Release Date:

February 16, 1952

Main Character(s):

Tweety and Sylvester, Granny

Summary:

On Christmas Day, Sylvester tries to get at Granny’s gift- Tweety in his cage.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1202 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

We have reached yet another coincidence. This time, during the Christmas season, here is one of the few Warner cartoons that is actually Christmas-themed.

This is the first cartoon where Granny is Sylvester’s owner.

This is the first Warner cartoon to have Irv Wyner as a background artist, who served as Freleng’s background artist from 1952 to 1957. Wyner later did backgrounds for Walter Lantz in the 1960’s.

The cartoon was considered for an Academy Award but was not nominated.

Sylvester would also get a rubber mouse for Christmas in the Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries episode, “Feather Christmas”.

This is the first time where Tweety refers to Sylvester by name (though he did refer to him by name when he was named Thomas in “Tweetie Pie”).

This is the first Warner cartoon to feature the voice of Daws Butler, who gained later fame as the voice of several Hanna-Barbera characters. Butler would become more prominent at Warner Bros. in the late 1950’s. Here, he does the opening narration.

“In an 18th Century Drawing Room” plays during the scene where Granny is shown knitting before Sylvester uses the toy steam shovel.

Favorite Scene:

After realizing what he and Granny both got for Christmas (a rubber mouse and Tweety, respectively), Sylvester pulls a switcheroo with the tags before Granny comes downstairs. Granny doesn’t realize the ruse until she opens the box and sees the rubber mouse.

What Happens in This One:

We begin with the typical Christmas Eve narration: “‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring. Not even a mouse”. Sylvester is seen glaring into an empty mouse hole before he responds to the “Not even a mouse” line with “You’re just not whistlin’ Dixie, brother!” (animated by Arthur Davis)

When Christmas morning arrives, Sylvester runs down to the tree excited, “Oh, goody, goody! Oh, Santy Claus came for real! Oh, I’ve been a good pussycat! I wonder what ol’ Kris Kringle brung me!” He notices a gift for him and is ecstatic, “For me! Oh, boy!”, but his excitement immediately turns to irritation upon seeing what it is. “A rubber mouse! Aw, why couldn’t I get something practical!? Like a REAL mouse!?” He then hears Tweety singing “Jingle Bells” and opens the cover on his cage (animated by Davis up to here) to watch him out of curiosity. Tweety realizes, “Ooh! I tawt I taw a putty tat!” (animated by Virgil Ross) Seeing this as a much better gift, Sylvester deviously switches the “For Kitty” and the “For Granny” tags on the rubber mouse’s box and Tweety’s cage, respectively (animated by Davis).

Granny then comes downstairs, “Come on, kitty! Let’s see what Santa Claus brought us for Christmas!” Pleased with “all those lovely presents”, she finds Tweety’s cage, “Oh, here’s one for you, kitty! Merry Christmas, Sylvester!” After Sylvester is given Tweety’s cage, he runs off with it elsewhere. Granny then finds, “Oh, and here’s one for me!”, but screams in shock upon opening it and seeing the rubber mouse. “A rubber mouse? Oh, this must be Sylvester’s”. She walks in and attempts to explain, “Oh, Sylvester, there must be some mistake with-” but then gasps upon seeing (animated by Davis) Sylvester resting against the wall and hiccuping feathers out of his mouth, revealing that he consumed Tweety. Granny exclaims, “Sylvester!” and picks him up before spanking his rear to make him spit Tweety out (animated by Ken Champin).

Granny scolds Sylvester, “You bad old cat! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!” before putting him down. Her mood turns to delight upon seeing Tweety: “Oh, isn’t he a darling little Tweety bird?” Hanging mistletoe over Tweety, Granny tells Sylvester, “Now, come on, Sylvester. This is Christmas, you know. Kiss the little birdie”. Tweety reiterates, “Come on, Tylvester. Kiss the wittle birdie”. Instead of kissing him, Sylvester lunges his head forward at Tweety and eats him. Granny again spanks Sylvester to make him spit Tweety out. Irritated, Tweety exclaims, “You bad ol’ putty tat!” (animated by Champin)

