Scaredy Cat
From Looney Tunes Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
| Scaredy Cat | |
|---|---|
 Lobby card. | |
| Production company | Warner Bros. Cartoons |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
| Release date | December 18, 1948 |
| Starring | Mel Blanc |
| Producer(s) | Edward Selzer |
| Music composed by | Carl Stalling |
| Story by | Michael Maltese |
| Animation | Lloyd Vaughan Ken Harris Phil Monroe Ben Washam |
| Director(s) | Charles M. Jones |
| Series navigation | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| Title card | |
| |
| Second title card | |
| |
Scaredy Cat is the two hundred and ninety-seventh Merrie Melodies theatrical short. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Vitaphone Corporation on December 18, 1948. It was written by Michael Maltese, produced by Edward Selzer, and directed by Chuck Jones.
When Porky Pig buys an old mansion for a new home, Sylvester must protect his owner he discovers that the mice who reside there are murderers who kills any owners and their pets.
Detailed summary
Memorable quotes
Lew Lehr mouse: Pussycats is the most cwaziest peoples! Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!
Characters
In order of appearance: | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
Locations
- Earth
- United States
- Mansion
- United States
Objects
- Executioner's axe
- Anvil
- Gun pistol
- Mallet
Vehicles
- Wagon
Production
Development
Music
The music was composed by Carl W. Stalling.
Release
Dates are in order of release:
Behind the scenes
- The title is based on the phrase that describes a timid person.
- This is the first short where Sylvester is given his name, as prior to that he was unnamed; or in the case of Tweetie Pie, where he was named "Thomas." This is also the first of a few Sylvester shorts that was directed by Jones.
Legacy
- This is the first of three Jones-directed shorts which placed Porky and Sylvester (in a rare non-speaking role as Porky's pet) in a spooky setting, the other two shorts being Claws for Alarm (1954) and Jumpin' Jupiter (1955).
- This was the only entry in the trilogy in which Porky Pig does eventually realizes the danger that they are in.
- In this short, there is a brief sequence where Sylvester is reminded by his conscience of how Porky raised him from a kitten. Sylvester's kitten form in this sequence possibly inspired the creation of his son Sylvester Junior in the Robert McKimson shorts.
- The high-pitched yelling from the fleeing mice would be re-used in Kiddin' the Kitten (when the kitten chases the mice out of the house), Kiss Me Cat (when the mice family runs away from a "magnified" Pussyfoot) and Forward March Hare (when the soldiers run for cover as Bugs uses an ammunition shell to nail his calendar to a wall). Interestingly Kiss Me Cat also depicts the cats as the heroes and the mice as the villains rather than vice-versa, much like this short; the former was directed by McKimson, while the latter two were also directed by Jones.
- The killer mice resembling Hubie and Bertie from this cartoon would later reappear in The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries episode "Curse of De Nile", where this time they all have brown fur instead of grey fur, and are depicted as Egyptian killer mice. In this episode, Sylvester is aware of the danger, and frequently saves Granny, Tweety and Hector from the dangers despite how oblivious the three are to the danger they're in, similar in vein to this short.
Home availability
- In the United States:
