The Unexpected Pest (1956)

Poor Sylvester: his owners sure are cold people. Listen to this: Sylvester is shown sleeping on the couch. The father comes home, spots the wife and says to her, "Marsha, why do we have to put up with that dirty old cat,. scratchin' up the furniture and makin' a mess out of the house?" She answers, "Well, John, we got him to get rid of those mice, remember?"

"Yeah, but there hasn't been a mouse around the house in months."

"Yes, that's right. Well, I'll the society tomorrow and get rid of him."

Wow, talk about a pet feeling loved in his house! Sylvester freaks out. "Sufferin' succotash," he says, "I have to get a mouse to keep my happy home."

The problem is that there are no mice in house, but our hero spots one outside among the garbage cans. "A lifesaver!" he exclaims.

The rest of the cartoon builds on this premise, and then adds a twist near the end when the mouse gets tired of playing "slave" to Sylvester and wises up. It turns out he's a pretty funny mouse.

Overall, this is a pretty decent effort with some cleverness, although there are a couple of gags used in previous cartoons, like the mouse dropping dishes from a high ledge and having the cat trying to catch them. However, that might not have been Looney Tunes but a Tom & Jerry. Whatever, this is entertaining overall as most Sylvester stories tend to be. I still prefer to see him paired with Tweety, though.