King-Size Canary

King-Size Canary
Original title card for King-Size Canary
Directed by	Tex Avery
Produced by	Fred Quimby
Story by	Heck Allen
Voices by	Frank Graham (as Mouse, uncredited) Pinto Colvig (as Cat, uncredited)
Music by	Scott Bradley
Animation by	Ray Abrams Robert Bentley Walt Clinton
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	December 6, 1947
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7:55
Language	English

King-Size Canary is a cult classic, animated cartoon short that debuted in movie theaters in 1947. It was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Tex Avery. The canary in this short was a primary inspiration for Maurice, a character from The Wacky World of Tex Avery.

An unnamed alley cat searches for food in some garbage cans late at night. Unable to find anything worth his while (the bones he finds are stolen by other alley cats before he can take a bite) he spots a refrigerator inside a house and heads for it. He sneaks onto the property only to wake a sleeping bulldog. The bulldog chases the cat up to the side of the house. The cat quickly pulls out some sleeping pills, putting the dog into a deep sleep.

Once inside the cat searches for food in the kitchen, but comes up empty. His luck finally changes when he finds a can of cat food. He quickly opens the can and out of the can pops a mouse who is plopped down onto a dinner plate. The cat is about to dig in with a fork but the mouse puts a quick stop to that. He says that the cat can't eat him because he has already seen the cartoon they are in and that he winds up saving the cat's life later. The feline understands but wants some food as he is starving. The mouse points into the other room and tells him that there is a huge, fat, tasty canary in there. The cat charges out into the other room and stuffs the unseen canary into a sack heading back to the kitchen.

The bird is emptied from the sack, to be revealed as scrawny and little. The bird tells the cat, "Well, I've been sick..." Disgusted with the tiny creature at first but still desperate, the cat gets a (literal) brainstorm when he sees a bottle of Jumbo-Gro plant growth formula on the shelf. Quickly he pours some of the formula into the bird and sure enough, the canary grows rapidly in size. But before the cat can take a bite, the bird is already over 10 feet tall. The canary takes advantage of his new height and beats up on the cat. The cat turns the tables on the bird and drinks the Jumbo-Gro formula himself, doubling in size until he is much bigger than the bird. He tosses the potion out of the window only for it to land in the bulldog's mouth. While the now giant-sized cat chases the slightly smaller canary through the side of the house, the bulldog guzzles down the formula. After a quick run around the block, the cat and canary wind up back outside of the house, where a now gigantic bulldog appears before them. The cat runs away in fear as the bulldog tosses the bottle of plant growth food down the chimney, where it rolls out of the fireplace and straight to the mouse inside the house. The dog leaps over the house and chases the cat into the city.