" . . . is the Root of All Evil," and Donald Trump has been proving the Bard Righter and Righter As Time Goes By. Warner Bros. tried to warn America about The Donald with this animated short, DOUGH RAY ME-OW. Parrot Louie represents Trump, as the only book the fowl talker owns is "Rooster's Millions," and the Tower-Water-Wine&Steak Man sports a trademark Rooster Haircut. When Louie learns that he can inherit $1 million by slaying his trusting house-mate, Heathcliff Fat Cat, Louie hatches one murder plot after another. Heathcliff seems doomed to a shorter shelf life than a Trump wife's. But despite Louie sticking a claw into every fire, all of his conflagrations produce back-drafts aimed at himself. He exercises his Art of the Deal with the neighborhood bulldog, but this only succeeds in flattening the canine. Louie's attempt to electrocute Heathcliff short circuits, his William Tell shot misses the mark, and his train attack gets derailed. Even Louie's seeming success with dynamite is short-lived, as the Dirty Bird snatches Defeat from the Jaws of Victory by opening his Big Mouth. Does any of this sound familiar?

This is one of my personal favorite cartoons, and by far my favorite cartoon directed by the underrated Arthur Davis. The cartoon stars a dumb cat named Heathcliff and an intelligent yet malevolent parrot named Louie. When Louie discovers that Heathcliff will inherit a large sum of money, Louie fabricates multiple nefarious schemes in order to kill him(the will states that Louie will inherit the money upon Heathcliff's passing.) Most of the gags are pretty predictable, but that is not why it is such a great cartoon. The personalities of Heathcliff and Louie are what makes this cartoon so funny. It is so hard to believe that they only appeared in one cartoon. The animation is fluid and very expressive, and Mel Blanc, who voiced the characters, is funny as always. The writing, as always for a Warner Bros. cartoon, is sharp and witty, and the timing is extremely impressive. Cartoons like this are the reason Warner Bros. cartoons will always be the greatest cartoons ever created.

Arthur Davis's 'Dough Ray Me-ow' is an absolutely hysterical cartoon and easily my favourite of the director's films. Starring two boldly drawn one-shot characters, a grumpy green parrot named Louie and an ugly and ludicrously moronic cat named Heathcliff, 'Dough Ray Me-ow' quickly sets up its dark scenario leaving ample time to have tons of fun with it. When Louie discovers that Heathcliff stands to inherit a large sum of money which will go to Louie in the event of the cat's disappearance, the parrot sets about trying to dispense with his "friend" permanently. It's an idea filled with potential which becomes even funnier when Louie realises to his horror that Heathcliff isn't only startlingly stupid, he is also practically indestructible! 'Dough Ray Me-ow' is slightly cheap looking with a style that's akin to TV animation but it fits the feel of the cartoon beautifully, the more stylised character designs reflecting the bigger exaggerations of their personalities. There are loads of great bits but my favourite is the train sequence, the final battle over a stick of dynamite and a series of throwaway gags involving Heathcliff's novel methods for cracking nuts. One of the great one-shot cartoons, 'Dough Ray Me-ow' starred characters who were perhaps too extreme to ever be considered as potential stars but their one appearance still delights me and makes me laugh out loud to this day.

The first shot we see is parrot reading a book called "Rooster's Millions," (a pun on "Brewster's Millions.). Anway, the whatever the title, it aptly fits the story here. The parrot's name is "Louie," by the way, another Mel Blanc character with a strong Brooklyn accent."Heathcliff the cat" is the other main character and this fat cat is about as dumb as a brick. He gives Louie a sheet a paper he found and asks the parrot to read it for him. It reads, "Last will and testament: I leave one million dollars to my pet cat Heathcliff. In the event of his disappearance, the money goes to my pet bird, Louie."This actually was better than I thought, thinking that Heathcliff would act so stupid this cartoon would be dumb, but it isn't. Heathcliff is so stupid, he's funny. He's so good-hearted you have to root for him. No matter what the greedy parrot does to plan his demise, of course, it backfires. The sight gags are very, very funny.I've seen a similar story with "Droopy," in which Spike tried to get the inheritance money but Droopy was a lot smarter than Heathcliff, and the cartoon had a better ending than this one. Still, this one had its moments.