Director / Contributor
Posted:
Apr 30, 2004, 3:17 AM
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Significant toons in Tweety's career
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Throughout the years there has been an air of mystery around Tweety. Some people don't even know what gender HE is let alone what makes HIM tick. Therefore, I feel that the following text should be studied by who have previously misunderstood this bird. It is my sincere hope that every little girl or anyone else who made a Tweety fan-site to create a link to this post and finally realise the essence of Tweety.
For further speculation on the subject, I recommend this link to another online essay.
And now, without further ado, here are the ten films that have shaped Tweety's career and personality. (Images, as always, are provided by Dave Mackey)
1. A Tale of Two Kitties (by Bob Clampett c. 1942)
This marked the debut of Tweety. Except he was called Orson in this cartoon (although never called on by name). However, Clampett's main focus of the cartoon was on the two cats making sure they resembled Abbott and Costello as much as possible. This was definitely accomplished. Those who have seen this cartoon know that it looks as though the real Bud and Lou climbed through the looking glass into the toon universe and became animated cats. The central joke of these two was that they wanted to catch a bird but would not succeed. Clampett and his staff thought it would be the funniest if the bird they were after was a supposedly helpless new born bird. So, they designed this pink, lumpy little mess of a bird that talked like a baby and fought like a marine.
But, something else happened in this cartoon. As perfect and thoroughly entertaining as Babbitt and Catstello are, the little bird managed to upstage them a little simply by saying one little phrase "I tawt I taw a putty tat." Tweety is so secure in his ability to outwit these cats that he treats them like an illusion at first and therefore can relax. Audiences were elated by this display of chutzpah. By accident, they had stumbled upon a second "Bugs Bunny"-like figure that would re-establish WB's place in the industry, on top in the polls.
It should also be noted that this is the first time Tweety dealt with two adversaries at once. A feat he would repeat in A Gruesome Twosome, Putty Tat Trouble, Tweet and Sour, Catty Cornered, and Trick or Tweet.
2. Birdy and the Beast (by Bob Clampett c. 1944)
Tweety was given his name in this one. But it wouldn't stop there. He was also given more of a personality to play off of the generic cat character. Notice that in the first cartoon, Tweety has a blank expression on his face the first time he sees the cat. This time, when the cat looms near, Tweety is elated, like a child getting his favourite toy at Christmas. And that is exactly how Tweety treated that cat for the rest of the cartoon, he just taunted him and lead him to his own destruction.
Tweety's attack was absolutely relentless too. Like in the first one, he showed no mercy to this cat. At one point he even lit a fire inside the putty tat's mouth, shoved a fire hose inside which was connected to a barrel full of gasoline. Also, it should be noted that this was the first cartoon in which Tweety led a cat into the path of an angry dog. (Something he would later do to Sylvester time and time again).
Then, at the end of the cartoon, after the cat has been vanquished, Tweety confides in us that he "gets rid of more putty tats that way" and then proceeds to add a notch to the many notches above his nest. There is definitely the sense that Tweety, shall we say, has an extreme dislike for cats. But, him being a bird it's understandable. If anyone has seen what a real cat does to a real bird, they'd better understand Tweety's anger. But, the calibre of this anger that causes him to maim or kill this staggering amount is the mystery.
3. A Gruesome Twosome (by Bob Clampett c. 1945) <on dvd>
Although Tweety's first encounter with two adversaries was his debut film, the dymanics between that and the cat duo of this cartoon are different. In A Tale of Two Kitties, Babbitt made Catstello do all the work so that for most of the cartoon Tweety had only one opponent really. The two really didn't gang up on Tweety until the end.
In this cartoon, both cats (one a caricature of Jimmy Durante) are chasing Tweety at the same time, therefore making it a true double threat. However, since the cats are competing with each other, they keep tripping each other up. However, part way through they do join forces and Tweety is in danger once again.
But, unfortunately for the cats, this cartoon is the first to demonstrate Tweety's tremendous strength. Strength the no real bird could possibly possess. While the cats regroup inside a horse costume that failed, Tweety walks over to a bull dog. He picks up the dog's soup bone and hits him on the head with it WHACKING IT INTO THE GROUND! Then, with a second blow, the dog is knocked back into his house. With the dog now in persuit, Tweety leads him inside the horse costume where the cats are still planning.
This leaves every indication that Tweety is an unstoppable, supernatural force indeed.
