Release Date:

November 6, 1948

Main Character(s):

Sylvester, Elmer Fudd

Summary:

On a cold winter night, both Sylvester and a mute orange kitten are brought in by Elmer Fudd. Since Elmer can only keep one of them, he decides to sleep on it and make up his mind in the morning. Sylvester attempts to eliminate the competition by trying to get the kitten in trouble, but only succeeds in getting himself on Elmer’s bad side.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1055 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. In 1998, the original titles were put back in, with this same restoration also appearing on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 DVD set in 2003. However, the print used on that DVD inexplicably used the end card from the reissue. A later, newer restoration appeared in 2021, with the original end card intact.

This is the second pairing of Sylvester and Elmer.

This is the final cartoon to be written by both Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce.

The title is a pun for the phrase “tit for tat”.

The cartoon reuses the plots of “Hiss and Make Up” and “Hare Force”, both of which were also Freleng cartoons.

The first shot of the cartoon is reused animation from “Life with Feathers”.

The opening credits have the same background as “Back Alley Oproar” (which was coincidentally the first Sylvester and Elmer pairing).

Both restorations of the cartoon inexplicably have a lower audio pitch (the video provided though has the cartoon in its correct pitch). This is the earliest of a few cartoons on the first Golden Collection to have this bizarre audio error (even though the affected cartoons themselves are still perfectly watchable on there).

The man and woman on the soap opera named Melvin and Beatrice are references to the real names of Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet, respectively (interestingly, they were also the original voices for Barney and Betty Rubble).

In production order, this is the first Freleng cartoon to have animation by Pete Burness (although the first Freleng cartoon he was credited on was 1949’s “Wise Quackers”, which also happens to be the first cartoon of that year AND Freleng’s next cartoon).

A bottle in the trash is labeled “Pratt’s Cocktail Sherry” which is a reference to Hawley Pratt.

What I Like About This One:

The rendition of “Busybody” over the opening credits.

Sylvester is first seen rummaging through the trash cans as the kitten suddenly appears and starts finding food for himself. Sylvester selfishly takes what the kitten just picked up and tells him off: “Say, listen, small fry! I’m workin’ this side of the street! Scram!” and tosses him aside near the trash where the kitten is seen with a teacup on his head. Sylvester also tells him to “Go on! Beat it! Get lost!” but suddenly the cold wind blows, causing him to shiver. “Brr! It’s cold tonight. I gotta find me a sanctuary in which to flop!” (animated by Gerry Chiniquy)

Walking up to Elmer’s house, Sylvester rings the doorbell and becomes dramatic: “Please save a frostbitten feline from a frozen fate!” and reverts to a playing dead pose when he realizes he’s pounding on Elmer, who has opened the door. Elmer sees this as “a poor half-fwozen pussycat”. Bringing him inside (animated by Virgil Ross), Elmer tells a very pleased Sylvester he can consider this his home, before he hears another knock at the door (animated by Manuel Perez). It’s the kitten, who also reverts to a playing dead pose when Elmer answers, with him seeing this as “another orphan of the storm” (animated by Ross).

Seeing that there are two cats, Elmer says he’d like to have a cat around the house, but can’t keep both of them. As he says this, Sylvester grooms himself as does the kitten, but Sylvester shoves him aside. Elmer picks up the kitten who affectionately licks his face as Elmer chuckles, “Baby kittens are so cute!”, which causes the kitten to stick his tongue out at Sylvester. Sylvester tries to be cute too by posing as a baby, complete with bonnet and bottle, but Elmer is not amused. “What a widicuwous way for a gwown-up cat to behave!” Elmer decides he’ll sleep on it and make up his mind in the morning. As he goes up the stairs, he again chuckles that “baby kittens are so cute”, which causes Sylvester to throw his bonnet down in anger (animated by Pete Burness).

