''Life with Feathers'' is a 1945

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

'' animated short film directed by

Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' ...

. The short was released on March 24, 1945, and is the first cartoon to feature

Sylvester the Cat Sylvester Pussycat, Sr. is a fictional character, an anthropomorphic tuxedo cat in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. Most of his appearances have him often chasing Tweety, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper. He appea ...

. The title is a play on the longest-running non-musical play on Broadway, ''

Life with Father ''Life with Father'' is a 1939 play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, adapted from a humorous autobiographical book of stories compiled in 1935 by Clarence Day. The Broadway production ran for 3,224 performances over 401 weeks to become the l ...

'' (the title being the only connection between the two works). Warner Bros. would produce a film version in 1947.

Plot

A lovebird decides to commit suicide after his wife Sweetypuss kicks him out of their nest. The bird wants Sylvester to eat him, but the cat thinks the bird is poisonous and refuses. For the rest of the cartoon, the lovebird attempts to get Sylvester to eat him many times. The cartoon ends with the lovebird getting a telegram saying Sweetypuss is moving out, so he escapes from Sylvester in order to keep himself from being eaten. When he gets home, he finds out she has decided to stay, and he starts looking for Sylvester again in order to get himself eaten.

Cast

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...

Lovebird Lovebird is the common name for the genus ''Agapornis'', a small group of parrots in the Old World parrot family Psittaculidae. Of the nine species in the genus, all are native to the African continent, with the grey-headed lovebird being native ...

, Telegram Guy *

Sara Berner Sara Berner (born Lillian Ann Herdan; January 12, 1912 – December 19, 1969) was an American actress. Known for her expertise in dialect and characterization, she began her career as a performer in vaudeville before becoming a voice actress for r ...

as Sweetypuss, Housewife *

Dave Barry David McAlister Barry (born July 3, 1947) is an American author and columnist who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for the ''Miami Herald'' from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comic ...

as Radio Announcer

Home media

*VHS – ''Cartoon Moviestars: Tweety and Sylvester '' *LaserDisc – ''

The Golden Age of Looney Tunes ''The Golden Age of Looney Tunes'' is a collection of LaserDiscs released by MGM/UA Home Video in the 1990s. There were five sets made, featuring a number of discs, and each disc side represented a different theme, being made up of seven cartoon ...

'', Volume 1, Side 2: Firsts. *VHS – ''The Golden Age of Looney Tunes'', Vol. 2: Firsts *Blu-ray Disc, DVD – '' Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3'', Disc 2.

Notes

*''Life with Feathers'' featured the first appearance of

Sylvester Sylvester or Silvester is a name derived from the Latin adjective ''silvestris'' meaning "wooded" or "wild", which derives from the noun ''silva'' meaning "woodland". Classical Latin spells this with ''i''. In Classical Latin, ''y'' represented a ...

. Sylvester would appear in 102 more shorts in the Golden Age. *''Life with Feathers'' was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...

. *This cartoon was re-released into the Blue Ribbon ''Merrie Melodies'' program on March 3, 1951. Like most reissued ''Merrie Melodies'' at the time, the original closing bullet titles were kept. *This was the last cartoon to use the 1941–1945 opening rendition of '' Merrily We Roll Along'' and the last non-

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' ...

cartoon to have "WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC." and "Present" fade in after the WB shield zooms in. As such, the opening themes would be shortened, but the ending rendition still remained unchanged for another ten years. *In 1951,

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...

reused a similar concept for Hubie & Bertie's final cartoon ''

Cheese Chasers ''Cheese Chasers'' is a 1951 Warner Bros. Cartoons ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The cartoon was released on August 25, 1951 and stars Hubie and Bertie, with Claude Cat. Plot At the end of a ...

''. *In the American and European Turner "dubbed versions" (and presumably other TV prints), Sylvester has black fur (similar to his current appearance). The restored version on Blu-ray Disc/DVD shows that Sylvester originally had a lighter bluish-black fur. * The scene where Sylvester is rummaging through trash cans for food is reused in ''

Kit For Cat ''Kit for Cat'' is a 1948 '' Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on November 6, 1948 and features Elmer Fudd and Sylvester. Plot The cartoon begins with Sylvester in an alley, strolling past the line of tr ...

'', and ''

Tweety's S.O.S. ''Tweety's S.O.S.'' is a 1951 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on September 22, 1951, and stars Tweety and Sylvester. Plot The story opens with Sylvester patiently rummaging through tra ...

'' A similar but reanimated scene is also featured in ''

Catch as Cats Can ''Catch as Cats Can'' is a 1947 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' animated cartoon directed by Arthur Davis. The short was released on December 6, 1947, and stars Sylvester. Plot An emaciated canary, singing like Frank Sinatra and attracting the a ...

''.

References

External links

* * * 1945 animated films Merrie Melodies short films Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films Short films directed by Friz Freleng Films scored by Carl Stalling Films about suicide 1945 films Sylvester the Cat films Animated films about birds 1940s Warner Bros. animated short films 1940s English-language films {{MerrieMelodies-stub