The Robber Kitten
Directed by	David Hand
Story by	Bill Cottrell
Produced by	Walt Disney
Starring	Shirley Reed[1] Billy Bletcher Clarence Nash Elvia Allman[2]
Music by	Frank Churchill
Animation by	Bob Wickersham Marvin Woodward Hardie Gramatky Hamilton Luske Bill Roberts
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	United Artists Pictures
Release date	April 20, 1935 (1935-04-20)
Running time	7:48
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$23,153

The Robber Kitten is a 1935 Walt Disney produced Silly Symphonies animated short film, directed by David Hand.^[3] The short is based on a story of the same name written by Robert Michael Ballantyne with the pseudonym Comus.^[4]

Plot

A kitten named Ambrose is dreaming about running away and becoming a robber. Calling himself "Butch" at the beginning of the cartoon, he is seen play-acting a stagecoach robbery, which is interrupted by his mother calling for him to take a bath. Not wanting to take a bath in the first place, Ambrose runs away and becomes a robber, first stealing a bag of cookies. His first target turns out to be an actual robber: Dirty Bill the bulldog. Dirty Bill asks Ambrose if he has pulled off any robberies lately, and Ambrose tells him, "Just this morning, I held up a stagecoach." Then Dirty Bill asks Ambrose where his loot is, so Ambrose shows Dirty Bill the bag of cookies. Imagining that the bag is full of gold, Dirty Bill demands it and threatens Ambrose. Scared, Ambrose runs home and jumps into his bathtub, acting as if nothing else has happened.

Production

Story development started around September of 1934, taking inspiration from a short story made by Robert Micheal Ballantyne. Originally, the name of the robber kitten was going to be "Ferdinand".^[4] Animation on the film later started in October 9 of 1934, with a small team of animators that frequently made most of the Silly Symphonies in one small team (examples include Three Orphan Kittens, Elmer Elephant)^[3] where over time expanded with the newly employed animators at the studio. A list of which animators made each scene is listed down below:

• Bob Wickersham: Ambrose until going down the stairs
• Marvin Woodward: Ambrose's mother and Ambrose running back home
• Hardie Gramatky: Ambrose stealing cookies and leaving home
• Ham Luske: Entire Dirty Bill sequence until flashback
• Bill Roberts: Flashback of Ambrose robbing a stagecoach

Animation then ended on February 19 of 1935, which after the cels were painted to finally be photographed in 3-strip Technicolor. Photography lasted only 15 days from 5-20 of March of the same year, which was edited and developed in under a week until finally being delivered for movie theatres.^[3]

Comic adaptation

The cartoon short was adapted in a Silly Symphony comic strip sequence by Ted Osborne and Al Taliaferro, which ran from February 24 to April 21, 1935. The storyline was titled "The Adventures of Ambrose the Robber Kitten".^[5] It was also translated and published in Austria (1938), Australia, Belgium (1952), Brazil (1979), Finland (1935), France (1935), Germany (2003), United Kingdom (1936), Italy (1935), Spain (1935), and Yugoslavia (1936).

Voice cast

• Ambrose: Shirley Reed^[1]
• Dirty Bill: Billy Bletcher^[1]
• Horse whinny, Ambrose's Tarzan yell: Clarence Nash^[3]
• Ambrose's mother: Elvia Allman^[2]

Home media

The short was released on December 4, 2001, on Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies - The Historic Musical Animated Classics.^[6][3]

It was also released on the Walt Disney Animation Collection: Classic Short Films Volume 5: Wind in the Willows DVD in 2009.

References

External links

• The Robber Kitten at IMDb
• The Robber Kitten at the Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts

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