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Doggone Cats is a 1947 Merrie Melodies short directed by Arthur Davis.

Plot[]

Sylvester and his orange cat friend are being harassed by a bulldog named Wellington, who keeps slamming the two in the head with trashcan lids. The chase comes to a stop when the dog is called by his mistress, who forces him to deliver a package to Uncle Louie, telling him, "And don't let go of it or else!" The cats take advantage of this and torment him:

  1. The orange cat stops by a corner, blocking Wellington's path. The cat puts on a glove and slaps the dog twice, angering Wellington. However, Sylvester whistles from behind to egg the dog in the face.
  2. Enraged, Wellington puts down the package to bop the orange cat, but Sylvester uses a fishing rod to reel the package. As the dog tries to fetch it back, he slams into a fence, and the orange cat whacks the dog with a wooden plank, spinning Wellington across the city until he falls down a manhole.
  3. With the two cats holding the package, Wellington comes back to give the cats a beating and take the package back. Sylvester tangoes with Wellington to push him back into a fencing sword held by the orange cat.
  4. The orange cat throws the package into a railway. When Wellington tries to get it back, he hears a train and runs off, only to be just the two cats with a wagon and a train whistle. Wellington runs after the two then gets hit by a real train.
  5. Wellington storms after the two cats but is hit by an iron shielded by the orange cat.
  6. Sylvester and the orange cat makes a fake package with an iron in it, and throws it off a bridge. Wellington notices the fake package and tries to catch it, and ends up sinking into the river after the fake package falls onto a rowboat Wellington is on.
  7. When Sylvester hides in a corner with a mallet to catch Wellington, he ends up accidentally smashing his friend. When he tries again, Wellington immediately punches Sylvester in the face, allowing Wellington to recover the package.
  8. The orange cat uses a pepper cigar in front of Wellington, causing the dog to sneeze and lose the package. The package lands onto the middle of the road with a steamroller driven by Sylvester about to flatten it. Wellington scurries to save the package, despite being run over by the steamroller in the progress.

Wellington arrives at Uncle Louie's house, with the package safely delivered. However, he finds out that it contains dinner for the two cats, and Louie closes the door on the dog. Upon finding out that he has helped the cats in return for all of their trickery, Wellington brays like a donkey and repeatedly hits himself with a mailbox and trashcan lids.

Music Cues[2][]

  • Keep Cool, Fool (by Josef Myrow and James P. Johnson)
    • Played during the opening titles
  • Furioso (by J.S. Zamecnik)
    • Plays during the opening scene when Willington chases the two cats.
  • You Never Know Where You're Goin' Till You Get There (by Jule Styne)
    • Played when the cats parade down the street with the package
  • Eres Mujer - (by Jose Melis and Jose Forns Puig)
    • Plays when Willington and Sylvester dance.
  • Freddy the Freshman (by Cliff Friend and Dave Oppenheim)
    • Played when the cat tosses the package over the fence and onto the railroad track
  • Keep Cool, Fool (by Josef Myrow and James P. Johnson)
    • Plays again when the cats wrap the package on the bridge
  • Sobre las olas [Over the Waves] (by Juventino Rosas)
    • Played when the cats prepare to toss the package off the bridge
  • Keep Cool, Fool (by Josef Myrow and James P. Johnson)
    • Plays for a third time when the cat sprinkles pepper into the rolling paper
  • Keep Cool, Fool (by Josef Myrow and James P. Johnson)
    • Played for the final time when Wellington delivers the package
  • You Never Know Where You're Goin' Till You Get There (by Jule Styne)
    • Also played when the cats parade into the house

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Censorship[]

On Cartoon Network, Boomerang (TV version only; the gag is retained on the streaming service)[3], The WB, and MeTV, the scene of Wellington harassing the cats by banging trash can lids against the can they're in and Wellington's mistress yelling at him to come to her was shortened to remove a trash can lid landing on Wellington's head and Wellington briefly impersonating a Chinese peasant. While Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and The WB cut the scene off after Wellington's mistress screams, "WELLINGTON!", the MeTV version left in the split-second part where the trash can lid lands on Wellington's head before cutting to Wellington coming to his mistress. As of 11 March 2022, this scene airs uncut on MeTV.

Coincidentally, the scene of Wellington falling backward into a cigar store Indian statue and the statue stuffing cigars in his mouth was left in on all four channels, despite all four channels having a history of editing Native American stereotypes and, in the cases of Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and The WB, scenes of characters smoking tobacco products.

