Looney Tunes Wiki
This article is about 1954 short. For the the episode from The Bugs Bunny Show of the same name, see Satan's Waitin' (The Bugs Bunny Show).

Satan's Waitin' is a 1954 Looney Tunes short directed by Friz Freleng.

Plot[]

Sylvester is in pursuit of Tweety, chasing him to the top of a building. Sylvester falls from the building but grabs some of Tweety's feathers to help him fly Tweety takes them back, and he crashes onto the sidewalk, which cracks, and he dies. The spirit of his first life approaches two escalators and takes the "down" one, since the one going "up" is roped off, and ends up in Hell. Devil Dog welcomes a terrified Sylvester. He realizes that he must goad Sylvester into giving up his remaining eight lives, so he asks #1 to sit on a bench to wait for the others.

Sylvester wakes up and Tweety tells him he's in trouble for breaking the sidewalk. Sylvester has had enough and tells Tweety he doesn't even know what "trouble" is and orders him to get lost. The bulldog's spirit reminds him that he has eight lives left, so Sylvester starts the chase up again. He chases Tweety around a moving steamroller but gets flattened, sending life #2 through the street and into Hades. The flat #2 gets up and sits beside #1.

The chase then continues through an amusement park. They both run into a dog's mouth entranceway to the fun house, but Sylvester steps back out, takes one look at the dog and is literally frightened to death. As scared-white-as-a-sheet life #3 takes his place on the waiting bench, the cat recovers and finds Tweety amongst the moving targets in a shooting gallery. He climbs into the targets to get at his prey but is shot several times in rapid succession. With each shot, lives 4 through 7 pop up on the bench. Angered, Sylvester bursts out of the gallery after narrowly missing another shot and sees Tweety heading towards the roller coaster. As Tweety sits in the front seat, proclaiming "that puddy tat will never find me here", the cat takes the seat directly behind him. The train ascends the lift hill and proceeds to go through the drops and turns. Near the end of the ride on straight track, Sylvester stands up. Just as he's about to pummel an unsuspecting Tweety, Sylvester slams into the entranceway of a tunnel. Upon impact, the train carrying life #8 in the front seat runs through the tunnel and down Hades' twisted conveyor route that took Sylvester's first life down earlier.

Recovering, Sylvester realized that he only has one life left and he got to be more careful . The bulldog again goads him to go after Tweety, but Sylvester screams "No, no, no! I don't want him! I don't want him!" and runs off. He decides to move into a bank vault with several cans of food, commenting that he'll be safe in there and nothing will happen to him. Later that night, two bank robbers try to break into the safe, but fail when they use too much nitroglycerin and end up killing themselves and Sylvester. As the three of them go down the escalator conveyor to Hades, one of the robbers tells the other, "Yer used too much, Mugsy." The disgruntled #9 adds: "Now he tells him!"

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Censorship[]

  • The version of this cartoon shown in CBS' The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show had two parts edited:
    • Sylvester trying to get Tweety on a moving roller coaster and ends up losing his eighth life when he hits the top of the tunnel. The CBS-edited version shows Sylvester speeding towards the tunnel, followed by an abrupt cut to Sylvester's eighth life riding a rollercoaster car into Hell.[1]
    • The ending where Sylvester holes himself in a bank vault with food and water so he won't be tempted into losing his final life, only to lose it when two bumbling safe-crackers use too much nitroglycerine to blow up the vault. The CBS-edited version ends the cartoon after the devil dog urges Sylvester to go after Tweety and Sylvester shouts, "No, no, no! I don't want him! I don't want him!"[1]

Goofs[]

  • In the scene where Sylvester loses four lives in the shooting gallery, he is actually shot five times. Somehow, the first shot does not cost him a life. After the second shot, the scene cuts over to the waiting bench. Life #4 is there as a result of that second shot, then #5, #6, and #7 appear alongside one another.

