Punkin' Puss and Mushmouse was yet another Funny Animal cartoon made by Hanna-Barbera. It was also another to feature the ongoing battle between a cat and a mouse — but this time it added a little country flavor. The former was voiced by Allan Melvin and the latter by Howard Morris.
Both live in the stereotypical Hillbilly Hills and the feud plays out as just about anyone would expect. Punkin' Puss and Mushmouse were a segment on The Magilla Gorilla Show.
Compare with The Hillbilly Bears, H-B's other cartoon from The '60s about rural funny animals living in the Hillbilly Hills.
Tropes:
- Afraid of Blood: Punkin' Puss in "Small Change" mentions he can't stand the sight of blood, especially his own.
- Alliterative Name: Punkin' Puss.
- Art Evolution: Some shorts actually have better quality animation than others, such as "Army-Nervy Game."
- Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Neither character wears shoes — which is not surprising given that they're a hillbilly cat and mouse.
- Blood Knight: Punkin' Puss. He loves feuding with Mushmouse and literally can't imagine anything more important than their squabble.
- Boxing Kangaroo: In the episode “Jump Bumps,” Mushmouse buys a boxing kangaroo named Hunka Hunka to even things up with Punkin’.
- Buffoonish Tomcat: Punkin' Puss isn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier, and his often single-minded obsession with feuding and overall cantankerous behavior usually get him into all sorts of trouble — slapstick mayhem and Amusing Injuries often being the result. One-off guest character Tennessee Tabby also qualifies as this when serving as Punkin's rival in the "New Neighbor, New Feud" episode.
- The Bully: Punkin' Puss invariably thinks he's tougher than Mushmouse and sometimes picks on him, but the 'Nowhere Bear' and Mushmouse's cousin from the "Muscle Tussle" episode turn the tables on the cat.
- Cats Are Mean: Punkin' Puss. For the most part he's the instigator of feuds, and in one cartoon he has times set for feuding — although occasionally he’s got his good points.
- Comic-Book Adaptation: As shown in the page pic, the series got made into a comic book from Gold Key Comics. Despite the series title, the book was called Mushmouse and Punkin Puss.
- Commitment Issues: Neither main character seems eager to enter a stable love relationship. In "Courtin' Disaster", Mushmouse forces Punkin' to surrender, then learns his girlfriend wants to marry him and immediately restarts their feud to avoid it. And in "Catch as Cat Can Day", Punkin' Puss spends the whole episode trying to avoid a hillbilly girl named Susie McStomp, who wants to marry him. Mushmouse prods her on until Hunnybun tries to marry him again, sending them both running.
- Friendly Enemy: Unlike Tom and Jerry and Pixie, Dixie and Mr. Jinks, the characters show little liking for each other in the series. Often when a truce is called, it's because both Punkin' Puss and Mushmouse are in danger or forced to a draw.
- Funny Animal: While Punkin' and Mushmouse share a typical species-based dislike for each other and the latter lives in a mousehole, they otherwise behave like humans. They live in a house, wear clothes (Punkin' is in fact fully dressed though lacking shoes), walk bipedally, use human effects, can hold down a job, and can talk to humans.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Mushmouse only wears a hat and an open shirt. Punkin' Puss oddly averts this by being fully clothed (he wears a hat, shirt, vest, and pants).
- Hot-Blooded: Punkin' Puss is the "ornery" one of the pair. He's seen getting into conflicts with nearly everyone on the show and is easily riled up by Mushmouse.
- I Know Karate: In "Jump Bumps," Mushmouse practices judo with a dummy and then tries to fight Punkin Puss, warning him about this new mastery. However, as Punkin Puss explains after defeating Mushmouse, he isn't a dummy.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Both main characters qualify, although this applies more often to Mushmouse than Punkin' Puss. Mushmouse helps others in need (and often involves them in his feud). Punkin' Puss, for all his talk of stomping and toying Mushmouse, gets emotional in one episode when he's tricked by Mushmouse into thinking he killed him, and can otherwise be nice to him on rare occasions.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Punkin's bad behavior often comes back to bite him in the behind, but Mushmouse isn't immune to getting a comeuppance, especially if he is the outright antagonist.
- Name and Name: The title consists of the two characters' names with "and" in between.
- Nice Mice: Mushmouse is often a pleasant enough sort who minds his own business, though at times he can be just as antagonistic as Punkin' Puss.
- Ring Around the Collar: Like most Hanna-Barbera characters from this time, the top of Punkin' Puss's shirt serves to facilitate animation shortcuts. Similar to Dixie and Shag Rugg, Mushmouse averts this trope, as the vest he wears does not function this way.
- Ringer Ploy:
- In "Callin' All Kin," Mushmouse summons his identical cousins to confound a villainous Punkin' Puss. Punkin' Puss retaliates by calling in his identical cousins.
- After failing to defeat Punkin' with judo in "Jump Bumps," Mushmouse buys a Boxing Kangaroo named Hunka Hunka to even things up with his adversary. The cat thinks Hunka Hunka is Mushmouse bulked up and tries to battle him, failing repeatedly.
- Three Shorts: Punkin' Puss was the ending segment on Magilla Gorilla.
- Unexpected Inheritance: Mushmouse inherits one million pounds from a British uncle in the episode "Heir Conditioning." Punkin Puss spends most of the episode trying to get into good graces with the mouse because of the inheritance. Eventually, he and Mushmouse learn the inheritance consists not of one million pounds (as in the British currency), but rather one million pounds of cheese.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Punkin' Puss is mean towards Mushmouse but normally acts the Buffoonish Tomcat cat when Mushmouse gets the upper hand.
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: In the episode “Shot at and Missed,” Mushmouse tries to move on to a more established city cat, but ends up wanting to do his feuding with Ole Punkin' Puss again instead.