Sylvester calls the kitten over to seemingly give him milk, but pours it over his head and then smashes the bottle. Coming down, Elmer sternly asks the kitten if he broke it but upon seeing the kitten’s sad expression, he apologizes, believing the kitten is hungry. “Aw, poor wittle fewwa. You must be starved. How negwectful of me.” As Elmer gives the kitten various foods, Sylvester pounds his head against the doorway in bewilderment several times (animated by Ken Champin).

Sylvester next rolls out a ball of yarn for the kitten to play with. It turns out that said yarn is attached to a stack of dishes, causing them to fall. The kitten hastily glues them back together, but Sylvester breaks them again by smashing them back on to the ground. To his misfortune, an annoyed Elmer is watching, causing Sylvester to give a sheepish grin before dropping the next dish. “So! Bweaking my dishes! You’re making it vewy much easier for me to make up my mind which one of you to keep!”, Elmer warns as the kitten again sticks his tongue out at Sylvester (animated by Ross).

As the kitten is attempting to play with Sylvester’s tail, Sylvester notices a book on how to be a hypnotist. The scene fades into him hypnotizing the kitten before they are in Elmer’s bedroom as Sylvester is trying to instruct the kitten to hit Elmer on the head with a baseball bat. Sylvester points to his own head and whispers, “Here, stupid, on the head”, but the kitten misinterprets this and whacks Sylvester, who gets into bed next to Elmer. Elmer wakes up and tosses Sylvester out with his head hitting the stairs going down. “And if I’m disturbed once more, I’m holding YOU wesponsible!” (animated by Burness)

Sylvester starts a wind-up mouse which the kitten chases into a hole before Sylvester boards it up (animated by Perez). Inside the walls, the kitten removes several things from the walls such as a framed picture and a rack holding dishes. Sylvester catches the dishes with either his mouth, hands, or feet. After catching a few more framed pictures, Sylvester sees to his horror that the chandelier above Elmer’s bed is about to be dropped on him. Sylvester uses a ladder to climb up and tighten the screws back in, but the chandelier gives way just as Sylvester gets to the top with a screwdriver. As the chandelier crashes on Elmer offscreen, Sylvester gives the audience a pricelessly sad, pouting expression, knowing very well that he’s in big trouble (animated by Burness).

Elmer is heard warning Sylvester in anger as he backs him out the door, “That’s the wast stwaw! I’m giving you just one more chance! If I hear just one more sound out of you, just one more peep, just so much as one tiny wittle peep, out you go!” As he shuts the door, Sylvester makes a taunting face and ululating sound but sheepishly grins upon Elmer opening it back up to add, “And that’s my final warning!” (animated by Ross)

With this, the kitten attempts to make some noise as he is trying to fire a gun. Before he can do so, Sylvester puts earmuffs over Elmer’s ears, and quickly runs back to plug up the gun with his finger, only resulting in said finger getting shot several times (animated by Ross). The kitten also bangs on a large drum, before Sylvester takes that away and also slams several doors, ending with Sylvester’s toes getting compressed into his foot when he sticks out his foot to prevent one of the doors from being slammed (animated by Champin).

Enraged, Sylvester literally whistles steam out of his top and gives chase (animated by Champin). The kitten turns on a dramatic soap opera with radio characters Melvin and Beatrice switching roles of murderer and victim and also turns on the automatic piano at the same time, with both sounding in the background as the chase continues. The chase ends with the kitten using a garbage can lid to stop Sylvester, with the crashing noise resulting in a beyond angry Elmer coming down and announcing he’s made up his mind on who’s leaving these premises. Before he can reveal who, his landlord decides for him: “Oh, no, you haven't. I’ve made up MY mind. Here”. as said landlord sticks his arm through a door, and shows Elmer an eviction notice! (animated by Perez)

In the end, Sylvester, the kitten, AND Elmer are all seen collecting leftovers from the trash cans (animated by Chiniquy).

Where Can I Watch It?

On vimeo!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