Alias St. Nick

Alias St. Nick was released by MGM on November 16, 1935. As with all MGM cartoons from this time period it was directed by Rudolf Ising and produced by both Ising and Hugh Harman.

The storyline goes something like this. It's Christmas Eve and Mrs. Mouse is reading "A Visit from St. Nicholas" to her brood, but Little Cheeser is having none of it- he doesn't believe in Santa Claus! Meanwhile, outside, a vagabond cat battles a fearsome blizzard. The cat overhears them arguing about the existence of Santa Claus, so, seeking shelter, he dresses up as St. Nick in order to get himself a Christmas dinner of mice. Little Cheeser is bored, as he doesn't believe in Santa. Against his mother's will, he strikes out on his own. He is influenced by the Devil himself to go wrong. The naïve Mrs. Mouse lets in the fake Santa, but fortunately, Little Cheeser doubts that the cat is really Santa. Little Cheeser and the "wolf in Santa's clothing" have an exciting time on Christmas Eve. After Little Cheeser gets into trouble, he goes running home to mother. He soon unmasks the nefarious imposter, and he assaults the stray feline with toy tanks and steam shovels.

Unforantely I wasn't able to find a print of this cartoon without the TCM logo on it. There is an edited print avalable on youtube without the TCM logo but I'm not into posting edited versions so that's a no go. While it does upset me when these networks put their logo's on these old cartoons, I'm not gonna rant and rave about it because that would be a waste of time.

Alias St. Nice marked the  first appearance of Little Cheeser in the Happy Harmonies series. Unlike Warner  Brothers cartoons early MGM cartoons were not limited to the 6 minutes or less timeframe rule. This cartoon lasts for over ten minutes. Some might say that's nine minutes too long as the short is pretty low on humor, it goes for cuteness instead and suffers for it. Some fun voice characterizations is about all this short has going for it.