A Gruesome Twosome is a 1945 Merrie Melodies short directed by Bob Clampett.
Plot[]
Two cats are talking and singing in meows to the 1909 pop tune "Me-ow". Then a red cat (a caricature of Jimmy Durante) attacks a yellow cat talking to the female cat with a frying pan. The red cat tries to get the girl to kiss him. As he tries to kiss her, out of nowhere an insane dog (who admits that he "[doesn't] actually belong in this picture") pops up and kisses the female cat, prompting the Durante cat to exclaim that "everybody wants to get into the act. umbriago! IT'S DISGUSTING!" As the two cats fight, the female tells them whoever can bring her a bird can be her "fella".
The red cat uses numerous tricks to stop the yellow cat. The cats climb up the pole. Tweety states his usual catchphrase "I tawt I taw a putty tat" followed by "I tawt I taw ANOTHER putty tat." The cats see each other and they fight and Tweety hits them with a mallet causing them to fall off the pole; then Tweety states "Aw, the poor puddy tats! They fall down and go BOOM!" (on the word BOOM, Tweety yells at the top of his lungs) and smiles. The red cat wakes up and so does the yellow but the yellow gets hit by a frying pan again. Livid, the cats fight again and the red cat realizes that they must use strategy (which the Durante cat pronounces "stragedy").
The red cat comes up with a plan. In an unrealistic horse costume, the red cat states that he is the head. Tweety pops out of the tail and grabs a bee. As he slaps it he puts it in the horse costume and hits the costume and the cats get stung and crash into a tree. The red cat comes up with another plan. But Tweety lures a dog to attack the cats by grabbing its bone and putting it into the cat's costume and the cats get attacked; Tweety says "You know I get wid of more putty tats that way!" then does the Durante "ha cha cha cha".
Caricatures[]
- Jimmy Durante - Colonel
- Gracie Allen - pretty cat
- Richard LeGrand - "Well now, I wouldn't say that!"
- Harry Langdon - Tweety's smirk
Availability[]
Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Little Tweety and Little Inki Cartoon Festival Featuring "I Taw a Putty Tat"
Cartoon Moviestars: Tweety and Sylvester
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 2, Side 5: Bob Clampett
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3, Disc Four
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3, Disc 2
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3, Disc 2
Streaming[]
Goofs[]
- When Tweety is riding the disguised horse as the Lone Ranger, he tosses his hat away in a closeup shot shouting "Hi Ho, Sliver! Away!" However, in the very next shot, his hat his back on his head.
Notes[]
- This is the last Tweety film directed by Clampett, following 1942's "A Tale of Two Kitties" and 1944's "Birdy and the Beast",[2] and the last one before he is permanently paired with Sylvester.
- This is Tweety's final appearance without feathers. The reason for this is because the Hays Code thought Tweety's pink skin made him look naked, which was confirmed by the red cat's line, "Here comes the naked genius now!"
- The cartoon was referred to as "The Gruesome Twosome" according to the model sheet of the cats (shown below), the animator draft, and lobby card. The design for the red cat was also particularly different as well, lacking features that made him resemble Jimmy Durante in the final film.
- The Ren and Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi combined the two cats in this short to create Stimpy with the Durante cat's coloring and nose, and the yellow cat's stupidity, girth, and personality.[3]
- Mel Blanc and Sara Berner (as the girl cat) recorded their dialogue track 12 February 1944, while another vocal session with Blanc occurred two weeks later on 26 February.[4] The short presumably entered production prior to Leon Schlesinger's departure.
- Although a Tweety cartoon, the titular character does not show up until half-way through the short. He also does not appear on the title card, which instead focuses on the two cats that ultimately pursue him.
- The scene where the yellow cat stares at Tweety in his nest is taken from "Birdy and the Beast".
- The Background of the Title card is similar to "Russian Rhapsody".
Gallery[]
.png "Tweety model sheet (2-12-1944).png (1.24 MB)")
_-_Fight_Motion.png "A Gruesome Twosome (1945) - Fight Motion.png (773 KB)")
_-_Fight.png "A Gruesome Twosome (1945) - Fight.png (697 KB)")
References[]
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/catalogofc19723261213libr/page/144/mode/1up?view=theater
- ↑ Robert Clampett. IMDb. Retrieved on 2009-03-31.
- ↑ Ren and Stimpy: In the Beginning featurette, The Ren & Stimpy Show: The Complete First and Second Seasons DVD
- ↑ https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/bob-clampetts-a-gruesome-twosome-1945/
| Tweety Cartoons | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | A Tale of Two Kitties | |||
| 1944 | Birdy and the Beast | |||
| 1945 | A Gruesome Twosome | |||
| 1947 | Tweetie Pie | |||
| 1948 | I Taw a Putty Tat | |||
| 1949 | Bad Ol' Putty Tat | |||
| 1950 | Home, Tweet Home • All a Bir-r-r-d • Canary Row | |||
| 1951 | Putty Tat Trouble • Room and Bird • Tweety's S.O.S. • Tweet Tweet Tweety | |||
| 1952 | Gift Wrapped • Ain't She Tweet • A Bird in a Guilty Cage | |||
| 1953 | Snow Business • Fowl Weather • Tom Tom Tomcat • A Street Cat Named Sylvester • Catty Cornered | |||
| 1954 | Dog Pounded • Muzzle Tough • Satan's Waitin' | |||
| 1955 | Sandy Claws • Tweety's Circus • Red Riding Hoodwinked • Heir-Conditioned | |||
| 1956 | Tweet and Sour • Tree Cornered Tweety • Tugboat Granny | |||
| 1957 | Tweet Zoo • Tweety and the Beanstalk • Birds Anonymous • Greedy for Tweety | |||
| 1958 | A Pizza Tweety-Pie • A Bird in a Bonnet | |||
| 1959 | Trick or Tweet • Tweet and Lovely • Tweet Dreams | |||
| 1960 | Hyde and Go Tweet • Trip for Tat | |||
| 1961 | The Rebel Without Claws • The Last Hungry Cat | |||
| 1962 | The Jet Cage | |||
| 1964 | Hawaiian Aye Aye | |||
| 2011 | I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat | |||