Sylvester the Cat

Sylvester James Pussycat, Sr. is a fictional character, an anthropomorphic tuxedo cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons.[1] Most of his appearances have him often chasing Tweety, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper. He appeared in 103 cartoons in the golden age of American animation, lagging only behind superstars Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and Daffy Duck.[2] Three of his cartoons won Academy Awards, the most for any starring Looney Tunes character: they are Tweetie Pie, Speedy Gonzales, and Birds Anonymous.

Sylvester
Looney Tunes character
First appearanceNaughty but Mice (early version)
May 20, 1939
Life with Feathers (official version)
March 24, 1945
Created byChuck Jones (prototype)
Friz Freleng (official)
Designed byPrototype
Bob Givens (1939-1941, 1943)
Robert McKimson (1941-1942)
Official
Hawley Pratt (1945-present)
Dick Ung (1965-1966)
Voiced byMel Blanc (1945–1989)
Bill Farmer (1989, 1996)
Jeff Bergman (1990–1993, 2007, 2011–present)
Joe Alaskey (1990–2011)
Greg Burson (1993–1997)
Terry Klassen (2001–2006)
Jeff Bennett (2003)
Eric Bauza (2018)
(see below)
In-universe information
Full nameSylvester James Pussycat, Sr.
SpeciesCat
GenderMale
ChildrenSylvester Jr. (son)
RelativesSylth Vester (descendant)
NationalityAmerican

Animation history

Development

Sylvester predecessors appeared from 1939–1944. Naughty but Mice was the first. Notes to You was remade in color in one of Sylvester's cartoons, Back Alley Oproar. The Hep Cat features another version, as well as Birdy and the Beast, which features Tweety. Before Sylvester's appearance in the cartoons, Blanc voiced a character named Sylvester on The Judy Canova Show using the voice that would eventually become associated with the cat.[3]

Personality and catchphrases

Sylvester's height is 60 or 72 inches or 5 or 6 feet tall and his weight is 60 or 72 pounds. His scientific name is "Felis Sapiens".

In many cartoons, Sylvester is shown intentionally sticking out his tongue while speaking, putting on emphasis that the lisp is intentional. He is also known for spraying people he is talking to with the saliva from his lisping, which is a trait rarely shared by Daffy. A common gag used for both Sylvester and Daffy is a tendency to go on a long rant, complaining about a subject and then ending it by saying "Sakes".

Sylvester's trademark exclamation is "Sufferin' succotash!", which is said to be a minced oath of "Suffering Savior".

He shows a different personality when paired with Porky Pig in explorations of spooky places, in which he does not speak, behaves as a scaredy-cat, and always seems to see the scary things Porky does not see and gets scolded by him for it every time.

Sylvester, who for the most part has always played the antagonist role, is featured playing the protagonist role in a couple of cartoons while having to deal with the canine duo of Spike the Bulldog and Chester the Terrier after being chased around. In 1952's Tree for Two by Friz Freleng, Sylvester is cornered in the back alley and this would result in Spike getting mauled by a black panther that had earlier escaped from a zoo without Spike and Chester knowing about it. In the 1954 film Dr. Jerkyl's Hide, Sylvester pummels Spike (here called "Alfie") thanks to a potion that transforms him into a feline monster. Both times after Spike's ordeal, Sylvester would have the courage and confidence to confront Chester, only to be beaten up and tossed away by the little dog.

Perhaps Sylvester's most developed role is in a series of Robert McKimson-directed shorts, in which the character is a hapless mouse-catching instructor to his dubious son, Sylvester Junior, with the "mouse" being a powerful baby kangaroo which he constantly mistakes for a "giant mouse". His alternately confident and bewildered episodes bring his son to shame, while Sylvester himself is reduced to nervous breakdowns.

Sylvester also had atypical roles in a few cartoons:

  • Kitty Kornered (1946), a Bob Clampett cartoon in which a black-nosed, yellow-eyed Sylvester was teamed with three other cats to oust owner Porky Pig from his house.
  • Doggone Cats (1947), an Arthur Davis cartoon where Sylvester is teamed up with an orange cat (later retooled as Sylvester’s brother Alan in The Looney Tunes Show) to stop a dog named Wellington from delivering a package to Uncle Louie's home.
  • Catch as Cats Can (1947), another Davis cartoon that portrays Sylvester as a slow-minded cat with a dopey voice, who has to eat a singing canary that's a caricature of Frank Sinatra.
  • Back Alley Oproar (1948), a Friz Freleng cartoon (actually a remake of the 1941 short Notes to You) wherein Sylvester pesters the sleep-deprived Elmer Fudd by performing several amazing musical numbers in the alley (and even a sweet lullaby ("go to sleep... go to sleep... close your big bloodshot eyes...") to temporarily ease Elmer back to the dream world, though very temporarily.
  • The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950), a Chuck Jones cartoon in which Sylvester plays the Basil Rathbone-like villain to Daffy Duck's Errol Flynn-esque hero.
  • Red Riding Hoodwinked (1955), another Freleng cartoon where Sylvester co-stars with an absent-minded Big Bad Wolf in which each not only tries to get their particular "prey" (Sylvester vs. Tweety and the Wolf vs. Little Red Riding Hood) but they both nearly come to blows with each other playing "Grandma". ("You're musclin' in on my racket!")

