A Very Merry Cricket 1973

During Christmastime in New York City, Harry the Cat and Tucker the Mouse hide in the sewers from the cantankerous, miserable, selfish, and noisy humans of the city, reading Christmas stories to keep their spirits bright. They recall their friend Chester C. Cricket, who could play his wings like a violin and was reputed to calm a New York crowd with his music, but who has since moved to the fictional suburb of Sunnyslope, Connecticut, so they set out to visit him.

After Harry saves Tucker from a Sunnyslope alley cat’s Christmas dinner shortly after arrival, they reunite with Chester, who is giving a concert over the phone. He agrees to return to New York City but remains skeptical that he can revive the New Yorkers’ Christmas spirit; Harry and Tucker help rally him. After escaping the alley cat and an angry bulldog on the way out of Sunnyslope with Chester’s help, the trio treks to Mains Crossing, where they barely catch the nearest train back to New York aboard a tree-bark “one-cat open sleigh.”

Upon arriving in New York and getting a night’s rest, Tucker begins planning Chester’s set list, only for Chester to be overwhelmed by the noise, again doubting that he can pull off such a monumental feat. Chester starts to play, but the sounds of the city prove too loud for his music to be heard. As Tucker worries that the plan has failed, a citywide power plant overload plunges the city into blackout, and silence falls across the streets, giving Chester his opening. He begins his concert with Silent Night, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, and Joy to the World, letting the music carry through the quiet and bring a renewed sense of Christmas to the urban night.