The Milky Way is a one-reel animated cartoon short subject, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres in 1940 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. The short, produced and directed by Rudolf Ising with musical supervision by Scott Bradley, 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 cheese). The short won the 1940 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. Other shorts nominated in 1940 included A Wild Hare, introducing Bugs Bunny, and Puss Gets the Boot, the prototype for Tom and Jerry.