In the television series Tiny Toon Adventures, Sylvester appeared as the mentor of Furrball. He also starred in The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries. In the series, he plays the narrator at the beginning of episodes.

Filmography
Main article: List of cartoons featuring Sylvester

The character debuted in Friz Freleng's Life With Feathers (1945). Freleng's 1947 cartoon Tweetie Pie was the first pairing of Tweety with Sylvester, and the Bob Clampett-directed Kitty Kornered (1946) was Sylvester's first pairing with Porky Pig.

He also appears in a handful of cartoons with Elmer Fudd, such as a series of three cartoons underwritten by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation extolling the American economic system.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Sylvester appeared in various Warner Bros. television specials, and in the 1980s, he appeared in the feature-film compilations.

He has died more times than any other Looney Tunes character, having died in Peck Up Your Troubles, I Taw a Putty Tat, Back Alley Oproar, Mouse Mazurka, Bad Ol' Putty Tat, Ain't She Tweet, Satan's Waitin', Muzzle Tough, Sandy Claws, Tweety's Circus, Too Hop To Handle, Tree Cornered Tweety, Tweet and Lovely, Trick or Tweet, The Wild Chase, and Museum Scream. He was also cast in the role of the Jacob Marley-like ghost in Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas.

A baby version of Sylvester is part of the title cast of characters in Baby Looney Tunes.

Sylvester is featured in The Looney Tunes Show (2011–14), voiced by Jeff Bergman. He is shown living with Granny alongside Tweety. In "Point, Laser Point", it is revealed that Sylvester was attracted by a glowing red dot that was on his mother's necklace when he was young as experienced through hypnotic therapy done by Witch Lezah. It was also revealed that his mother (voiced by Estelle Harris) has retired to Florida (with Sylvester's mother being disappointed that Sylvester never kept wearing his retainer, never remembered where she lives in Florida, and has not caught Tweety yet). This episode also introduced Sylvester's brother Alan (voiced by Jeff Bennett).

Sylvester also makes recurring appearances in New Looney Tunes.

Cameo appearances

Sylvester appears in the Robot Chicken episode "Werewolf vs. Unicorn", voiced by Patrick Pinney. During Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announcement of illegal aliens from Mexico, Sylvester demonstrates a wired fence that will keep the aliens out, only for it to be penetrated by Speedy Gonzales.[4]

Sylvester makes a cameo appearance in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, where he provides the punchline for a double-entendre joke regarding Judge Doom's (Christopher Lloyd) identity.

Sylvester appears as part of the TuneSquad team in Space Jam, bearing the number 9 on his jersey. He was voiced by Bill Farmer.

He also has two cameo appearances in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, but the second time, "Sylvester" is really Mr. Smith in disguise.

Sylvester makes a vocal cameo appearance in the 2020 Animaniacs revival segment "Suffragette City", with Jeff Bergman reprising his role.

Other appearances

From 1979 to 1983, Sylvester was the "spokescat" for 9 Lives' line of dry cat food. His face appeared on the product's boxes and Sylvester was also featured in a series of television commercials. These ads usually consisted of Sylvester trying to get to his box of 9 Lives dry cat food while avoiding Hector the Bulldog. Sylvester would always succeed in luring the dog away so he could get to his food, but would always find himself a target again by the end of the commercial, which generally ended with Sylvester calling 9 Lives dry cat food "worth riskin' your life for."

In comic books
Tweety and Sylvester No. 9, published in 1955
Tweety & Sylvester No. 100, published in 1979

Western Publications produced a comic book about Tweety and Sylvester entitled Tweety and Sylvester, first in Dell Comics Four Color series #406, 489, and 524, then in their own title from Dell Comics (#4–37, 1954–62), and later from Gold Key Comics (#1–102, 1963–72). In most of the earlier comic books, Sylvester has white fur surrounding his eyes similar to Pepé Le Pew. The white fur disappeared in the later comic books.

Sylvester and Tweety appeared in a DC Comics and Looney Tunes crossover comic called Catwoman/Tweety and Sylvester #1. In the issue, witches from the DC and Looney Tunes universes placed a wager where the existence of all birds and cats (as well as all bird- and cat-themed heroes and villains) depended on if Sylvester could eat Tweety. Sylvester (designed more realistically for the DC Universe) teamed up with Catwoman, while Tweety teamed up with the Black Canary.[5]

In video games

Sylvester has appeared in the video games Sylvester and Tweety in Cagey Capers, The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle, The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout, Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage, Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal, The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 2, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Looney Tunes: Space Race, Bugs Bunny: Crazy Castle 3, and Sylvester and Tweety: Breakfast on the Run.