Later, Granny has hung Tweety’s cage high up on a hook, reassuring him, “There now. Kitty won’t bother you there”, before she sternly asks Sylvester, “Will you, kitty?” Sylvester points to himself as if to say “Who me?” and shakes his head, complete with halo above his head. “And don’t forget that!”, Granny reminds before she walks out. Tweety finds out that Sylvester lied about leaving him alone, as Sylvester uses a stepladder to get up to him. In Sylvester’s grasp, Tweety reminds, “But Gwanny said-” but Sylvester doesn’t care: “Granny, Schmanny! You’re MY Christmas present and I’m-a wrappin’ ya up, kid!” Tweety contradicts, “Oh, I’m not your pwesent. THERE’S yours”, pointing to a large unopened present. “It is!?”, Sylvester asks as he puts Tweety back and his attention shifts to the large present. “Sufferin’ succotash! What a present!” Upon opening it, he finds that inside the gift was a large bulldog who swallows him whole, leaving only Sylvester’s tail sticking out of his mouth (animated by Ross up to here). Granny exclaims in horror and spanks the bulldog in the rear to make him spit Sylvester out. She then drags the bulldog away by the collar, annoyed: “Now out with you! Land sakes alive! What a house!” (animated by Champin)

Granny is shown knitting with Tweety in his cage next to her. From the second story, Sylvester attempts to use a toy steam shovel to pull Tweety and his cage up to him as Tweety wonders, “I got a pecuwiar feeling that putty tat is up to tomethin’!” Seemingly having got the cage, Sylvester pulls it up but instead pulls up Granny armed with a broom. She says, “Ah ha! Caught ya! I’ll teach ya! Take that! And that!” as he flees from Granny’s broom hits (animated by Manuel Perez).

Sylvester sneaks into the attic and saws out a hole in the ceiling to get Tweety from there with a cane. Tweety realizes, “That putty tat sure doesn’t get discouwaged!” He puts a dynamite stick in his cage and before lighting the fuse, confides, “This ought to help discouwage him!” After Sylvester pulls the cage and dynamite stick into the attic with him, it explodes, so he puts the destroyed cage back. He then staggers back down the stairs, charred (animated by Perez).

Sylvester takes a toy bow and arrow and disguises as an Indian to sneak up to the tree to Tweety’s cage, only to be confronted by Tweety disguised as a cowboy and armed with a pop gun: “Stick ‘em up, Gewonimo! I’m Hopawong Cassidy!” Chuckling, Sylvester decides, “Okay, Hoppy. I’m pullin’ your cork!” He does, but it fires like a real gun, sending Sylvester crashing all the way to the bottom. “Ooh, putty! You’re a weck!”, Tweety remarks upon seeing Sylvester disheveled from his fall (animated by Ross). Tweety attempts to run off but Sylvester catches him with his plunger arrow and pulls him in as Tweety realizes, “I think he mad at me!” Sylvester licks his lips loudly and pours salt on Tweety, “Mmm, shishkabob!” Just before he can eat him, a normal-sized plunger is fired at his mouth. It turns out this came from Granny, who is disguised as Pocahontas. “Ah ha! You didn’t count on Pocahontas, did ya, Geronimo?” (animated by Davis)

Tweety is seen riding on a model train but Sylvester puts down some extra model tracks leading towards himself behind the chair and sets the train into reverse so that it goes backwards (animated by Perez) towards Sylvester, bumping Tweety off into his waiting mouth. Sylvester then notices the bulldog behind him, who again swallows him whole. Granny spanks first the bulldog to spit Sylvester out, and then Sylvester to spit Tweety out. Fed up, she carries them both out of the room by the neck: “This is the limit! I’m gonna show you two there’s gonna be peace in this house once and for all!” (animated by Champin)

That night, all four of them are gathered at the piano as Granny is playing “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” but singing it with different lyrics, “Peace on earth, good will to men. Peace on earth, and end to fear. We are full of yuletide spirit. Christmas comes but once a year. Joyous yuletide bells are pealing, peace on earth, good will to men. Joyous yuletide bells will sing. Peace on earth, good will to men!” Only Tweety is properly singing along with her, as Sylvester and the bulldog are both shown with their respective mouths sealed by Christmas plasters, leaving their muffled singing sounding like seals barking (animated by Ross).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½