CROSSOVER MADNESS

I've now reviewed the three Famous Studios cartoons that led to the ascension of Herman the Mouse to his small degree of stardom. None of these are crossovers, but because they give Herman stature, he's a star when he's teamed up with his most famous adversary. He gets teamed up (in the sense of repeating enemies) with a cat who bears some resemblance to Katnip in 1947's NAUGHTY BUT MICE. Proto-Katnip made two more appearances before being given his official form, and the re-use of his template suggests enough identity for me to label his presence in NAUGHTY a "proto-crossover," since he does take on a starring role alongside Herman for several cartoons thereafter. However, though none of the partnerships of the mouse and the cat following NAUGHTY are any sort of crossovers, because Katnip hadn't established enough solo stature. This stands in contrast to my argument that all Daffy Duck/Porky Pig teamups are crossovers, because both members of the team had stature when they first teamed up.

Herman also made a couple of cameo appearances, notably in the 1946 banned POPEYE short THE ISLAND FLING.