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[2] 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)[2] 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).

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.

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.

The kittens proceed to happily gorge themselves on milk, until they get into trouble and risk falling back down to Earth.