''The Jet Cage'' is a 1962

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. D ...

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

'' cartoon 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 September 22, 1962, and stars

Tweety Tweety is a yellow canary in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being an English onomatopoeia for t ...

and Sylvester. Voice actors are

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 ...

(doing the voices of Sylvester,

and Blackbird) and

June Foray June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...

(doing the voice for Granny). The animation was by Gerry Chiniquy, Lee Halpern, Art Leonardi, Bob Matz and Virgil Ross. The layouts were designed by

Hawley Pratt Hawley B. Pratt (June 9, 1911 – March 4, 1999) was an American film director, animator, and illustrator. He is best known for his work for Warner Bros. Cartoons and as the right-hand man of director Friz Freleng as a layout artist and late ...

and the backgrounds by Tom O'Loughlin. The original music was composed by Milt Franklyn, who died during production on April 24, and an uncredited

William Lava William "Bill" Benjamin Lava (March 18, 1911 – February 20, 1971) was a composer and arranger who composed and conducted music for feature films as well as that for the Warner Bros.' ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' animated carto ...

who completed Franklyn's unfinished score. It was the last Tweety short directed by Freleng (Tweety's final Golden Age short, '' Hawaiian Aye Aye'', was directed by Gerry Chiniquy).

Plot

Tweety sits in his house, a

bird cage A birdcage (or bird cage) is a cage designed to house birds as pets. Antique (or antique-style) birdcages are often popular as collectors' items or as household decor but most are not suitable for housing live birds, being too small, improper s ...

, looking at the birds through the window. Tweety yearns dearly to fly freely like other birds, but not allowed to do so by Granny. That is considering his safety, as Sylvester is always lurking around waiting for a chance to nab him to eat him. Granny reads a newspaper advertisement by Jet Age Technology, who has invented a $12.95 Flying Bird-Cage, which would allow birds to fly safely. Granny, who understands Tweety's longing for freedom, decides to buy the cage and presents it to Tweety. This enables Tweety to fly around outdoors without leaving the security of his cage. Sylvester is at first taken aback at the sight of Tweety flying safely, piloting the jet-powered cage like an

airplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spe ...

. Two crows also watch in awe ("And all this time, I've been doing it the hard way," one crow remarks). Sylvester resolves to ground Tweety's cage and get his meal; his eyes rolling around to follow his every move. Each of the following attempts are in vain: * An attempt to snare the cage with a butterfly catcher's net. The jet-powered cage is strong enough to drag the

butterfly net A butterfly net (sometimes called an aerial insect net) is one of several kinds of nets used to collect insects. The entire bag of the net is generally constructed from a lightweight mesh to minimize damage to delicate butterfly wings. Other ty ...

, along with the cat hanging to it—until he crashes into a light pole. * After Tweety comes in for flying instructions ("I forgot what to do in case of fog!"), Sylvester sneaks inside the cage. Tweety eventually senses he's in trouble and releases the "bombs" into a river while in mid-air, just before Sylvester is about to strike. * Use of a rocket bomb to intercept the flying object of interest. The bomb simply flies back at the cat. * A horseshoe-shaped

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

tied to a fishing rod. While the cage momentarily struggles against the magnet's pull (and the puddy tries to reel in his meal), Tweety manages to get the cage to break free. Sylvester is dragged into downtown traffic and crashes into a bus. * Sylvester using large flaps to fly beside Tweety. Sylvester gloats, mocking the bird for thinking he outsmarted him, but Tweety points out that Sylvester has his hands full. The cat tosses the flaps aside and shoots back, "Well now I haven't!" ... just before he realizes he's in for a big fall! At the end, Sylvester—limping on crutches and heavily bandaged—decides to join the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

, vowing to earn his wings and get Tweety once and for all (Sylvester was reading the sign: "Earn your wings at the U.S.A.F. Hmm that’s what I’ll do. And when I do, watch out, bird!”).Ironically Sylvester is the emblem of two actual Air Force Squadrons: the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron and the 151st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. Throughout the cartoon, the sound effects for the jet cage's engines are more appropriate to a propeller-driven aircraft, and so is the terminology Tweety uses when he reads aloud from the pilot's manual.

References

External links

* *
Davemackey.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jet Cage, The 1962 short films 1962 comedy films 1962 animated films 1960s Warner Bros. animated short films American aviation films Looney Tunes shorts 1960s English-language films Sylvester the Cat films Tweety films Animated films about birds Animated films about aviation Short films directed by Friz Freleng Films scored by Milt Franklyn Films scored by William Lava Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films American animated short films Animated films about cats