Notes[]

  • According to an interview with Lloyd Turner by Michael Barrier. Lloyd discuss his first jam-session he ever did which was with this cartoon. (A jam-session is a pitch from the storymen which would involve all of the directors, storymen, animators and studio managers) Bill told the story, however nobody laughed. Art Davis was "terrified", then Chuck Jones stood up and said "Well, if nobody else wants it, I'll take it," and all of a sudden the room becomes lively including Davis.[4]
  • Just like several cartoons released between 1947-1948, this short was produced in successive-exposure Technicolor. However, the released prints use the inferior Cinecolor technology.[5]
    • The Blue Ribbon title states Print By Technicolor instead of the usual Color By Technicolor for this reason.
  • The original opening rings, title, and ending card survive on a 16mm print.[6] However, Warner Bros. does not restore non-35mm prints, hence the Blue Ribbon titles were restored instead.
  • This one of the only two shorts featuring Sylvester to be directed by Arthur Davis. The other is "Catch as Cats Can". Coincidentally, they were both released in 1947 and have Sylvester portrayed with a different personality. In this short, he has an unnamed orange feline partner, is more of a trickster, and doesn't talk (contrast with "Catch as Cats Can", where Sylvester can talk, but has a dopier voice with no lisp and reluctantly takes orders from a parrot who looks and sounds like Bing Crosby). The trickster personality would reappear in the 1948 Merrie Melodies short "Back Alley Oproar".
  • Wellington would eventually reappear in "Odor of the Day", which was the only PepĆ© Le Pew short to be directed by Arthur Davis (and also had an established Looney Tunes character with a different personality under Arthur Davis' direction).
  • On the original credits, it uses "and" for Llyod Turner & Bill Scott credit. Whereas most other cartoons with two story credits use "~"
  • Vitaphone release number: 1616.[7]

Gallery[]

References[]

ā† Crowing Pains Sylvester Cartoons Catch as Cats Can ā†’
Sylvester Cartoons
1945 Life with Feathers ā€¢ Peck Up Your Troubles
1946 Kitty Kornered
1947 Tweetie Pie ā€¢ Crowing Pains ā€¢ Doggone Cats ā€¢ Catch as Cats Can
1948 Back Alley Oproar ā€¢ I Taw a Putty Tat ā€¢ Hop, Look and Listen ā€¢ Kit for Cat ā€¢ Scaredy Cat
1949 Mouse Mazurka ā€¢ Bad Ol' Putty Tat ā€¢ Hippety Hopper
1950 Home, Tweet Home ā€¢ The Scarlet Pumpernickel ā€¢ All a Bir-r-r-d ā€¢ Canary Row ā€¢ Stooge for a Mouse ā€¢ Pop 'Im Pop!
1951 Canned Feud ā€¢ Putty Tat Trouble ā€¢ Room and Bird ā€¢ Tweety's S.O.S. ā€¢ Tweet Tweet Tweety
1952 Who's Kitten Who? ā€¢ Gift Wrapped ā€¢ Little Red Rodent Hood ā€¢ Ain't She Tweet ā€¢ Hoppy Go Lucky ā€¢ A Bird in a Guilty Cage ā€¢ Tree for Two
1953 Snow Business ā€¢ A Mouse Divided ā€¢ Fowl Weather ā€¢ Tom Tom Tomcat ā€¢ A Street Cat Named Sylvester ā€¢ Catty Cornered ā€¢ Cats A-weigh!
1954 Dog Pounded ā€¢ Bell Hoppy ā€¢ Dr. Jerkyl's Hide ā€¢ Claws for Alarm ā€¢ Muzzle Tough ā€¢ Satan's Waitin' ā€¢ By Word of Mouse
1955 Lighthouse Mouse ā€¢ Sandy Claws ā€¢ Tweety's Circus ā€¢ Jumpin' Jupiter ā€¢ A Kiddies Kitty ā€¢ Speedy Gonzales ā€¢ Red Riding Hoodwinked ā€¢ Heir-Conditioned ā€¢ Pappy's Puppy
1956 Too Hop to Handle ā€¢ Tweet and Sour ā€¢ Tree Cornered Tweety ā€¢ The Unexpected Pest ā€¢ Tugboat Granny ā€¢ The Slap-Hoppy Mouse ā€¢ Yankee Dood It
1957 Tweet Zoo ā€¢ Tweety and the Beanstalk ā€¢ Birds Anonymous ā€¢ Greedy for Tweety ā€¢ Mouse-Taken Identity ā€¢ Gonzales' Tamales
1958 A Pizza Tweety-Pie ā€¢ A Bird in a Bonnet
1959 Trick or Tweet ā€¢ Tweet and Lovely ā€¢ Cat's Paw ā€¢ Here Today, Gone Tamale ā€¢ Tweet Dreams
1960 West of the Pesos ā€¢ Goldimouse and the Three Cats ā€¢ Hyde and Go Tweet ā€¢ Mouse and Garden ā€¢ Trip for Tat
1961 Cannery Woe ā€¢ Hoppy Daze ā€¢ Birds of a Father ā€¢ D' Fightin' Ones ā€¢ The Rebel Without Claws ā€¢ The Pied Piper of Guadalupe ā€¢ The Last Hungry Cat
1962 Fish and Slips ā€¢ Mexican Boarders ā€¢ The Jet Cage
1963 Mexican Cat Dance ā€¢ Chili Weather ā€¢ Claws in the Lease
1964 A Message to Gracias ā€¢ Freudy Cat ā€¢ Nuts and Volts ā€¢ Hawaiian Aye Aye ā€¢ Road to Andalay
1965 It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House ā€¢ Cats and Bruises ā€¢ The Wild Chase
1966 A Taste of Catnip
1980 The Yolks on You
1995 Carrotblanca
1997 Father of the Bird
2011 I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat
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