countesscat:

The Van Beuren Studios had three Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse copy-cat characters. The first were Milton Mouse and Mary Mouse, who was sometimes called Rita Mouse. Walt Disney sued the studios and they were no longer allowed to use the “mouse” characters in their animated shorts. The Van Beuren studios then replaced the characters with Waffles Cat who used to be paired with Don Dog, and paired him up with Countess Cat. Countess and Waffles appeared in a few cartoons and were subconsciously replaced by Cubby Bear and Honey Bear. All three characters are pretty much like Mickey and Minnie, only Countess and Waffles have a Felix the Cat appeal, and Countess talks and sings like Betty Boop. Honey Bear was pretty much like the Countess in her debut, but that was later dropped, and for a short period Honey became a mute character. The male characters had a Mickey Mouse à la Fleischer Bimbo appeal to them.