Chuck Jones' Collection part two

A Cricket in Times Square is about Chester, a country cricket, is accidentally transported to New York City in a picnic basket.  There, he befriends Tucker, a mouse; Harry, a cat; and Mario, a newsboy.  Mario's newsstand only sells music magazines and is dangerously close to closing for good until Chester discovers that he has the ability to mimic any song he's heard.  Suddenly, the humble cricket is the toast of the subway station.

This is the first story in the collection to be based on something other than Kipling's Jungle Book stories.  I had never heard of it before, but it is apparently one of the world's best children's books, authored by George Seldon.

   This was a highly irritating cartoon that takes the characters from the first cricket film and drops them in the American Revolution.  If I never hear the song Yankee Doodle Dandy again, it will be too soon.

  A Very Merry Cricket wasn't nearly as annoying as Yankee Doodle Cricket.  Tucker the mouse and Harry the cat are saddened by the lack of Christmas spirit among their fellow New Yorkers so they travel to Connecticut to convince their friend Chester to come back and use his music to bring some holiday cheer.

Of the entire collection, I found two-thirds to be well worth watching, with only a pair of real duds.