Release Date:

February 24, 1951

Main Character(s):

Tweety and Sylvester

Summary:

Sylvester and an unnamed orange cat fight each other over Tweety on a snowy winter day.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1171 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

On the Carl Stalling Project Volume 1 CD, the music from one scene of this cartoon (specifically the scene where the orange cat reaches down Sylvester’s mouth to grab Tweety after Tweety unknowingly runs into Sylvester’s mouth) is used to show how much effort Stalling put into the scores. You can listen to this here (the man talking before the different takes is Milt Franklyn).

Another orange cat who resembles the one in this cartoon appears in 1956’s “Tweet and Sour”, with the only difference being that the orange cat in that cartoon wears an eye patch.

Neither Sylvester or the orange cat speak in this cartoon, as all of the dialogue goes to Tweety (apart from the cats’ respective mistresses at the start of the cartoon).

Similar to “Canary Row”, Tweety sings the “Gilded Cage” song over the opening credits.

At one point, a box seen in the cellar reads, “Friz- America’s Favorite Gelatin Desserts” is a reference to Freleng. A portrait of Freleng is also seen when Tweety runs into the pipe.

What I Like About This One:

To the tune of “Jingle Bells”, Tweety is seen shoveling snow from his nest atop a long pole. He confides, “This is what I get for dweaming of a white Chwistmas!” Both cats spot Tweety and pound on the door yowling for their respective mistresses to let them outside. Unaware of each others’ presence, they both climb up the pole (animated by Ken Champin).

Still shoveling snow out of his nest, Tweety accidentally hits Sylvester watching him in the face with snow, causing him to realize, “I tawt I taw a putty tat!” He then senses the orange cat’s presence shortly, “I tawt I taw another putty tat!” and realizes, “Hey! I’m suwwounded by putty tats!” (animated by Champin) Both Sylvester and the orange cat take Tweety’s nest while descending down the pole, but with both attempting to run off in the opposite directions, they end up stretching out the nest, causing them to fly forward, smacking into each other (animated by John Carey).

They immediately start fighting by pulling Tweety away from each other, before the orange cat pounds Sylvester down into the snow. As he runs off, Sylvester pops up from the ground with a large pile of snow on his head before taking Tweety himself and running all the way back to his mistress’ apartment. The orange cat marches up the stairs after him with a small wooden bat which causes Sylvester to pound on the door frantically (animated by Carey up to here), before he is hit offscreen just as his mistress opens the door and gasps in disgusted shock at Sylvester having been hit on the head before he collapses (animated by Manuel Perez).

Sylvester regains his senses and goes after the orange cat chasing him with a club into another house, and beating him inside offscreen. Now with a can on his head, the orange cat chases Sylvester back outside, but due to being unable to see, runs smack into a tree, which causes his body to stuffed into the can, with his rear end and tail sticking out. Looking back briefly at the orange cat’s predicament, Sylvester doesn’t see the open door to another house’s cellar in front of him, and falls down it, becoming unconscious from the fall. Tweety remarks, “Aw poor putty tat. He fall down” (animated by Perez).

Tweety then notices a toy dunking bird constantly dunking down to drink water from a glass. Mistaking him for a real bird, Tweety starts talking to it: “Ooh, a wittle pwaymate. I never see you before. What’s your name? My name is Tweety. Have you got a name? What’s the matter, the putty tat’s got your tongue? Say, that must be pwetty good stuff. May I have a dwink with you?” Mistaking the dunking bird’s body dipping back and forth as a nod of approval, Tweety says, “Ooh. Thank you” and also drinks from the water (animated by Virgil Ross).

At this moment, Sylvester regains consciousness and attempts to sneak up on Tweety (animated by Perez). Just as he’s about to grab him, the orange cat suddenly appears behind him and crowns him with a mallet. Noticing the cats’ presence, Tweety runs off and warns the dunking bird, “Wun, wun! The putty tats will get you!” The orange cat mistakes the dunking bird for Tweety and swallows it. Seconds after swallowing it, the orange cat’s body stiffens as he ends up imitating the dunking bird’s dipping back and forth. Sylvester then walks up to him and hits him with the same mallet, causing the orange cat to vibrate around out of control (animated by Ross).

Sylvester then finds Tweety under a tin can as the latter figures, “Those putty tats will never find me in here!” After Sylvester grabs Tweety and puts him in his mouth, the orange cat holds Sylvester by the throat, causing Tweety to be ejected on his tongue like a cash register. Tweety asks, “What happened?” and turns around to see the orange cat giving him an evil smile. Tweety unknowingly runs back into Sylvester’s mouth, so the orange cat reaches down into Sylvester’s throat to grab him (animated by Ross).

As the orange cat goes up the stairs back outside, Sylvester throws various objects at him. After a pan only hits the door when the orange cat shuts it, the orange cat taunts Sylvester by sticking his tongue out at him, only for an iron to hit him directly in the face, which causes him to collapse and slither down the stairs with Tweety in his hand. Thinking this was some sort of ride, Tweety requests, “Come on, putty tat. Let’s do that again. That was fun!” Seeing Sylvester’s shadow, Tweety realizes, “Uh oh. There’s that other putty tat!” and runs off (animated by Perez).

Tweety runs into a pipe just as the orange cat comes to and puts his mouth up to the end Tweety would end up going out of. Sylvester sticks a rifle into the end on his side, unaware that Tweety has exited the pipe through an opening in the middle. Sylvester’s shot results in the bullet going through the orange cat’s mouth and out his tail. After putting his tail out in an ashtray, the orange cat clunks Sylvester on the head with said ashtray as Sylvester retaliates by clanging him on the head with the rifle. A chase with them clunking and clanging each other on the head with their respective weapons ensues before they both notice Tweety running back outside (animated by Arthur Davis).

After Tweety runs into a snowbank which leaves a Tweety-shaped hole in the snow, the orange cat and Sylvester run after him through the snowbank only to run smack into a large mailbox that was hidden in the snow (animated by Champin). They then chase Tweety to a frozen pond where the ice is thin and seeing Tweety’s winter hat next to a hole in the ice, assume he has fallen in, and go across to reach down in for him. They then hear ice picking noises and turn around to see Tweety has nearly finished cutting out a complete circle around them with an ice pick. Tweety stops to ask them, “Would you putty tats pwease thwow me my stocking cap? My wittle head is cold!” With sheepish grins, they do so as Tweety thanks them before resuming his ice picking at a faster speed. Both cats attempt to get away, but they both end up falling in after Tweety manages to finish the entire circle (animated by Davis).

Later, Tweety is resuming shoveling snow out of his nest, where both Sylvester and the orange cat are both seen having caught colds from falling in the ice. After they both respectively sneeze, Tweety tells them both “Gesundheit” and laments, “The poor putty tats” (animated by Champin).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½