4. Tweetie Pie (by Friz Freleng c. 1947) <on dvd>
One thing that is easy to spot in this cartoon is that Tweety went through a physical change. He went from pink to yellow. The reason for that is because the censorboard of the time felt that the pink Tweety looked naked and that he might encourage promiscuity that way. (Of course that's just my speculation. I'm sure the real reason is much more non-sensical.)
Well, at any rate, Tweety had a new look and a new aversary, namely Sylvester. This is the putty tat that Tweety would think he saw for the rest of his career. From that point on, Tweety only worked with Sylvester. The Oscar this cartoon won made sure of that.
This also marks the first time that Tweety would use a human as protection against a cat. Whenever Sylvester made a noise trying to catch Tweety, the lady of the house would run downstairs and hit the putty tat with a broom. After this happened enough times, Sylvester was thrown outside.
But this is where the true magic of this cartoon begins. Even while outside in the snow, Sylveser still does not give up his persuit of Tweety. When Sly climbs down the chimney, Tweety's ready with a stack of logs and some kerosene. When he finally burns the broom used by the lady to whack him, Tweety fills in for her using a shovel instead. The synergy between these two was incredible. Even though Sylvester would go on to work with others like Hippety Hopper, Speedy Gonzales, Porky Pig, etc. he always came back to Tweety. I guess there was something about getting abused by that bird that he couldn't resist. They would repeat this chemistry in great cartoons like I Taw a Putty Tat, Bad Ol' Putty Tat, Bird in a Guilty Cage, Tweet Tweet Tweety, etc. They wouldn't all be greats though.
5. Canary Row (by Friz Freleng c. 1950) <on dvd>
Granny is added to the cast for the first time in this cartoon. She would provide protection for Tweety from that point on.
Truly, this was the beginning of the "softening up" period for Tweety. With Granny providing plenty of muscle, Tweety can just sit in his cage and let her do most of the work. Although, in this cartoon Tweety does drop a bowling ball on Sylvester and later chase him with a Trolley Car. But, these gags would become few and far between in the coming years. But, despite this unfortunate development there were still some highlighs.
6. Aint She Tweet (by Friz Freleng c. 1952) <on dvd>
Here, Tweety used the aid of Granny and a front yard full of bull dogs in his conflict with Sylvester. But, that is certainly not the reason for this cartoons greatness. The reason is that here we see the full extent of Tweety's malicious and psychopathic attitude towards Sylvester and cats in general.
If you look closely at Tweety in all of his cartoons, you'll see that whenever a cat is being hurt or tortured either by his hand or someone elses there is no pangs of remorse in his eyes. There is no sense of "maybe I've gone too far this time" at all. No matter what happens to Sylvester, Tweety is either elated or apathetic. For example, in this cartoon when Tweety saws off the branch Sylvester is on which makes him plunge into the sea of dogs and get ripped apart, he makes the comment "Ha ha, the putty tat's got a pink skin under his fur coat." Obviously, no attack is too severe when it's against a cat according to Tweety. Even Jerry let up on Tom every once in a while as did the Roadrunner with Wile E. Coyote. But Tweety is all malice. The cries of a cat in pain is like music to him.
7. Catty Cornered (by Friz Freleng c. 1953)
Here's the situation: Tweety has been kidnapped by Rocky and held for ransom. As demonstrated in the first scene, Rocky is one tough gangtser who shoots first and buries the bodies later. However, the only one who knows where Tweety is is Sylvester. When Sly hears Tweety chirp in the window, he starts drooling and runs up the fire escape to try and catch him. Thereby, Tweety's only means of escape is through Sylvester who is more willing to kill him than the gangsters. Another truly ingenious situation concocted by Friz Freleng.
Plus, another thing to note is that the sympathy is mostly on Tweety for this entire cartoon. Friz really did put Tweety in mortal danger this time around. There's no Granny or bull dog to protect him here. The gangsters are the "rock", Sylvester is the "hard place", and Tweety's caught inbetween. Never before and never again would the sympathy for Tweety be so high.
Not to worry though, Tweety does manage to survive thanks in part to the nosy press.
8. Tweet and Sour (by Friz Freleng)
This is not a bad cartoon, thanks mostly to Sylvester's usual flawless performance as be battles for Tweety with another cat.