Naming

The name "Sylvester" is a play on Felis silvestris, the scientific name for the European wildcat (domestic cats like Sylvester are in the species Felis catus). Sylvester was not named until Chuck Jones gave him the name Sylvester, which was first used in Scaredy Cat. Although the character was named Sylvester in later cartoon shorts (beginning with 1948's Scaredy Cat), he was called "Thomas" in his first appearance with Tweety in Tweetie Pie, most likely as a reference to a male cat being called a tom. Mel Blanc had also voiced a human character named Sylvester on Judy Canova's radio show earlier in the 1940s. Sylvester was officially given his name in the 1948 Chuck Jones short Scaredy Cat.

Voice

Origin

Sylvester's trademark is his sloppy and yet stridulating lisp. In Mel Blanc's autobiography, That's Not All Folks!, it is worth noting that Sylvester's voice is similar to Daffy Duck's, only not sped up in post-production, plus the even more exaggerated slobbery lisp. Conventional wisdom is that Daffy's lisp, and hence also Sylvester's, were based on the lisp of producer Leon Schlesinger. However, Blanc made no such claim. He said that Daffy's lisp was based on him having a long beak and that he borrowed the voice for Sylvester.[6] He also said that Sylvester's voice was very much like his own, excluding the lisp (his son Noel Blanc has also confirmed this). In addition, director Bob Clampett, in a 1970 Funnyworld interview, agreed with Blanc's account concerning Schlesinger.[7] Greg Ford once asked Blanc what was the difference between Daffy and Sylvester's voices. Blanc said to him that Daffy is a Jew and Sylvester is a Gentile.[8]

Voice actors

Reception and legacy

Sylvester was #33 on TV Guide's list of top 50 best cartoon characters, together with Tweety.[38]

See also

References
  1. "Sylvester a.k.a. Sylvester J. Pussycat Sr. a.k.a. Puddy Tat". comicbookrealm. July 23, 2012.
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 140–142. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. The Judy Canova Show, September 7, 1943, as rebroadcast on XM Radio's Old Time Radio channel August 13, 2008.
  4. "Illegal Alien Problems - Robot Chicken - Adult Swim". Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  5. Catwoman/Tweety and Sylvester #1
  6. Blanc, Mel; Bashe, Philip (1988). That's Not All, Folks!. Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-51244-3.
  7. An interview with Bob Clampett
  8. REVIEWS BY RICHARD CORLISS: Looney Tunes Golden Collection — Volume 5
  9. "Puddy Tats here. . . Puddy Tats There!". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  10. "Bugs Bunny on Record". News From ME. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  11. "Golden Records' "Bugs Bunny Songfest" (1961)". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  12. "Bugs Bunny Breaks a Sweat". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  13. "ABC Family Fun Fair". YouTube. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  14. "Voice(s) of Sylvester the Cat".
  15. "Voice of Sylvester the Cat in Family Guy". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
  16. "Bugs Bunny's Silly Seals". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  17. Bartlett, Jeff (27 September 2010). "Eh, what's up, Doc? TomTom offers Looney Tunes voices for GPS navigators". Consumer Reports. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  18. "Looney Tunes Musical Revue". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
  19. "06 Looney Tunes Stage Show_0001". Flickr. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  20. "Spectacular Light and Sound Show Illuminanza". Facebook. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  21. "Kentucky Fried Chicken". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
  22. "Tazos". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
  23. "Looney Tunes: What's Up Rock?". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
  24. "New Looney Tunes show unveiled at Movie World". Leisure Management. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  25. "'CLASSROOM CAPERS'". Alastair Fleming Associates. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  26. "That Wascally Wabbit". Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  27. "The Day I Met Bugs Bunny". Ian Heydon. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  28. "Keith Scott: Down Under's Voice Over Marvel". Animation World Network. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  29. "Keith Scott". Grace Gibson Shop. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  30. "Keith Scott-"The One-Man Crowd"". Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  31. "The Toonite Show Starring Bugs Bunny". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
  32. "Looney Tunes B-Ball". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  33. "The Voice Artist's Spotlight on Twitter: "Greg Burson was the go-to guy for all voices in all of the Looney Tunes games developed by Sunsoft. Also voiced Daffy, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, and more."". Twitter. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  34. "Warner Bros. Kids Club". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
  35. "Voice of Sylvester the Cat in Robot Chicken". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
  36. "Voice of Sylvester the Cat in Mad". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
  37. "Voice of Monster Sylvester in Wabbit". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
  38. "TV Guide's 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time". CNN. July 30, 2002.
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