Birdy and the Beast



Birdy and the Beast is a 1944 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies and Tweety series. It was directed by Bob Clampett, animated by Thomas McKimson, and musical direction by Carl Stalling. This is the second Tweety cartoon directed by Clampett, as Tweety is set upon a fat cat. The title is a play on the traditional fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast, although the plot has absolutely nothing to do with the fairy tale.

Plot synopsis
Tweety is sitting in his nest, when a cat watches him. Tweety flies off and the cat chases after him. The cat doesn't have the ability to fly, so instead he falls to the ground, by chance he falls on a bulldog, who decides to help Tweety.

The cat attempts to chase Tweety, but Tweety scares him off. Tweety decides to fool the cat by hiding in the bulldog's dish-bowl. The cat comes in and starts looking the bulldog's dish. The bulldog comes in and pounds the cat to the ground (as would be expected.)

Tweety decides to wander into the cat's mouth, while he is looking for Tweety. Tweety decides to set the cat's tongue on fire by putting a match on it. As the cat runs around on fire, Tweety decides to help the cat by using a hose and putting the fire. However, when he fires the hose (by now wearing a firefighter's hat) it turns out that it happens to be connected to a gas (petrol) can, and gasoline goes into the cat's mouth, causing him to explode.

The cat manages to survive, but he's still out to get Tweety. When he arrives at the top of the tree, he becomes a nest. Tweety attempts to get into it, but a hen, laying her eggs, causes him to get off. When she's finished, she flies off. The cat also arrives and his mouth is full of nothing but eggs. He attempts to catch Tweety once again but fails, then a grenade lands next to him, and thinking it is an egg, accidentally stuffs it in his mouth. He blows up and Tweety says, "You know, I lose more putty tats that way!", then drew a line on the tree of how many cats he got rid of.

Trivia

 * This is the final appearance of the Sylvester prototype.
 * This is the first cartoon where Tweety was given the name.
 * This is the final appearance of Tweety in a Leon Schlesinger cartoon. The next WB cartoon, Buckaroo Bugs, would be the final cartoon produced by Leon Schlesinger.
 * This is the second appearance of Tweety without feathers.
 * This cartoon features a prototype of Hector the Bulldog.

Goofs

 * At the beginning scene of the cartoon when the cat sneaks upon the tree where Tweety lives his eyes are yellow. For the rest of the cartoon however his eyes became white.
 * On the original print of the cartoon, on the "STARRING TWEETY" title card Tweety is colored pink. However, on the Turner "dubbed version" of this cartoon which aired on the Turner-owned channels (Cartoon Network, Boomerang, etc.), Tweety was miscolored yellow.

Availability
Birdy and the Beast is available uncut and digitally remastered on Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Volume 2 DVD and Blu-Ray set.

Crew
Director: Bob Clampett Producer: Leon Schlesinger Writer: Warren Foster Musical Direction: Carl Stalling Orchestrator: Milt Franklyn (uncredited) Film Editor: Treg Brown (uncredited) Sound Effects: Treg Brown (uncredited) Animation: Thomas McKimson