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Life with Feathers is a 1945 Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng.
Title
The title is a pun on the 1939 play and 1935 book Life with Father.
Plot
A lovebird is depressed because his wife no longer loves him, so he decides to commit suicide. He finally settles on getting eaten by a cat. The bird happens on a hungry Sylvester and calls him over with a whistle. Excited, the cat runs to the bird, only to stop when he finds the bird wants to be eaten. Sylvester, thinking the bird is poisoned, refuses. Determined, the bird tries to sneak and even force himself into the cat's mouth, but to no avail.
Finally, the bird tunes into food commercials on the radio to increase Sylvester's appetite. The cat decides he "might as well die" eating the bird. As the feline is about to have a meal at last, a telegram arrives for the bird. It reads that that relations between him and his wife are going to be just fine. Unfortunately, the cat hasn't changed his mind and pursues the bird off a balcony.
The bird, overjoyed, returns home and says that his wife has returned to her mother. A dish is thrown from across the room. It was from the wife, who changed her mind. The bird runs back outside and calls for Sylvester.
Availability
- (1988) VHS - Cartoon Moviestars: Tweety and Sylvester
- (1992) LaserDisc - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 1, Side 2: Firsts
- (1992) VHS - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 2: Firsts
- (2014) Blu-ray, DVD - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3, Disc 2
Censorship
On Cartoon Network, Boomerang, TNT, TBS, and The WB the part where the lovebird thinks of different ways to commit suicide after his wife has thrown him out is cut.[3] However, airings of this cartoon on overseas Cartoon Network/Boomerang channels have this part uncut.
Notes
- This is the debut of an unnamed cat, who would be later known as Sylvester. He got this name three years later in a 1948 short, "Scaredy Cat", directed by Chuck Jones.
- It was nominated for an Academy Award for best short subject.[4]
- This was the final cartoon to have 1941-45 rendition of Merrily We Roll Along. The opening themes would be shortened, but the ending rendition still remained unchanged for another ten years.
- This was the final non-Bugs Bunny Merrie Melodies short with the WB shield appearing before "WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC.", Present, the production code, and the copyright notice appear. Some cartoons from 1949-51 would have this feature, but only for Bugs Bunny cartoons.
- The next cartoon "Behind the Meat-Ball", would be the final non-Bugs Bunny short to have the WB shield appear before the byline words "WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC." This was also the last cartoon to have the WB shield as big as it first appeared in 1936. In later shorts, the shield is smaller, even with the big background circle Merrie Melodies shorts still had in later years.
- This cartoon was re-released into the Blue Ribbon Merrie Melodies program on March 3, 1951. Like most reissued Merrie Melodies at the time, the original closing bullet titles were kept. All Merrie Melodies that were part of the Associated Artists Productions package originally released between 9/1/44-7/10/48 had their original closings bullet titles kept, except for the Cinecolor ones.
- In 1951, Chuck Jones reused a similar concept for Hubie & Bertie's final short, "Cheese Chasers".
- On September 5, 2014, a Facebook post by a cartoon historian Jerry Beck showed an 35mm print of the original titles [5]. Despite the existence of this original titles print, the restored version uses the creditless blue ribbon titles instead, possibly because the original stock music is lost.
- In the 1995 Turner "dubbed version" (and presumably other TV prints), Sylvester has black fur (similar to his current appearance). The restored version on Blu-ray and DVD releases shows that Sylvester originally had a lighter bluish-black fur.
Gallery
References
- ↑ https://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/453-Life-With-Feathers
- ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=p8KCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT441&dq=life+with+feathers+1945+thousand&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiDsJDumersAhUygK0KHd6cBmYQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q=life%20with%20feathers%201945%20thousand&f=false
- ↑ The Censored Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Page: K-L http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-k-l.aspx
- ↑ 1946 Academy Award Winners. Retrieved on 4 March 2019.
- ↑ Life With Feathers Original Title Images. Retrieved on 3 March 2019.
