Gay Purr-Ee

AMG Review of Gay Purr-Ee

Lindsay Planer
All Music Guide

One of the lesser-known stops in the illustrious career of Judy Garland is likewise one of her most beloved by enthusiasts of all ages. Gay Purr-Ee (1962) is a full-length animated feature highlighted by voice-overs and vocals featuring Garland (Mewsette) and Robert Goulet (Juane-Tom) -- as a pair of Parisian felines. Plus, the inimitable Paul Frees (Meowrice) whose unmistakable pipes have brought to life classic cartoon characters such as John Lennon in Yellow Submarine (1968), Boris Badenov on The Adventures of Bullwinkle and Rocky and everybody's favorite octopus, Squiddly Diddly, among countless others. Interestingly, it was not Disney Studios who created Gay Purr-Ee, but rather Warner Brothers' Chuck Jones and United Productions of America, a company founded in the midst of the infamous 1941 strike that put Disney at odds with their own animators. As inferred above, not only did the primary cast act out Jones' screenplay, they sang a host of memorable compositions by none other than Harold Arlen and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, the duo responsible for the score to The Wizard of Oz (1939) some two decades earlier. By this point in her career, Garland's private demons had become public knowledge. Yet, her career was on another ascent. She had just won five Grammies for Judy at Carnegie Hall (1961) -- a double-disc package of her April 1961 show at the venerable venue -- and had been nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Supporting Actress category for her portrayal of Irene Hoffman in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremburg (1961). Garland's confidence is evident throughout, especially on the enchanting ballad "Little Drops of Rain," the happy-go-lucky "Roses Red, Violets Blue," and the achingly poignant "Paris Is a Lonely Town" -- any of which could easily stand up against her voluminous cinematic repertoire. At the time, Goulet had just completed an extended stint on Broadway in Camelot (1961). He is superb on the charming "Mewsette," and sports a slightly silly faux French accent on "The Horse Won't Talk." Indeed both the film and subsequent soundtrack are full of fun for the entire family.