Tweetie Pie

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I Taw a Putty Tat →

Template:Infobox Shorts wTabs Tweetie Pie is a 1947 Merrie Melodies short planned by Bob Clampett and finished by Friz Freleng.

Plot

Sylvester (known as Thomas in this short) captures Tweety, whom he finds outside in the snow, getting warm by a cigar. The cat's mistress, an unseen owner, saves the bird from being eaten by the cat, whom she promptly reprimands.

Tweety is brought inside, and the mistress warns Thomas not to bother the bird. Ignoring this command, Thomas initiates a series of failed attempts to get Tweety from his cage, each ending in a noisy crash bringing the lady of the house to whack Thomas with a broom, and then finally, throw him out.

The cat tries to get back into the house through the chimney. Tweety puts wood in the fireplace, pours gasoline on it and lights it. The phoom sends Thomas flying right back up the chimney and into a bucket of frozen water.

However, Thomas gets back in the house via a window in the basement and creates a Rube Goldberg-esque trap to capture Tweety, which of course, backfires and injures him instead. Finally, Thomas tries to capture Tweety by running up to the attic and sawing a hole around Tweety's cage, but he ends up causing the entire inner ceiling to collapse (sans Tweety's cage, which is being held in place by a beam). The faux pas creates such a racket that Thomas is sure the mistress will come downstairs and wallop him, and so, he takes her broom, breaks it in half, and tosses the pieces into the fire. This proves to be a bad move, as he finds himself being walloped on the head repeatedly with a shovel...by Tweety.

Development

Bob Clampett was working on a fourth Tweety episode in which Tweety was going to be paired with Friz Freleng's unnamed cat Sylvester. The project, which had a storyboard produced in which it was titled "The Fat Rat and the Stupid Cat" ^[1] was left sitting when Clampett left for reasons unknown. Eddie Selzer wanted the woodpecker from "Peck Up Your Troubles" to be paired with Sylvester again, but when Freleng wanted to replace the woodpecker with Tweety, Selzer objected and Freleng threatened to quit. Eddie apologized to Friz later that evening and later allowed Tweety to be used.^[2] This was a wise decision for two reasons:

Warner Brothers didn't lose a talented director like Friz Freleng.
Tweetie Pie, the very 1st Tweety/Sylvester cartoon, went on to win Warner Brothers' 1st Academy Award For Best Short Film (1947), with the duo proving to be one of the most endearing of Looney Tunes pairs, alongside other pairs such as Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. After this cartoon, Tweety and Sylvester would be permanently paired up until 1964. Even so, Sylvester appeared in many cartoons without Tweety, as Tweety appeared in only 42 cartoons between 1942-64 and Sylvester appeared in 103 from 1945-69, excluding his prototypes. Tweety did appear in cameos without Sylvester, such as the 1954 short featuring Claude Cat, Frisky Puppy, and a cameo appearance of Marc Anthony, "No Barking". ^[3]

Availability

(1986) VHS - The Best of Bugs Bunny and Friends
(1986) VHS - Little Tweety and Little Inki Cartoon Festival Featuring "I Taw a Putty Tat"
(1988) VHS - Cartoon Moviestars: Tweety and Sylvester
(1991) LaserDisc - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 1, Side 6, Friz Freleng
(1992) VHS - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 6, Friz Freleng
(1999) VHS - Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 15: A Battle of Wits (1995 USA Turner Dubbed Version)
(2004) DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2, Disc Three
(2004) DVD - Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 2, Disc 1
(2008) DVD - TCM Academy Award-Winning Classic Cartoons (Barnes & Noble Exclusive)
(2008) DVD - Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection, Disc 1
(2010) DVD - Looney Tunes Super Stars' Tweety & Sylvester: Feline Fwenzy
(2011) Blu-ray, DVD - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1
(2012) DVD - Looney Tunes Showcase: Volume 1
(2014) DVD - Tweety Pie and Friends
(2020) Streaming - HBO Max

