Peg Leg Pete

The peg-legged hippopotamus captain of a pirate ship crewed by peg-legged cats abducts the lady mouse in this early Terrytoon operetta.

Terry would make a bit of a specialty of operetta by the 1940s, with Mighty Mouse warbling "Here I come to save the day" to rescue Pearl Pureheart from Oil Can Harry. This one is stylistically a bit earlier, with its Rudolf Friml declamatory singing.

The gags quickly become redundant, but clearly Terry meant this to be a big cartoon for the season, with unusually elaborate and detailed background work. While this cartoon's age has definitely dimmed its appeal, its technical superiority for the era makes it eminently watchable today.