Release Date:

May 19, 1956

Main Character(s):

Tweety and Sylvester

Summary:

Parodying “Dragnet”, Tweety recounts various times Sylvester tried to catch him.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1391 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

Like with “Rocket Squad”, this one parodies “Dragnet”.

Sylvester does not speak in this cartoon.

When used in the 1982 TV special, “Bugs Bunny’s Mad World of Television”, this cartoon was instead called “Drag-Nest”, an obvious pun for what this cartoon spoofs.

This is one of the few Tweety and Sylvester cartoons to feature June Foray voicing a character (the housewife whose door Sylvester mistakenly knocks on, in this case) but with Granny not appearing.

Most of Tweety’s dialogue is narration.

One of the alley cats seen at the start of the cartoon resembles Clarence, the leader of the titular support group in 1957’s “Birds Anonymous”.

Favorite Scene:

Sylvester chases Tweety into the Automat and finds him standing in a pie dispenser as one labeled “Tweety Pie”. Upon paying with a coin to get him, Sylvester gets an actual pie in his face.

What Happens in This One:

“This is the city. Thwee miwwion people. Thwee hundwed thousand putty tats. That’s where I come in. I’m a wittle bird. I wive in a cage. My name: Tweety” (animated by Arthur Davis). “Wednesday, 10:30 am. I was in my cage, eating white seeds. Wike I said, eating white seeds; thwowing the bwack ones away. Suddenwy, I had a feewing. A feewing I was being watched. I hopped on my perch. I wooked out the window”. Watching him of course is Sylvester, from his apartment across from Tweety’s. Tweety verbally says, “I tawt I taw a putty tat!” Narration: “I checked”. He continues verbally, “I did! I did taw a putty tat!” (animated by Virgil Ross) Narration: “A bwack putty tat. Wed nose. White chest. Name: Sylvester”. Sylvester goes into the building where Tweety’s apartment is and knocks on the seemingly right door. This turns out to actually be the apartment of a no-nonsense housewife who shoos him away by first hitting him with a broom and then throwing numerous objects at him when he runs back down the stairs, “Scat, you scoundrel! You alley cat! Now, you take that, you sneak! You hoodlum! And masher!” (animated by Gerry Chiniquy)

“1:20 pm. That putty tat made a tecond attempt”. Said second attempt is Sylvester nailing a bridge of boards from his apartment over to Tweety’s. Halfway through the nails in the windowsill holding the bridge start to bend from Sylvester’s weight so he runs back and hammers them back in properly. He starts to walk back to resume his construction of the bridge but the nails start to bend again. This time when Sylvester runs back, the entire bridge gives way before he can get back to the windowsill. Sylvester tosses the hammer aside in the midst of his fall and crashes to the ground offscreen (animated by Davis).

“Tuesday. 9:32 am. That putty tat was at it again!” Sylvester attempts to swing on a rope to Tweety’s apartment, only to swing face-first into a telephone pole (animated by Chiniquy)

“Thursday. 12:30 pm. That cat’s cwiminal tendencies was still as stwong as ever”. After pacing back and forth, Sylvester takes notice of army surplus equipment from a nearby store being on sale, so he goes in and comes back out carrying a box. It turns out that he bought a pilot ejector seat with the instructions on the blueprint being as follows, “1. Pilot Sits in Seat ‘C’. 2. Pull Lever ‘A’ Forward. 3. Charge ‘B’ Explodes Ejects Seat and Pilot Clear of Plane”. Sylvester tries it out but ends up flying right up into the telephone wires, slicing him up into six pieces which come apart as he continues sailing up into the air (animated by Chiniquy).

“Monday. 10:15 am. I was feeding with the pigeons in fwont of the pubwic wibrary”. As Tweety and the pigeons are pecking up seed on the ground in front of said library, Sylvester appears from behind a nearby statue, scaring the pigeons into flying away. Tweety runs off upon seeing Sylvester’s shadow over him, and goes into the Automat (animated by Chiniquy). Inside, Sylvester finds Tweety among the pie selections and posing as the one labeled “Tweety Pie”. Failing to open the door to get Tweety out, Sylvester realizes he has to deposit a coin for the door to open. He does so, but as soon as he opens it, an actual pie comes flying out and splats him in the face (animated by Ross).

“December 14. 2:15 pm. The day after the big bwizzard. I had to twy to get to the pet shop for more bird seeds”. In a snowbound cabin, Tweety, wearing a winter hat and scarf, ties spoons to his feet to walk through the snow. Sylvester goes after him on skis, but slams right into a cut tree, with his skis going on without him and passing Tweety (animated by Chiniquy).

“March 26. 10:22 am. I finawwy found wefuge. I knew that bad putty tat couldn’t get me here!” Tweety has taken refuge in a tree in the middle of an army mine field. Pacing back and forth on the other side, Sylvester spots the military supply depot and runs in there to get a radar surplus device that detects the mines to make it through safely. Once he makes it to the tree, Sylvester puts the device down and takes off the bag for it that he was wearing on his back (animated by Ross). Tweety lets out an “Uh oh”, before pushing down a magnet towards Sylvester, “Here, putty tat! Catch!” Once the magnet lands in Sylvester’s hands, several land mines uproot out of the ground and fly towards the magnet, getting attached to it. They all explode on Sylvester, who throws down the destroyed magnet in anger and leaves. Due to no longer using the surplus device, Sylvester ends up getting several more explosions from walking over more mines (animated by Chiniquy).

“May 22. 11:20 am. Colowado teemed wike the pwace where that bad putty tat couldn’t find me. But I was wong”. Sylvester chases Tweety around the mountainside and over a bridge where Tweety goes under the bridge and out of reach. With only the view from under the bridge being shown, Sylvester runs off to get a saw and then comes back. Tweety tells us verbally, “I wonder what that bad putty tat is up to” (animated by Ross). At this moment, Sylvester begins sawing a hole in the bridge to enable him to reach for Tweety, but he falls along with the circle he cuts out while he’s still sawing. Realizing this, Sylvester drops the saw and clings to the circle in fear. From the water below, a fisherman in his boat sees Sylvester flying down towards him and remarks, “I tawt I taw a putty tat!” Sylvester ends up smashing through his hull. As he sinks, the fisherman realizes, “I did! I did! I did taw a-” before the rest of his sentence comes out as gargling from him going under (animated by Davis).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½