Release Date:

December 6, 1947

Main Character(s):

Sylvester

Summary:

Annoyed with a Frank Sinatra canary, a Bing Crosby parrot recruits Sylvester (in a different voice) to catch him.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1038 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon wasn’t restored for HBO Max but Warner Archive did restore it for the Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice Volume 1 Blu-ray set in 2023.

It was actually this very cartoon that caused that set to be delayed until the spring of 2023 (it was intended for a release in the fall of 2022) because they needed to wait until the winter for the original negatives to be transported safely (the negatives were made of nitrate, which everyone knows is very flammable).

The cartoon ends abruptly for a reason. In the end, Sylvester decides the Crosby parrot is a better meal and after consuming him offscreen, joins the Sinatra canary in singing “As Time Goes By”, and comments in a Crosby voice, “Ah, there’s nothin’ like vitamins” before the cartoon abruptly fades to black and the “That’s all folks” end card appears. According to production documents, the cartoon originally ended with the camera panning to the Crosby parrot’s tombstone outside with the epitaph, “Came in before his horse”. However, this ending was cut before its release as all prints of the cartoon have the abrupt ending.

This is Davis’ other Sylvester cartoon, following “Dog Gone Cats”. Here, Sylvester is portrayed with a completely different voice and personality but it’s still him (in his review for Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice Volume 1, fellow fan Thad Komorowski accurately describes Sylvester in this cartoon as having “inexplicably lost his lisp and most of his intelligence”).

The cartoon bears some similarity to “Swooner Crooner” in that they both feature Sinatra and Crosby caricatures. The main difference is that here one tries to kill the other.

The title is a pun for “catch as catch can”.

Sylvester’s voice in this cartoon sounds like a prototype voice for Barney Rubble.

This is the other Davis cartoon to feature animation by Herman Cohen.

In production order, this is the first cartoon to have layouts by Don Smith.

What I Like About This One:

The absolutely catchy rendition of “A Gal in Calico” under the opening credits.

The Sinatra canary has to pause his singing of “As Time Goes By” to down vitamins “A, B, B, C, D, E, F, and Z” and also feeds his microphone a few of them as well (animated by Bill Melendez).

After a few girl birds swoon outside from the Sinatra canary’s singing, the Crosby parrot decides this is the last straw and walks up to the Sinatra canary to ask, “Look, junior. How many times have I told you to button up your tonsils?” (animated by Melendez)

Spotting Sylvester rummage through the trash cans (animated by Don Williams), the Crosby parrot decides, “Well, lookee here. That emaciated character out there gives me an idea! Maybe I can save myself a few years in the pokey!” (animated by Melendez)

Sylvester is about to sit down to eat, before the Crosby parrot whistles for his attention (animated by Williams). The Crosby parrot tells him, “Foraging around in that backyard buffet isn’t exactly conducive to one’s health”. When Sylvester asks “Eh, why not?”, the Crosby parrot answers, “No vitamins. There’s just no vitamins, friend”. Sylvester wonders, “Uh, vitamins? Well, how do you get vitamins?” (animated by Basil Davidovich) The Crosby parrot replies, “I’m glad you asked me that son. By a strange coincidence, I’m in a position to help ya.” before telling Sylvester to sneak around to the back door to be let into the house (animated by Herman Cohen).

As the Sinatra canary sings “It Can’t Be Wrong”, Sylvester sneaks into the house by zipping into various places such as posing as the rider on a horse in a painting, under the couch, in a record player, and out of a flower pot. When he is about to grab him however, the Sinatra canary suddenly shouts at the top of his voice while grabbing Sylvester, “HIT THE ROAD, STUPID!” and punching him in the eye (animated by Williams).

Giving up easily, Sylvester informs the Crosby parrot, “Uh, thanks anyway, pal, but I’m goin’ back to the garbage cans.” The Crosby parrot reminds him of the vitamins he needs and while Sylvester is coughing from the smoke coming from the Crosby parrot’s pipe, the latter says “there’s more than one way to skin a cat. I, I mean a canary” (animated by Williams).

The Crosby parrot gives Sylvester a bar of soap and a knife, with Sylvester carving the soap into a female canary decoy, putting it on the kitchen countertop, and spreading grease on said countertop leading into the sink. As he is still singing “It Can’t Be Wrong”, the Sinatra canary flies over to “her” and both slide into the sink (animated by Davidovich). Outside, it’s revealed that Sylvester dug a hole and removed part of the pipe from the sink. He believes that what just slid into his mouth is the Sinatra canary , but then sees him in the window (animated by Cohen with Williams animating the shot of the Sinatra canary in the window), meaning Sylvester actually consumed the soap decoy. In tune to “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles”, Sylvester’s face turns different colors as he hiccups soap bubbles out of his mouth (animated by Williams).

Sylvester next sprinkles a trail of bird seed into the garage and talks to himself, “Uh, him and his ideas. Yeah, but, but, maybe I DO need vitamins”. The trick seemingly works until the Sinatra canary escapes by means of using a jack he somehow slipped into Sylvester’s mouth (animated by Williams).

As the Sinatra canary now sings “A Little on the Lonely Side”, the Crosby parrot tells Sylvester to “just take this buckshot and sprinkle it in the cup”. While sporting a devilish expression and the devil’s tail, Sylvester mixes buckshot into the Sinatra canary’s vitamin dish. With a magnet in his mouth (animated by Melendez), Sylvester attracts the bird cage without the Sinatra canary in it, as well as every metal object in the house (animated by Cohen).

With the Sinatra canary continuing “A Little on the Lonely Side”, Sylvester dresses up as a maid and vacuums him up. He then finds that the Sinatra canary is not in the bag, but in the vacuum itself. Sylvester attempts to eat him from there, but the Sinatra canary attaches his mouth to the pipe and ties his tail to the handle. As a makeshift vacuum, Sylvester sucks up several objects (animated by Melendez) as well as the hot coals in the fireplace. To relieve the pain, Sylvester turns on the sink to suck up water but the Sinatra canary pours a “foamo” seltzer into the water and tells us, “Listen to him fizz!” This causes Sylvester to fly backward into another room (animated by Williams). Piled up, he vacuums up a typewriter and with each hiccup, the typewriter activates (animated by Cohen).

Seeing a bandaged Sylvester sadly asking, “Guess who?”, the Crosby parrot tells him not to worry as he’s got the best idea but Sylvester angrily interrupts him and counters, “Uh, uh, wait a minute. I got an idea THIS time”, while also putting emphasis on “I” (animated by Davidovich).

In the last scene, it’s revealed that Sylvester consumed the Crosby parrot offscreen as the Sinatra canary’s singing of “As Time Goes By” is finished by Sylvester singing it in a Crosby voice and sighing in said voice, “Ah, there’s nothin’ like vitamins!” (animated by Melendez)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