The Early Bird Dood It (1942, animated short)

The Early Bird Dood It is 1942 MGM animated short directed by Tex Avery, released 8-29-42.
Completed before Blitz Wolf but released as Avery’s second Metro film, this is an enjoyable journey into the familiar cartoon territory of adversarial animals, with the usual Avery twist of parodying the form. There are also typical Avery comic touches such as the characters stopping in frantic mid-chase to look at a movie poster for MGM’s Mrs. Miniver, here renamed “Mrs. Minimum”, when they notice this very cartoon is also advertised. To which the cat says, “I er, hear that’s a pretty funny cartoon!” Kent Rogers adopted a Lou Costello-ish approach for the little Worm’s voice (including Costello’s through-the-teeth whistling), while Frank Graham, for the first time in an MGM cartoon, did his great gruff voice for the tough-guy Bird, with Tex himself voicing the dumb cat.