However, Tweety does something rather puzzling and somewhat out of character in this one. When Granny leaves for town, Sylvester grabs Tweety out of the cage andis ready to eat him. But, instead of thwarting the putty tat himself, Tweety yells for Granny and insists that she save him. This marks the first time that Tweety actually needed to be saved from Sylvester whom he had handled many times before. In A Gruesoe Twosome he took on two cats by himself and didn't even break a sweat. Now, in the presence of just Sylvester he suddenly fears for his life? Something happened. Possibly, the situation of Catty Cornered caused Friz to think that Tweety actually in danger worked better than him just taking it easy. But, since Sylvester has proven himself to be less than dangerous, the fear in Tweety had to be trumped up. Therefore, in this toon and other toons to follow, Tweety would constantly take dives in order to make Sylvester seem more ominous a threat than he is. In Greedy for Tweety, Tweety is actually swallowed by Sylvester and is probably in the digestion stage by the time Granny finds out. Then it is up to her to rush Sylvester into emergency surgery and Tweety is safe once again. Tweety never needed this much help before. But, from then on, he needed all the help he could get.
9. Hyde and Go Tweet (by Friz Freleng c. 1960)
One of the few highlights of Tweety's career at this point. Sylvester chases Tweety into a laboratory inwhich Tweety hides from Sylvester in some "Hyde" formula. The effects of this formula turns Tweety into a huge monster and then back to his own self over and over again. This makes for one of the oddest and most ingenious chases in S&T and cartoon history. Sylvester chases Tweety in his regular form but is then chased by Tweety is monster form.
Of course, only the later, passive Tweety could have pulled this off. It's this contrast to his monster form that makes this cartoon work. The original Tweety tuning into a huge monster would be redundant.
Of course, this entire thing tuns out to be just a nightmare Sylvester was having. When "helpless" little Tweety shows up at the end, the joke is that Sylvester runs off in terror. However, Sylvester should be running from Tweety in a terrified state. The original Tweety that is. But, like in this cartoon, that whole bit was just a dream at that point.
10. Space Jam (by Joe Pytka c. 1996) <on dvd>
Yes, pretty much the entire Looney Tunes cast were heavily damaged in this movie. Much of their core personalities were stripped away to make room for more "politically correct" elements. Tweety was certainly no exception. His ultra-sadistic nature was certainly toned down in order to score a G-rating.
But, surprisingly enough, a core element of Tweety was restored in this movie. Many people deplored the scene where Tweety uses martial arts to defeat the Mon-Stars surrounding him. But, really, that was Tweety going back to his "Clampett" roots. THERE was the little powerhouse with the same strength he had in A Gruesome Twosome, Tweetie Pie, Bad Ol' Putty Tat, etc.
Tweety was almost back in form had it not been for the most foul of concepts, Baby Looney Tunes. It was here that any remaining edge Tweety had was completely stripped away in favour of simple empty baby talk. Here's a little message to all the people who put the Baby Looney Tunes Show on the air and for all those who are keeping it on the air. This right here is the true essence of Tweety:
Some putty tats had wiped out his enitre family and left him for dead. But what they didn't know is that he was managed to survive because he was impossible to kill. He would go on to seek vengence against all putty tats. From that day forth he became DA PUTTY TAT PUNISHER!!
This is the Tweety I want to see back again. In this day and age, we need this Tweety now more than ever. Just put a fur coat on Osama Bin Laden and let Tweety go nuts. The "War on Terror" would be over in 7 minutes.
(And to all those who are about to comment that this picture desecrates The Punisher of the comics worse than the movie, remember that without pioneering characters like Tweety there'd be no Punisher.)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi0dqcR-Otk
(This post was edited by damfine on Nov 24, 2005, 4:21 PM)
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Director / Contributor
Posted:
Apr 30, 2004, 12:34 PM
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I feel pretty confident that the original Termite Terrace denizens would back me up on this one. (The few still alive anyway.  )
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi0dqcR-Otk
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Research Guru
Posted:
May 1, 2004, 11:56 PM
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Tweety Pie (already on your list) was also the very first Warner Bros. short to win an Academy Award, although you didn't mention this!
Also...
1. A Tale of Two Kitties (by Bob Clampett c. 1942)
Clampett's main focus of the cartoon was on the two cats making sure they resembled Abbott and Costello as much as possible. This was definitely accomplished. Those who have seen this cartoon know that it looks as though the real Bud and Lou climbed through the looking glass into the toon universe and became animated cats. Somewhat off-topic, but my dad would agree with you 100% on this point. He was a kid when he saw this cartoon in the movie theaters. At the same time, he'd also seen Abbott and Costello in the movies and heard them on radio. He considers Termite Terrace's A & C impersonation to be dead-on.
