Release Date:

June 2, 1951

Main Character(s):

Tweety and Sylvester

Summary:

Two different Grannies sneak their respective pets, Tweety and Sylvester, into the “Spinsters Arms Hotel” whose number one rule is no pets being allowed in the building. Throughout the chase (which is later joined by a bulldog), Tweety and Sylvester have to stop to fool the suspicious hotel detective trying to enforce the rule.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1170 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

This is the first of five Warner cartoons to be scored by Eugene Poddany, who was a temporary substitute due to Carl Stalling recovering from a brain injury. The other four (all released later in 1951) include “French Rarebit”, “The Wearing of the Grin”, “Leghorn Swoggled”, and “Lovelorn Leghorn”. Poddany would later score most of the Tom and Jerry cartoons made by Jones and his unit at MGM in the mid-1960’s as well as the 1966 version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (which Jones directed while at MGM).

In all of Poddany’s Warner credits, Milt Franklyn is credited for orchestrations.

This is also the first Warner cartoon since “At Your Service Madame” from 1936 to be scored by someone other than Stalling (that’s right, folks, for 479 weekdays straight from January 16, 2024 to yesterday, every cartoon I wrote about has been scored by Stalling!).

The cartoon is similar to “Canary Row” in that the location is a hotel, only this time instead of just cats and dogs, no pets of any kind are allowed in the hotel.

The backgrounds and layouts credits are mistakenly flip-flopped in the opening credits making it look like Hawley Pratt did the backgrounds and Paul Julian did the layouts even though it’s always been the opposite.

The title is a pun for “room and board”. A Roadrunner cartoon from 1957 also uses this pun as “Zoom and Bored”, though the spelling of the latter word is questionable because the Warner cartoons are the complete opposite of boring (and truth be told, I don’t actually dislike any of them, since all 1000 of them have historical significance and great scores).

Tedd Pierce co-wrote this cartoon with Warren Foster. This is also the last time Pierce wrote for Freleng until 1956’s “Two Crows from Tacos”, as well as the only time Pierce and Foster wrote a cartoon together (interestingly, now that I think of it, Foster never wrote a cartoon with Michael Maltese).

This is the last cartoon where Tweety sings the “Gilded Cage” song and the only time he sings it twice in the same cartoon (although the second time is interrupted).

Both Grannies only appear in the beginning of the cartoon where they sneak Tweety and Sylvester in. Tweety’s is the regular Granny, while the Granny whose Sylvester’s mistress has a slightly different voice and only appears in this cartoon (though she is still voiced by Bea Benaderet).

A shirt in the drawer Tweety hides in during the scene where Sylvester obliviously walks around with the bulldog underneath him reads, “Virg”. This is a reference to Virgil Ross.

The cartoon implies that Sylvester has been around for much longer than he should have after Tweety unknowingly uses Sylvester’s open mouth as an elevator before ascending with a mouse who he tells, “Thomas Jefferson? He’s not pwesident anymore. He’s dead!” The mouse replies, “Dead? I didn’t even know he was SICK!”

What I Like About This One:

The rendition of “Fiddle-Dee-Di” over the opening credits.

The slogan under the sign for the Spinsters Arms Hotel reads, “Baby, It’s Cold Inside”.

Granny sneaks Tweety in by putting his cage under her skirt, making it look like she has a large behind. Sylvester is sneaked in when his Granny wears him like a fur around her neck (animated by Arthur Davis).

Hearing Tweety sing the “Gilded Cage” song in the room next to his, Sylvester writes a phony letter (animated by Virgil Ross) and slips it under Tweety’s door before knocking on it. Tweety sees the letter before reading it aloud, “I’m just mad about your singing. Come over and we’ll make beautiful music together. Your ardent admirer. Room 1002”. He believes, “Well, what do you know? I’ve got an admiwer!” Wondering who it could be, he walks into Sylvester’s room before coming back out to tell us, “I tawt I taw a putty tat!” He goes back in to check and realizes, “I did! I did taw a putty tat!” before Sylvester gives chase (animated by Manuel Perez).

