Release Date:

June 27, 1953

Main Character(s):

Tweety and Sylvester, Granny

Summary:

Pioneers Granny and Tweety come across a tribe of multiple Sylvester’s, and take refuge from them in an abandoned fort. They foil all of the numerous attempts the Sylvester tribe makes to gain entrance and catch Tweety.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1269 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. In 2021, Thunderbean put a very nice-looking print of this cartoon on one of their special discs which has the original opening and closing rings intact.

The cartoon no longer airs on television due to Native American stereotyping. As a result, it is the only 1953 cartoon to not be restored (and once “I Taw a Putty Tat” makes its long-overdue restored debut on Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault Volume 2 next month, this one will end up being the only Tweety cartoon that has yet to be restored). As mentioned above, though, the Thunderbean print still looks really good and it’ll certainly do for a good-quality print. Hopefully, though, Jerry Beck will be able to convince the upper management to get all of the remaining racially insensitive cartoons put out and restored on a collector-friendly release.

This cartoon is notable in that there are multiple Sylvester’s instead of one (of course, you could say he got cloned, but this is a case where you have to suspend disbelief as to how there are a lot of him here).

Granny’s voice is slightly higher-pitched than usual in this one.

The title is a play on words for “tom tom” as in a tom-tom drum. The title card and director credit even show a tom-tom drum being played by an unseen drummer.

“War Dance for Wooden Indians” plays during the ending scene where the Sylvester’s are tricked into tunneling into the fort’s gunpowder shed up to the ending where after the explosion, Tweety remarks that it’s raining putty tats.

Favorite Scene:

Tweety carries a gun but accidentally trips and fires it at a tree, which causes several Sylvester’s hiding in there to fall out of it.

What Happens in This One:

In her wagon pulled by a horse, Granny heads out west while singing “Oh, Susanna” with Tweety joining her on his small banjo while he’s in his cage from the back of the wagon (animated by Manuel Perez). Watching them from the cliff above is one of the Sylvester’s, who licks his lips upon seeing Tweety strumming on his banjo. This Sylvester sends a smoke signal to the chief that reads, “I Tawt I Taw a Tweety Bird”. Delighted at this news, the chief plays a tom-tom as the Sylvester tribe does a war dance (animated by Virgil Ross).

The Sylvester’s, all riding different-looking cats like horses, run after Tweety and Granny. Granny hears their whooping and is horrified, “Heavens to Betsy! Injuns!” Tweety becomes curious at this and looks out, “Injuns?”, and upon seeing who’s chasing them, says, “I tawt I taw putty tats!” He looks again and realizes, “I did! I did! I taw WOTS of putty tats!” Granny has the horse go faster by using a whip, while a cross-eyed Sylvester keeps shooting arrows at the back of the head of the cat he’s riding on. Annoyed, this cat stops, picks the cross-eyed Sylvester up by the legs, and repeatedly thumps him on the ground legs-first (animated by Perez).

Granny and Tweety make it to a fort, as Granny quickly shuts the gate, causing several shot arrows to get stuck in said gate. Granny looks around the fort and realizes, “Goodness gracious, Tweety! The place has been deserted! We’ll have to go it alone!” Tweety looks to his right and disgust and remarks, “Those bad ol’ putty tats!”

As Granny shoots at the Sylvester’s, Tweety keeps track of them while singing “Ten Little Indians” and marking them as tallies. By the time he gets to 9, one of the Sylvester’s grabs Tweety, only for him to be tapped on the shoulder and conked with a mallet by Granny, who finishes the song, “Ten Little Indian Boys!” (animated by Ken Champin)

Another Sylvester drills a hole in the fort with a corkscrew and attempts to shoot his arrow through the hole, but before he can do so, is shot by Granny’s rifle pointing out at him. This leaves him hairless from the chest up, and his remaining fur begins to slump down so he grabs on to it before going away (animated by Davis). Four more Sylvester’s use a log as a battering ram and succeed in breaking down the gate, but end up running the log right into a cannon, which Granny lights the fuse of. The blast sends them flying backwards into the distance (animated by Perez).

Tweety cheers on Granny shooting, “That-a-girl, Granny! Give him a shot in the head!” A lookalike of Sylvester looks into the fort, and decides to catch Tweety with a plunger arrow. Tweety takes notice of this cat’s eye and attempts to run off, only for the plunger to catch him. As the cat begins to drag him away, Tweety calls out, “Granny! Granny! Help! A Mohican got me!” After Granny is shown silently reacting in shock about this, the lookalike attempts to pull out what he thinks is Tweety, but instead finds that Granny has substituted him for a bomb, which explodes on the lookalike (animated by Champin).

Tweety brings another gun over to Granny, but she warns, “Be careful, Tweety! Be careful! That gun is loaded!” Tweety ends up tripping, causing the gun to fire into a tree and for several Sylvester’s hiding in there to fall out onto the ground (animated by Champin).

Outside, another Sylvester creates a makeshift teeter-board to propel a keg of TNT into the fort, but after he jumps on the other end, the TNT ends up landing in his hands and exploding on him. He is then seen sailing into the air with a shocked expression, most of his fur missing, and with the blown up keg (animated by Perez).

The chief instructs Sylvester (the real one), who’s holding a tomahawk, to “Go in. Scalp-um hold lady squaw!” Sylvester answers, “Okay, Rain-in-the-P-P-Puss!” before going in through a small opening to do so. Granny is heard screaming offscreen, but it’s Sylvester who comes out scalped instead. He angrily asks the chief, “You got any MORE bright ideas?” (animated by Ross)

Another lookalike attaches a dynamite stick to his arrow, but the arrow doesn't go anywhere when he fires, causing him to get blown up into the air, and the feather in his headdress to float downward (animated by Davis).

Granny and Tweety then work together to disguise as Sitting Bull by having Tweety wear an Indian-like headdress and pose as the head, while Granny hides under an Indian chief’s outfit and does all of the moving and hand gestures. They go up to the real Sylvester and do the Indian sign, “How”, which Sylvester also does. Tweety explains, “Me bwackfeet guide. Me show-um secwet tunnel into fort. Ugh. You fowwow me.” Sylvester informs the rest of the tribe, “Hey, fellas. Come on”. One by one, Tweety and Granny lead the Sylvester’s into the supposed secret tunnel, but it turns out they are actually being led into the “Powder House” shed full of explosives. After the last one is stuffed in, Sylvester comes up out of the hole to request, “Hey, Sittin’ Bull! Ya got a match? It’s dark in there!” Tweety and Granny oblige by handing him one, “Here you are, Gewonimo!”, before they run off. The explosion sends the Sylvester’s all flying up into the air and then falling back down. Tweety opens his umbrella and remarks, “Ooh! My goodness! It’s waining putty tats!” before laughing (animated by Davis).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org! (go to the 1:37:49 mark to watch it, as every other place I’ve seen the Thunderbean print posted online has it inexplicably sped up. This is taken from the actual special disc, so it’s thankfully played at the correct speed.)

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½