's a good one with some entertaining songs. You can see the film for yourself on a recently-released DVD which can be purchased from Amazon by clicking here. And if you like the score, you'll want to hurry to purchase the CD version of the soundtrack album which Rhino Handmade has just released in a limited edition — meaning, once they're gone, they're gone. It's been manufactured from the original master tapes and includes five "demo" performances of songs by Arlen. Click here to go buy a copy. [Note: This site makes a small cut off purchases from Amazon but not from Rhino Handmade. I'm just recommending the latter because I'm a swell fellow.]