Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot (sometimes called "Kitty," but in some of the Warner Brothers animation history books, she is referred to as "Cleo") are animated characters in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. Marc Anthony is a burly bulldog who is usually brown with a tan belly and black ears, although his coloration varies in some shorts. Pussyfoot is an extremely cute kitten to whom Marc Anthony is utterly devoted. Charles Jones has discussed the efforts to maximize the kitten's sheer adorableness. All head and eyes, she is black with a white face and belly and a white tip on her fluffy tail.
Film Appearances
Animator Chuck Jones first introduced the odd duo in his film "Feed the Kitty", first released on Groundhog Day, 1952. Prior to this, a bulldog similar to Marc had appeared in previous shorts with Claude Cat and Hubie and Bertie, but he was never named. In the short, Marc Anthony adopts the interminably cute kitten, only to receive a stern
warning from his owner not to ". . . bring one more thing into this house! Not ONE, SINGLE, SOLITARY thing!" Marc is thus forced to go to extreme lengths to keep his new pet under wraps. Meanwhile, the kitten's curiosity gets her into a series of life-threatening situations, which Marc Anthony must, of course, rescue her from.
Jones would largely repeat the scenario in 1953 with "Kiss Me Cat", only this time, Marc Anthony tries to convince his owners that the kitten (now named Pussyfoot) is a champion mouser so that they will let him keep her.
In "Feline Frame-Up" (1954), Jones pitted the dog and kitten against another of his lesser-known players, Claude Cat, with Claude as the villain bullying and causing trouble to the duo. Later in 1954, Marc Anthony (or a bulldog looking just like him) made a brief appearance at the end of the Claude Cat/Frisky Puppy short, "No Barking".
Jones directed a quite different entry in 1957 with "Go Fly a Kit," the story of an eagle who teaches a different-but similar-looking-male kitten how to fly. In this cartoon, Marc Anthony serves as a villain, chasing an orange female-cat, that the Pussyfoot-like kitten saves. This is the only cartoon which saw the two on opposite sides.
In 1958, Jones paired the cat and canine for one final film, "Cat Feud", in which Marc Anthony (with grey coloring, and a more fierce personality) must defend Pussyfoot (and her cat food) from a thieving interloper from the alleys that resembles Claude. This is the second time Claude, Marc and Pussyfoot are paired together, and much like Feline Frame-Up, the Claude-like alley cat is the villain.
Jones retired the duo in 1958 to focus on the more popular stars such as, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig.
A grey version of Marc Anthony also made a cameo appearance during the final scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). They also appear in a cameo during the basketball game in Space Jam (1996). The duo would later make a cameo appearance in the ending scene of Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003).
Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot appear in The Looney Tunes Show opening.
Marc Anthony appears alongside Tweety and Gabby Goat in the New Looney Tunes episode "Tweet Team" as a trio helping Speedy Gonzales save his mice buddies from Sylvester, Claude Cat and Pete Puma.
Recent history and influence
Since their retirement, Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot have been largely forgotten due to the popularity of other Charles Jones-created characters, such as Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, and Pepé Le Pew. Pussyfoot has appeared in some recent Warner Bros. merchandising, however, and the pair have been featured in various Warner Bros. productions, such as the third segment of the Twilight Zone movie, and a 1999 Looney Tunes comic book story entitled "Bringing Up Baby."
Tiny Toon Adventures featured a similar character named Barky Marky who was a comparatively minor character on the show. The pair were also an inspiration for the Buttons and Mindy characters that were featured in the successor to Tiny Toons, Animaniacs.
Chuck Jones would later revisit the gimmick of a cute kitten with an unlikely protector in a Tom and Jerry short, "The Unshrinkable Jerry Mouse", with Jerry becoming a kitten's friend and protector against a selfish and jealous Tom.
A segment of "Feed the Kitty," in which Marc Anthony believes that Pussyfoot has perished in the cookie baking (and unaware that she is actually perfectly safe), was the subject of a homage in the Pixar film, Monsters Inc. in which Sulley believes that Boo has fallen into a trash compactor, and he reacts nearly shot-for-shot as Marc did in his cartoon short. "Feed the Kitty" is available on DVD, appearing on the compilation Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 and Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection.
Filmography
The classic shorts:
- "Feed the Kitty" (1952)
- "Kiss Me Cat" (1953)
- "Feline Frame-Up" (1954)
- "No Barking" (1954) - Marc Anthony cameo
- "Go Fly a Kit" (1957)
- "Cat Feud" (1958)
The films:
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) - Marc Anthony cameo
- Space Jam (1996) - Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot cameo
- Tweety's High Flying Adventure (2000) - Pussyfoot cameo
- Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) - Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot cameo
The New Looney Tunes episode:
- "Tweet Team" (2018) - Marc Anthony only
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