The chase comes to a halt when they see the detective’s silhouette in the rising elevator. Tweety and Sylvester both mistakenly run into each others’ rooms as the detective is heard shouting, “Here! What’s goin’ on here?” After briefly seeing Tweety and Sylvester quickly run back into their respective rooms, the detective goes into Sylvester’s room only to find Sylvester disguised as a woman in bed and yelling in a feminine voice, “Ah! Police! Help!” The embarrassed detective backs out of the room: “I-I-I’m sorry, ma’am. I-I beg your pardon” before running away as Sylvester continues screaming, “Help! Police! Help!” (animated by Davis)

Tweety sings the “Gilded Cage” song again but is interrupted when he sees in the mirror that Sylvester has sneaked into the room and is stacking furniture to reach him. He wonders, “I wonder what that putty tat up to now”. Sylvester uses the furniture on top of the stack, a footstool, to jump onto Tweety’s cage, with his weight causing the cage’s springy hook to go all the way down to the ground. Tweety opens his door and asks, “Oh, hewwo, putty tat. What you doin’ up there?” He then steps out, which causes the cage to spring Sylvester back up to the ceiling several times before he falls off and lands on the floor, becoming unconscious. Tweety laments, “Aw, the poor putty tat fall down”. Upon opening Sylvester’s eyelid, instead of his pupil, he instead sees the words, “Out Back at” and a clock reading 3:00. Tweety attempts to shake him, “Wake up, putty tat. This is no time to go to sweep!” before dragging Sylvester back to his room, “If you go to sweep, you gotta sweep in your own room!” (animated by Ross)

In his room, Sylvester rings for Room 1001 (Tweety’s room) in a feminine voice and tells Tweety in this voice, “Hello. Mommy’s little precious birdie? Hurry right downstairs. Mommy’s got a surprise for you”. Excited, Tweety goes to use the elevator as Sylvester waits in the elevator shaft with his mouth open. Tweety unwittingly descends it but once Sylvester closes his mouth, he hears elevator-like noises and opens his mouth back up as Tweety ascends with a mouse Sylvester previously ate, also telling him, “Thomas Jefferson? He’s not pwesident anymore. He’s dead!” The mouse asks in confusion, “Dead? I didn’t even know he was SICK!” before they both realize they just exited Sylvester’s mouth and run off (animated by Perez).

Sylvester goes after Tweety but nearly falls out the window before running backward to safety on the ledge. He follows Tweety across the ledge (animated by Perez) and into a random room where he lands on the head of a bulldog who has been sneaked in by his unseen mistress. Unknowingly walking around on the bulldog’s head, Sylvester finds Tweety in a drawer and attempts to sneak out with him but realizes something’s not right upon briefly seeing who he’s standing on in the mirror. After he goes back to the mirror to check, a scuffle between the three of them occurs with yowling, chirping, and barking (animated by Ken Champin).

The detective comes up to the door (revealed to be Room 1078) upon hearing the noise and demands for them to open up the door. Tweety, Sylvester, and the bulldog work together to put on the bulldog’s mistress’ clothes. By the time the detective comes in, he is confronted by the trio disguised as the bulldog’s mistress, with Tweety posing as the head, Sylvester as the arms, and the bulldog as the feet. As the head, Tweety scolds the detective with Sylvester doing the appropriate gestures with his arms, “Go away fwom here and stop makin’ all that noise! Or I’ll have you twansferred to the sticks!” (animated by Champin)

The detective walks out again backwards, “Sorry, ma’am. There’s been a mistake”. Upon leaving, he sees the bulldog chasing Sylvester into the room across the way, before seeing Sylvester chase Tweety from another room into Room 1078, the bulldog chasing Sylvester from the across room into another room, and finally a three-way chase between Tweety, Sylvester, and the bulldog from the across room into Room 1078 (animated by Davis).

After hearing more animal noises, the detective goes down to the lobby and calls into the unseen desk clerk’s public address system, “Attention, everyone! Someone has pets in this house and I want them out of here immediately!” At once, he reacts in shock (animated by Davis) to a huge stampede of animals running in front of him including dogs, cats, lions, and elephants. After getting pummeled by the numerous animals in the stampede that have been sneaked in, the disheveled detective is walked over by an organ grinder’s monkey (animated by Ross). The detective then sits up and utters, “I tawt I taw a putty tat”. Popping up out of a vase, Tweety confirms, “You did! You did! You saw a putty tat, a moo-moo cow, a big gorilla, a giddy-up horsey, and a wittle monkey!” (animated by Champin)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½