The original title card for this, the screen debut of Tweety, apparently has been lost, and only the Blue Ribbon version is available. Whatever happened to preserving history? Too bad.[unsure]
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"Oh boy." -- Allan Sherman
(This post was edited by eminovitz on May 1, 2004, 11:57 PM)
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Director / Contributor
Posted:
May 2, 2004, 12:05 AM
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Actually, I did mention the Oscar in the Tweetie Pie write-up. It's just somewhat buried.
About preserving history? Well, they certainly weren't thinking about that at the time. I'm sure they're policy was "get it into theatres for a week and then chuck it in the vault". Just a year after this Leon thought it would be more economically feasible to show reruns in theatres from some years prior. He was certainly correct on that point. But, why they chose to chuck the opening credits and just put up a blue ribbon title card is a mystery. 
btw, Em, what do you think of my "Putty Tat Punisher"? 
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi0dqcR-Otk
(This post was edited by damfine on May 2, 2004, 12:06 AM)
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Research Guru
Posted:
May 2, 2004, 12:28 AM
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Yep, finally found the Oscar... although you didn't mention it was WB's first for an animated short.
The Putty Tat Punisher? He's a real mean son of a b....ird!
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"Oh boy." -- Allan Sherman
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Inbetweener
Posted:
May 11, 2004, 6:41 PM
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However, Tweety does something rather puzzling and somewhat out of character in this one. When Granny leaves for town, Sylvester grabs Tweety out of the cage andis ready to eat him. But, instead of thwarting the putty tat himself, Tweety yells for Granny and insists that she save him. This marks the first time that Tweety actually needed to be saved from Sylvester whom he had handled many times before. In A Gruesoe Twosome he took on two cats by himself and didn't even break a sweat. Now, in the presence of just Sylvester he suddenly fears for his life? Something happened. Possibly, the situation of Catty Cornered caused Friz to think that Tweety actually in danger worked better than him just taking it easy. But, since Sylvester has proven himself to be less than dangerous, the fear in Tweety had to be trumped up. Therefore, in this toon and other toons to follow, Tweety would constantly take dives in order to make Sylvester seem more ominous a threat than he is. That's a real interesting point and probably the main reason why I prefer the early Clampett Tweety to the later Friz Freleng version. In Friz's version Tweety became a passive character, sort of like a cuter version of the Road Runner.
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Director / Contributor
Posted:
Jun 1, 2004, 8:56 PM
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2. Birdy and the Beast (by Bob Clampett c. 1944) Tweety was given his name in this one. But it wouldn't stop there. He was also given more of a personality to play off of the generic cat character. Notice that in the first cartoon, Tweety has a blank expression on his face the first time he sees the cat. This time, when the cat looms near, Tweety is elated, like a child getting his favourite toy at Christmas. And that is exactly how Tweety treated that cat for the rest of the cartoon, he just taunted him and lead him to his own destruction. Tweety's attack was absolutely relentless too. Like in the first one, he showed no mercy to this cat. At one point he even lit a fire inside the putty tat's mouth, shoved a fire hose inside which was connected to a barrel full of gasoline. Also, it should be noted that this was the first cartoon in which Tweety led a cat into the path of an angry dog. (Something he would later do to Sylvester time and time again). Then, at the end of the cartoon, after the cat has been vanquished, Tweety confides in us that he "gets rid of more putty tats that way" and then proceeds to add a notch to the many notches above his nest. There is definitely the sense that Tweety, shall we say, has an extreme dislike for cats. But, him being a bird it's understandable. If anyone has seen what a real cat does to a real bird, they'd better understand Tweety's anger. But, the calibre of this anger that causes him to maim or kill this staggering amount is the mystery. I just thought of another reason this cartoon is significant. Like it says, this is the cartoon where Tweety officially recieved his name. Thus, he became a star character. More importantly, this was the FOURTH star character for Mel Blanc (many more would follow obviously). I'm sure it was this cartoon that prompted Mel to ask Leon for a raise since he was quite an essential part of their success. But, instead of a raise, Mel became the first voice artist to receive screen credit. I guess Leon thought it was less expensive to add a tiny bit more paint to the credits than pay someone more.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi0dqcR-Otk
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