Release Date:

October 20, 1945

Main Character(s):

Sylvester

Summary:

Sylvester attempts to catch a woodpecker.

That’s Not All, Folks:

Despite the production number being 10-15 (the 10th Looney Tune in the 15th release season), the cartoon was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. “I Go for You” played under the opening credits. Additionally, cels of the original title card and credit sequences were found in June 2021.

The cartoon wasn’t restored for HBO Max, but Warner Archive did restore it for the Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice Volume 4 Blu-ray set in 2024 (speaking of HBO Max, they recently removed every classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies from their streaming service, which is beyond crossing the line and also proves even further why physical media is the true definitive format to watch Golden Age cartoons. And speaking of physical media, once we have done posts for every Looney Tune and Merrie Melodie from the Golden Age, we will be doing posts on all of the essential DVD and Blu-ray releases of these cartoons).

This is the first instance of Eddie Selzer being overbearing. He wanted the woodpecker to be a frequent recurring antagonist for Sylvester. Due to Clampett’s departure, however, Freleng wanted to use Tweety, but Selzer insisted on the woodpecker so Freleng threatened to resign. That night, however, Selzer gave in and told Freleng to do it his way. And us fans around the world are glad he did because the decision to pair up Tweety and Sylvester was a very smart decision and it led to the studio winning their first Oscar.

The cartoon has no dialogue.

This is the first time Sylvester tangles with a bulldog.

This is also the first cartoon where Sylvester dies. He would die more times than any other character with this being the first of nine cartoons where he does with the others including “Back Alley Oproar” (1948), “I Taw a Putty Tat” (1948), “Mouse Mazurka” (1949; with Sylvester intentionally causing his death in that one so he could continue to pursue his foe, who had accidentally killed himself), multiple times in “Satan’s Waitin’” (1954), “Tweety’s Circus” (1955), “Tweet and Lovely” (1959), “The Rebel Without Claws” (1961), and “The Wild Chase” (1965).

The title is a pun for the song, “Pack Up Your Troubles”.

The cartoon uses the special end cue from “The Wacky Wabbit”.

What I Like About This One:

Sylvester sneaking up the woodpecker’s tree with camouflage- two twigs attached to a hairnet on his head. He is sent sliding down when the woodpecker paints the tree with grease (animated by Gerry Chiniquy).

Sylvester then begins to chop the tree down with an ax, but the angry stare of the bulldog who lives near it causes him to stop and then repair the chopped part of the tree with wood cement (animated by Manuel Perez).

The woodpecker is then shocked to see Sylvester walking up towards his tree. The camera pans back to reveal Sylvester is standing on stilts. The woodpecker pecks away at them but Sylvester stops his fall by holding onto a branch. Unfortunately, for him, the woodpecker makes this fall after pecking out instructions to “Cut on dotted line” and pecking a dotted line. The branch slowly starts to break and before it finally snaps, Sylvester waves a meek “bye-bye” (animated by Virgil Ross).

Sylvester next attempts to tightrope walk across the telephone wires to the tree, but the woodpecker goes over to the switch that turns on the electricity, forcing Sylvester to silently plead for him not to. He goes back to the pole instead but just before getting off the wires gets electrocuted, going into several poses such as an Indian in the middle of a war dance and a woman in a bathing suit on the phone, like you’d see in an Esquire magazine (animated by Ken Champin).

On the ground again, Sylvester chops the tree much faster but the bulldog giving him a snarl makes him attempt to catch it, only to get knocked into the ground instead. The next scene fades into Sylvester nailing boards to the tree and tying them there with ropes with the bulldog watching him (animated by Perez).

To the tune of “Umbrella Man”, Sylvester uses a kite to fly over to the tree (animated by Chiniquy) and chases the woodpecker into his home. The woodpecker puts a tomato in Sylvester’s paw, causing him to squeeze it (animated by Champin) and think he killed him (animated by Chiniquy).

That night, Sylvester is nervously thinking about the woodpecker, who uses dusting powder to disguise as an angel. The sight of the woodpecker as an angel startles Sylvester, who is given a gun by the woodpecker to end it all. Sylvester almost does it until he notices the tobacco brand on the back of the woodpecker’s angel outfit. Realizing he’s been tricked and after ducking an accidental shot, Sylvester fires at the woodpecker (animated by Ross).

Into the early morning hours, Sylvester continues with a makeshift seesaw that only propels him headfirst into a branch, a makeshift catapult that launches him backwards, and posing as the arrow in a bow which only gets him stuck in the woodpecker’s door (animated by Perez).

Sylvester realizing via a sign he pulls out, “Why didn’t I think of this before?” and ascends some invisible stairs while pulling out another sign, “Anything is possible in a cartoon” (animated by Perez). Attempting to use a small log as a battering ram, Sylvester only gets stuck in a tight branch with his head sticking out. Whistling to “A Little on the Lonely Side”, the woodpecker shows him a hat pin to which Sylvester makes squeaking praying noises as his ears form into praying hands. Despite these pleas, he gets jabbed in the behind offscreen, sending him zooming into the distance (animated by Champin).

Fed up, Sylvester ties dynamite around the tree and hides giggling but upon seeing the bulldog glaring at him, unties the explosives, and stamps them out. The woodpecker lights them all again, resulting in Sylvester getting caught in an explosion. The explosion of an extra stick sends him into oblivion. The camera pans to find Sylvester, to which the woodpecker points upward to a peeved Sylvester floating to heaven on a cloud in a real angel outfit (animated by Chiniquy).

Where Can I Watch It?

On YouTube!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