Release Date:

August 7, 1954

Main Character(s):

Tweety and Sylvester

Summary:

Sylvester skids off the ledge of a building when chasing after Tweety and dies. Due to the escalator to Heaven being roped off, he ends up going to Hades instead where a Devil bulldog has him wait for his other eight lives to join him. Back on Earth, Sylvester keeps getting persuaded by Devil Dog to keep pursuing Tweety and losing his other lives.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1293 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. In September 2022, a black and white 16mm print with the original opening and closing rings was found.

The cartoon’s premise was a favorite of Freleng’s as he would use it a few more times afterwards. The first was in a 1961 Bugs Bunny Show episode of the same name, in 1963’s “Devil’s Feud Cake” (which in turn is a reworking of the Bugs Bunny Show episode), and the first act in the 1981 compilation movie, “The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie” (where the shot of the red bulldogs in the fiery pit in this cartoon is used in the movie), all of which have Yosemite Sam going to Hades, but making a deal with the Devil that if he brings Bugs down to replace him, he’ll be set free (“Devil’s Feud Cake” is also one of those clip-show cartoons as Sam’s attempts to bring Bugs down are made up of footage from earlier cartoons).

The premise was also used at DePatie-Freleng in the Dogfather cartoon, “Devilled Yeggs” (1974).

The Devil bulldog is referred to as “Devil Dog” in Looney Tunes World of Mayhem (2018-present; he was put into the game in late October 2019 for Halloween that year), and the name fits, so that’s what I’m referring to him as.

The circumstances as to why Sylvester is not welcome up in Heaven are unknown, since chasing birds is something any cat would do.

One of the cats listed in Devil Dog’s book is named “Sam”. This somewhat foreshadows the fact that in two later cartoons (1959’s “Trick or Tweet” and 1960’s “Mouse and Garden”), Sylvester would compete for food up against an orange cat named Sam.

Tweety is hardly in the cartoon, as this is pretty much Sylvester-focused.

The cartoon is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

The burglar referred to as “Muggsy” (the two burglars at the end are NOT Rocky and Mugsy) has the exact same voice as Bugs.

Footage from this cartoon is used in the 1995 film, “Batman Forever”.

Favorite Scene:

Sylvester finds Tweety posing as one of the ducks in a shooting gallery, so he does this as well, only to end up getting repeatedly shot, which sends down lives 4-7.

What Happens in This One:

Sylvester is seen chasing Tweety across all of the telephone wires before chasing him up the fire escape of a building (animated by Arthur Davis). At the top of the ledge, Tweety pants, “I tawt… I taw… a putty tat”. Once Sylvester climbs to the top, Tweety realizes, “I did! I did taw a putty tat!” The chase continues on the ledge (animated by Virgil Ross), with Sylvester catching Tweety, but due to running, ends up sliding off into mid-air. He manages to grab Tweety’s tail feathers and upon realizing he’s holding them, attempts to fly back up with them. Back on the ledge, Tweety notices his featherless behind, “Ooh. I wost my wittle tail feathers!” Upon seeing Sylvester flying back up with them, he remarks, “Aw, ain’t that nice? The putty tat bwought my feathers back” and takes them from Sylvester’s grasp, causing the latter to fall. Tweety calls down to him, “Thank you, putty tat!” before Sylvester lands on the pavement offscreen with a thud (animated by Davis).

The pavement cracks upon impact, with it also having killed Sylvester. His spirit begins to leave his body, but sees the escalator to Heaven is roped off (who knows what he did to make him not welcome there), leaving the escalator to Hades as the only option. As Sylvester continues down to the red and fiery Hades (animated by Manuel Perez), he is greeted by the laughing Devil Dog, “Welcome, pussycat!” Terrified to see a fiery pit of red bulldogs as his punishment, Sylvester is asked by Devil Dog, “What’s your name, pussycat?” He stammers, “S-S-S-Sylvester” meekly. Devil Dog asks, “Sylvester?” before laughing again, “Let’s see now”, as he looks through his book of souls sent down to him, “Sam… Seymour… Stanley….. (laughs) Here it is! Sylvester”. After looking over what all Sylvester did that led him down there, Devil Dog observes, “Oooh! My, we’ve been a BAD pussycat, haven’t we?” before he continues, “Too bad that pussycats got nine lives. You’ll have to wait for the other eight. So, uh, sit over there and wait for ‘em”. As Sylvester goes to sit down on a large seat made of stone, Devil Dog cackles, “You won’t have long to wait! I’ll hurry ‘em along!” and continues laughing before he poofs away (animated by Ross).

