Gussie Mausheimer

Gussie Mausheimer is a German-American mouse appearing in An American Tail who is the richest and most powerful mouse in New York City. Voiced by the late Madeline Kahn, she (unknowingly) suffers a speech impediment that causes her to pronounce "R" as "W". She is only seen in the original film.

Role in the Film

Gussie becomes involved in Fievel's story when she sees Honest John about holding a rally (pronouncing it "wowie"), which she hopes will spur the mice into action against the threat of cats. At the rally, Fievel tells her the story of the Giant Mouse of Minsk, giving her the idea to build a robotic version of the Giant Mouse to scare away the Mott Street Maulers. After this is successful, at some point off screen she meets the Mousekewitz family, Tony, Bridget and Tiger, and learns that they're searching for Fievel. She helps them track Fievel down, and is astonished with herself for cooperating with a cat. When Fievel is reunited with is family she celebrates with his friends.

Trivia

• Gussie's speech impediment is known as Rhotacism.
• Madeline Kahn used the same voice for the character she played in the Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles
• Gussie's role was since conflicted from the sequels as her voice actress, Madeline Kahn, was under a contract with many other works, as her final works during production of the DTV sequels are A Bug's Life and Judy Berlin, as well as her final character to voice was Mrs. Shapiro on a children’s series Little Bill (an episode dedicated her memory).