Hippety Hopper cartoons have a typical
formula: Hopper escapes from a
zoo,
circus, etc., and is mistaken for a giant
mouse by
Sylvester the Cat. Frequently, Hopper changes places with an actual mouse, generally when it is most embarrassing for Sylvester. Sylvester tries to capture and eat his "prey", but the innocent and infantile Hippety mistakes Sylvester's predations for a game of rough-housing. Sylvester is repeatedly kicked, punched, and spun around, but each failure only strengthens his desire to have the "giant mouse" for lunch. Hippety Hopper returns in McKimson's ''
Pop 'Im Pop! (1950), in which proud father Sylvester boasts of his mousing skills to his son, Sylvester Jr. In Cats A-Weigh!'' (1953), Sylvester accepts a position as mouse-catcher on a ship. He encounters Hippety Hopper being shipped from
Australia. Sylvester mistakes Hippety Hopper once again for a giant mouse and the baby kangaroo promptly beats the cat soundly. Junior is horrified, but the true victim is Sylvester, humiliated by a mere "mouse" in front of his own son. McKimson would continue the Sylvester/Hippety Hopper series for 16 years, varying it slightly from cartoon to cartoon. In
Bell Hoppy (1954), for example, in a twist on "
belling the cat", Sylvester must hang a bell around the neck of the biggest mouse that he can find to join the "Loyal Order of Alley Cats Mouse and Chowder Club." Surprisingly, he actually
succeeds this one time and gets to join the club, even becoming its Grand High Exalted Poobah, "being the only active member" (the other members were hit by the city zoo truck taking Hippety away to the zoo when they tried to catch him after Sylvester belled him). In
Lighthouse Mouse, Sylvester must guard a lighthouse from the baby kangaroo and a mouse who wants nothing more than to turn the lighthouse's light off just so that he can get some sleep.
Hoppy-Go-Lucky (1952) was a parody of
Of Mice and Men, with Sylvester accompanied by the giant, simple-minded cat "Bennie", who wants a mouse "to hug him and pet him". The central theme is always the same: Sylvester is shamed for his failure to capture what seems to be a simple "mouse". Hippety Hopper also appeared on records produced by
Capitol Records and
Golden Records. Unlike in the cartoons, Hippety actually spoke frequently on these, voiced by Mel Blanc using an Australian accent. The Hippety Hopper/Sylvester/Sylvester Jr. cartoons ended in 1964 when the Warner Bros. studio closed its animation unit. Originally Hippety Hopper intended to appear as a cameo in the film
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral". ==Appearances==