Back on Earth, Sylvester comes to just as Tweety comes up to him, “Oooh. You’re in twouble, putty. You bwoke the sidewalk!” Sylvester tells him off, “You don’t know what trouble is, bird! Scram! I’m not takin’ any more chances with you! Get lost!” Devil Dog’s spirit poofs next to him and goads, “Don’t be chicken, cat! You got eight lives left!” After Devil Dog poofs away, Sylvester becomes inspired, “Yeah! I got eight lives left!” and then resumes the chase. Sylvester chases Tweety to a construction site where a steamroller is seen at work. A chase around the roller ensues, with Devil Dog waiting below in anticipation with his arms folded and sporting an evil smile. Sure enough, a flat Sylvester-shaped piece- leaving a flat Sylvester-shaped hole- falls through the ceiling of Hades. Life No. 1 is joined by the flat Life No. 2, with all of Sylvester’s lives sent down to Hades being depicted with their respective numbers on their chests. Once Sylvester gets up, Devil Dog’s spirit again poofs next to him as he laughs, “You lucky cat! You’ve got seven lives left and seven’s a lucky number!” Sylvester is again encouraged, “Yeah! Yeah! Seven’s my lucky number!” (animated by Ken Champin)

The chase continues into an amusement park where Sylvester chases Tweety into a “House of Horrors” (advertised with “Scare Your Girl”), one of which includes running into the open mouth of an inanimate bulldog head. Upon coming back out to see what he just entered, Sylvester is literally scared to death by the bulldog head. A completely white and shaking Life No. 3 joins the previous two. Tweety finds the unconscious Sylvester, “Aw. The poor putty tat. Open your pwetty wed eyes”. He opens Sylvester’s right eyelid, but finds his pupil replaced with the words, “Out. Back in 10 Minutes”. Tweety realizes, “‘Back in 10 Minutes’? (laughs) That will give me a good head start”. Devil Dog poofs next to Sylvester once more and gets him going after Tweety, “Okay, cat! On your feet! Go get him, cat! Get him! Get him! Get him! Get him!” (animated by Perez)

Sylvester next chases Tweety past a shooting gallery where and finds Tweety posing among the moving duck-shaped targets. Sylvester sneaks in and also poses as one of them but he gets repeatedly shot several times, which sends down lives 4, 5, 6, and 7. He manages to narrowly avoid getting shot again by running out (animated by Ross).

Tweety climbs into one of the roller coaster cars, “I’d better hide fwom that putty tat,” as the roller coaster starts to go uphill. He believes, “That putty tat will NEVER find me up here!”, unaware that Sylvester is in the car behind him. Once the roller coaster gets onto a flat straight track again, Sylvester stands up from between Tweety’s car and his car in order to club Tweety on the head. He ends up realizing too late that the roller coaster is heading into a tunnel labeled “Do Not Stand Up” as he smacks face-first into said tunnel (animated by Davis up to here). Life No. 8 is sent down Hades’ escalator with some roller coaster cars (animated by Perez).

Upon coming to his senses, Sylvester realizes to his horror, “Sufferin’ succotash! I only got one life left! I’ve gotta be more careful!” Devil Dog poofs near him one more time and encourages, “Go get him!” This time, Sylvester refuses, while running off and screaming, “No! No! No! No! I don’t want him! I don’t want him!” (animated by Champin) He decides to isolate himself from everyone else by taking up residence in a vault at the Last National Bank with several cans of milk, canned fish, and cat food. “This is a safe place. I can live here for years” (animated by Perez).

That night, two burglars attempt to rob this very same vault by blowing it up with nitroglycerin as the shorter one warns, “Careful with that nitro, Muggsy!” The taller one, Muggsy, assures, “Don’t worry. I know how to handle it”. He is instantly proven wrong as it immediately explodes and kills them both. As they both descend Hades’ escalator with sorrowful expressions, the short burglar laments, “Ya used too much, Muggsy!” Behind them is a thoroughly disgruntled Sylvester, also killed in the explosion and now having all of his lives in Hades, who remarks, “NOW he tells ‘em!” (animated by Perez)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