Notes

It was the first cartoon to pair Tweety and Sylvester.
It was the first Warner Bros. short to earn an Oscar for Best Animated Short.^[4]
It was later re-released as a Blue Ribbon reissue in 1955.
This cartoon started production in June 1945, one month after Bob Clampett left Warner Bros.^[5]
On early TV airings of the cartoon from the 70's or 80's, the original opening soundtrack was heard over the A.A.P and opening titles of the cartoon for some odd reason.^[6]^[7]
The Rube-Goldberg esque contraption was previously used in "Trap Happy Porky", although unlike this cartoon where the trap fails, in "Trap Happy Porky" the trap was successful (coincidentally both "Trap Happy Porky" and "Tweetie Pie" were written by Tedd Pierce).
The "kiss the wittow birdie" scenario of Sylvester asked to kiss Tweety, only to eat the bird and get forced to spit it out would be re-used for two more times; "Gift Wrapped" (1952) and "Catty Cornered" (1953).
In this cartoon, Sylvester is called "Thomas", a reference of Tom Cat from MGM's Tom & Jerry, one of WB's rivals at the time. In 1948 the name was changed to Sylvester (beginning from the cartoon "Scaredy Cat"), presumably to avoid a lawsuit from MGM.
This is the first cartoon Tweety has feathers and is defined as a canary. Prior to that, Tweety was pink, naked (no feathers) and is defined as a baby bird of an unknown bird species. According to Bob Clampett in the documentary film Bugs Bunny Superstar, Tweety was given feathers to satisfy censors who objected his featherless appearance which was considered "too naked".
Although not a direct remake, most of the cartoon's concept were derived from "The Cagey Canary", a 1941 one-shot Merrie Melodies cartoon planned by Tex Avery and finished by Bob Clampett, also featuring another cat-and-canary pairing with a similar premise (Coincidentally both "Tweetie Pie" and "The Cagey Canary" were written by Michael Maltese).
Sylvester does not speak in this short, the other Tweety shorts where Sylvester is mute are "Bad Ol' Putty Tat", "Putty Tat Trouble", and "Tree Cornered Tweety".
Although the original titles have not yet been restored for DVD, historians have found black and white copies of the original titles.^[8]
In the Polish, French and German redubs of this short^[9]^[10]^[11] Sylvester is named in this short as his later name Sylvester instead of his original given name Thomas.
Harley Quinn and Cassandra Cain watch this cartoon in a scene in the 2020 movie Birds of Prey.

Gallery

References

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

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

[1] ttps://youtu.be/lGuFHxRZGfo?t=953

[2] ttps://books.google.com/books?id=1Y83AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=freleng+threatened+to+quit&source=bl&ots=wpwz0FGutA&sig=ER6wHV8rwwvaaDhOINskJGhd08o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj-6tiKv-TTAhUT0GMKHfXbDLQQ6AEIODAD#v=onepage&q=freleng%20threatened%20to%20quit&f=false The Noble Approach, By Tod Polson

[~HBTHYNA66-3] Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 187-188.

[4] ttps://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1948

[5] ttps://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/bob-clampetts-a-gruesome-twosome-1945/

[6] ttp://bloglarry.blogspot.com/2006/06/wb-cartoon-credit-weirdness.html

[7] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn27c5lrr7c

[8] Ramapith http://ramapithblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/i-taut-i-taw-new-posts-coming.html

[9] ttps://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6r26mc

[10] ttps://drive.google.com/open?id=1qq9moBSHzbjHEQ7gaXuF7VCKgYE-q7wC

[11] ttp://chomikuj.pl/Nieznam123/Zwariowane+Melodie/Z*c5*82ota+Kolekcja/Z*c5*82ota+Kolekcja+2/Dysk+3+-+Tweety+i+Sylwester+-+Najlepsze+z+Najlepszych*2c+cz*c4*99*c5*9b*c4*87+1/09+-+*c5*81akomy+k*c4*85sek+(1946),6254399967.avi(video)

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