Notes[]

  • The cartoon's plot was reworked nine years later as the Bugs Bunny short "Devil's Feud Cake", although unlike this cartoon, "Devil's Feud Cake" is a "cheater" that uses footage from previous cartoons.
    • The title of this cartoon is also the name of the first act in Friz Freleng's Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie. In this film's first act, Yosemite Sam is the one going into Hell, much like "Devil's Feud Cake". The devil dog pit from this cartoon was used in the movie as well.
    • One of those listed as being on the list of those going to hell early in the short is "Sam"; it may not specifically mean Yosemite Sam, but it is a coincidence linking the two shorts.
  • The opening title music was re-used in "The Night of the Living Duck" as well as the opening in Daffy Duck's Quackbusters.
  • In September 2022, a 16mm print for sale on eBay for $25 has the original opening and closing titles in black and white. It was later relisted the following week and finally got sold.
    • On October 30, the owner of the print, Jay Diaz, uploaded a video of the print's original titles playing through a film projector.[2]
    • Although the original opening and closing titles are known to exist, Warner Bros. does not restore 16mm or black and white prints, so it was restored with the Blue Ribbon titles.
  • The Mugsy in this short looks and sounds nothing like he does in other Bugs Bunny shorts with Rocky the gangster. This may indicate he is a different character here.
  • Footage from this cartoon was used alongside another cartoon Bugs Bunny's Valentine in the 1995 film Batman Forever.

Gallery[]

References[]

External links[]

Sylvester Cartoons
1945 Life with FeathersPeck Up Your Troubles
1946 Kitty Kornered
1947 Tweetie PieCrowing PainsDoggone CatsCatch as Cats Can
1948 Back Alley OproarI Taw a Putty TatHop, Look and ListenKit for CatScaredy Cat
1949 Mouse MazurkaBad Ol' Putty TatHippety Hopper
1950 Home, Tweet HomeThe Scarlet PumpernickelAll a Bir-r-r-dCanary RowStooge for a MousePop 'Im Pop!
1951 Canned FeudPutty Tat TroubleRoom and BirdTweety's S.O.S.Tweet Tweet Tweety
1952 Who's Kitten Who?Gift WrappedLittle Red Rodent HoodAin't She TweetHoppy Go LuckyA Bird in a Guilty CageTree for Two
1953 Snow BusinessA Mouse DividedFowl WeatherTom Tom TomcatA Street Cat Named SylvesterCatty CorneredCats A-weigh!
1954 Dog PoundedBell HoppyDr. Jerkyl's HideClaws for AlarmMuzzle ToughSatan's Waitin'By Word of Mouse
1955 Lighthouse MouseSandy ClawsTweety's CircusJumpin' JupiterA Kiddies KittySpeedy GonzalesRed Riding HoodwinkedHeir-ConditionedPappy's Puppy
1956 Too Hop to HandleTweet and SourTree Cornered TweetyThe Unexpected PestTugboat GrannyThe Slap-Hoppy MouseYankee Dood It
1957 Tweet ZooTweety and the BeanstalkBirds AnonymousGreedy for TweetyMouse-Taken IdentityGonzales' Tamales
1958 A Pizza Tweety-PieA Bird in a Bonnet
1959 Trick or TweetTweet and LovelyCat's PawHere Today, Gone TamaleTweet Dreams
1960 West of the PesosGoldimouse and the Three CatsHyde and Go TweetMouse and GardenTrip for Tat
1961 Cannery WoeHoppy DazeBirds of a FatherD' Fightin' OnesThe Rebel Without ClawsThe Pied Piper of GuadalupeThe Last Hungry Cat
1962 Fish and SlipsMexican BoardersThe Jet Cage
1963 Mexican Cat DanceChili WeatherClaws in the Lease
1964 A Message to GraciasFreudy CatNuts and VoltsHawaiian Aye AyeRoad to Andalay
1965 It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the HouseCats and BruisesThe 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


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 HomeAll a Bir-r-r-dCanary Row
1951 Putty Tat TroubleRoom and BirdTweety's S.O.S.Tweet Tweet Tweety
1952 Gift WrappedAin't She TweetA Bird in a Guilty Cage
1953 Snow BusinessFowl WeatherTom Tom TomcatA Street Cat Named SylvesterCatty Cornered
1954 Dog PoundedMuzzle ToughSatan's Waitin'
1955 Sandy ClawsTweety's CircusRed Riding HoodwinkedHeir-Conditioned
1956 Tweet and SourTree Cornered TweetyTugboat Granny
1957 Tweet ZooTweety and the BeanstalkBirds AnonymousGreedy for Tweety
1958 A Pizza Tweety-PieA Bird in a Bonnet
1959 Trick or TweetTweet and LovelyTweet Dreams
1960 Hyde and Go TweetTrip for Tat
1961 The Rebel Without ClawsThe Last Hungry Cat
1962 The Jet Cage
1964 Hawaiian Aye Aye
2011 I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat