| The Milky Way | |
| Director: | Rudolph Ising |
| Story: | Maurice Day |
| Starring: | Bernice Hansen |
| Music: | Scott Bradley |
| Animator: | Jack Zander |
| Studio: | MGM cartoon studio Rudolf Ising Productions |
| Distributor: | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Country: | United States |
| Color Process: | Technicolor |
| Language: | English |
The Milky Way is a one-reel animated cartoon short subject, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres with the film The Captain Is a Lady in 1940 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The short (produced[1] and directed by Rudolf Ising and co-produced by Fred Quimby with the voice of Bernice Hansen as the kittens and their mother, and musical supervision by Scott Bradley)[1] explores the adventures of the "three little kittens who lost their mittens", as they explore a dreamland where space is made up entirely of dairy products (for example, the Milky Way is made of milk and the Moon is made of green cheese).[1] The short won the 1940 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film,[1] and was the first non-Disney film to do so. Other shorts nominated in 1940 included A Wild Hare by Warner Bros., introducing Bugs Bunny, and another MGM cartoon Puss Gets the Boot, with Jasper & Jinx, the prototype for Tom and Jerry. This makes 1940 the first time a Disney film wasn’t even nominated for the award. It was added as a bonus feature in the Marx Bros. DVD release of Go West (1940) and Warner Archive Blu-ray release of Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940).
Three kittens, denied milk as punishment for losing their mittens after playing out in the snow, sail up into the Milky Way in a basket lifted by three helium balloons. Their space flight takes them past the Moon, the planet Mars, the Big Dipper, and the Little Dipper, until they reach their destination: the Milky Way.
Once in the Milky Way, they find it a land of natural milk springs and geysers. The kittens proceed to happily gorge themselves on milk, until they get into trouble and risk falling back down to Earth. However, it is then revealed that the whole event was imagined. Their mother comes in to their bedroom to invite them down for supper. The kittens rush excitedly into the kitchen, only to be sickened to see that their supper is milk.