Release Date:

June 23, 1956

Main Character(s):

Tweety and Sylvester, Granny

Summary:

Sylvester attempts to board Granny’s tugboat to catch Tweety.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1417 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The title is a pun for “Tugboat Annie”.

Although Granny gets her name in the title, she only appears in the opening scene (as well as the shot of Sylvester getting startled by the tugboat before he notices Tweety the first time), singing a catchy original song about the tugboat with Tweety (this is also heard in instrumental form over the opening credits and across a camera pan of the tugboat sailing along and giving out the appropriate sound effects in time to the music).

This is the first ever cartoon to credit Treg Brown, who had been there since the mid-1930’s. From this point onwards, he would be credited as “Film Editor” (which was presumably a substitute term for “sound effects” at the studio).

When the cartoon was restored for HBO Max in 2020, the original end card was inexplicably replaced with the 1959-1960 Merrie Melodies end card. This is also the case when this same restoration was later put on the Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice Volume 3 Blu-ray set.

Favorite Scene:

Sylvester’s brief fight with a crab and also him mistakenly jumping into the tugboat’s smokestack.

What Happens in This One:

Piloting her tugboat in the ocean, Granny as the captain sings an original song about tugboats with Tweety joining in at certain points. Granny: “Oh, a tugboat whistle goes toot-toot-toot! It toots high and it toots low!” Tweety: “But the toot-toot-toot doesn’t mean a hoot! It’s the chugga-chugga-chug that makes it go!” Granny: “Whenever a tugboat chugs upstream, you’ll always see it puffing out steam! A happy tugboat seems to sing!” Tweety: “A-toot-toot-toot and a-ding-ding-ding!” Granny: “Oh, a tugboat whistle goes toot-toot-toot! It toots high and it toots low!” Both: “But the toot-toot-toot doesn’t mean a hoot! It’s the chugga-chugga-chug that makes it go!” (animated by Virgil Ross)

Meanwhile, several people are fishing on the dock with Sylvester walking alongside, hoping one of them will catch a fish, so he can eat it for himself. Hearing one man exclaim, “I got something!”, Sylvester hides in this man’s tackle box, unaware that he ended up catching a crab instead. After the crab is put in the tackle box, Sylvester immediately begins fighting with it, complete with yowling noises. Once Sylvester runs off, the crab moves the back of his shell up like someone moving their hat in a tough manner and walks to the end of the dock in a hilarious way before jumping back into the water (brilliantly animated by Arthur Davis).

Sitting on a dock pole irritated, Sylvester is suddenly startled by the tugboat blaring its whistle when it passes by. Upon seeing Tweety in his cage on the tugboat, he is delighted, “A bird! Mm-mm!” Sylvester climbs down the dock and into a rowboat that he uses to catch up to the tugboat (animated by Gerry Chiniquy). Tweety witnesses this and remarks, “I tawt I taw a putty tat!” (animated by Davis) Once Sylvester reaches the tugboat (animated by Chiniquy), Tweety yells, “Anchors aweigh!” (animated by Davis), causing the anchor to be lowered and then smash through the hull in Sylvester’s boat. After an underwater shot of Sylvester looking at the hole from above the surface, Sylvester attempts to row back to the shore, briefly submerging but still continuing to row back onto shore without the boat under him (animated by Chiniquy).

Sylvester rows back to the tugboat, using an inflatable raft and rowing with a paddle. Tweety calls out to him, “Hey, putty tat! Wook what I found! Here! You can have it!” What he was talking about is a dart that he throws in Sylvester’s direction, puncturing his raft and causing it to deflate. The deflation sends Sylvester flying backwards rapidly, until the raft is reduced to a very small circle he ends up standing on with only one toe. As he sinks, Sylvester gives a goodbye wave to the audience (animated by Davis).

Sylvester then runs to a bridge, waiting for the tugboat to pass under it, so he can jump onboard. Unfortunately, he miscalculates the right moment to let go of the part he was hanging off of and jumps straight into the smokestack! Sylvester immediately shoots out of the smokestack, with his rear end on fire and screaming in pain as he jumps back onto the bridge and drags his rear end across the ground to put the flames out (animated by Davis).

Seeing Sylvester about to jump off a high bridge with a parachute, Tweety remarks, “Oh, that bad ol’ putty tat! He NEVER give up!” Sylvester then jumps off while shouting, “GERONIMO!”, but is unable to open his parachute despite numerous pulls on the cord. It’s only when he lands underwater does his parachute finally open. Sylvester then walks out of the water annoyed, with the parachute still attached to him. Tweety laments, “Aw, the poor putty tat! Got himself all toaking wet!” (animated by Chiniquy)

Spotting a bended pipe from the nearby “ACME Salvage Steel and Pipe”, Sylvester uses said pipe as a snorkel when he attempts to swim to the tugboat underwater. A seagull then comes in and decides to use the snorkel as a resting spot blocking Sylvester’s air and causing him to turn completely blue. After Sylvester frantically splashes around for air two times, causing the startled seagull to briefly come off both times, Sylvester then runs back to the shore for air, with the seagull still on top of the pipe. When Sylvester sees an egg come out of his mouth, he realizes this came from the seagull and throws it at her to scare her away. Sylvester starts to walk away but turns around to see the egg flying back down and hitting him in the face. His right eye opens up from under the yolk, giving an annoyed stare at the audience (animated by Chiniquy).

Sylvester next uses a motorboat, but has a difficult time starting it up. It ends up going down a path separate from the tugboat, with this path leading straight towards a waterfall. Upon seeing this in horror, Sylvester keeps attempting to start the motor to no avail and continues trying and failing to do so as he and the boat descend the falls. Sylvester then emerges out of the wreckage at the bottom with the motor now starting to work. Angered at it for starting at the wrong time, Sylvester whacks it with a club numerous times to destroy it. When the propeller briefly continues spinning, Sylvester gives the motor one hard, final whack, causing it to slump (animated by Ross).

After pacing back and forth, Sylvester decides to use a rope to lasso the tugboat. Tweety chuckles, “That putty tat thinks he a cowboy!” Instead of the tugboat, Sylvester’s lasso ends up catching the front of a speedboat that causes him to water-ski across the ocean. Realizing this, Sylvester begins to enjoy it and does a goofy pose, but due to not paying attention of what’s in front of him slams left-side first into a pole sticking out of the water. After Sylvester falls into the water upside down, a fish swims by and gargles, “I tawt I taw a putty tat!” Sylvester attempts to catch it, but fails as it immediately swims off (animated by Chiniquy).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½