Tweety's Circus

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Tweety's Circus
series = Merrie Melodies
director = Friz Freleng| animator = Gerry Chiniquy
Ted Bonnicksen
Arthur Davis
| voice_actor = Mel Blanc
| musician = Milt Franklyn
producer = David H. DePatie
distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
release_date = June 4, 1955
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7 mins
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0048753

Tweety's Circus is a "Merrie Melodies" cartoon animated short starring Tweety and Sylvester. Released June 4, 1955, the cartoon is directed by Friz Freleng. The voices were performed by Mel Blanc.

Plot

The story centers on Sylvester visiting a circus, where he not only tries to catch Tweety for his meal, but attempt to one-up a lion (an attraction billed as "King of the Cats").

A carefree Sylvester walks into the circus singing his theme "Meow!" where he visits the various animal exhibits. There, upon seeing the lion exhibit, the unimpressed puddy tat immediately expresses his displeasure over the large feline's billing. However, Sylvester is far more interested in Tweety ... and thus the chase begins.

Tweety runs into the big top, where the lion (now uncaged) is waiting to maul Sylvester for his earlier remarks. From this point forward, the lion serves as both an antagonist for Sylvester and a protecter of Tweety.

Sylvester tries beating what he thinks is a fire hose to free Tweety, unknowing that the "hose" is an elephant's trunk. The elephant grabs Sylvester with his trunk and — after crushing his chest — throws the battered puss into the lion's cage, where the lion finishes the job.

Other run-ins with the lion, elephant and other animals — all ending with Sylvester getting the worst of things — involve him exploiting his abilities as a high diver (Tweety directs the elephant to "drink it all down" (referring to the water) before Sylvester lands), a fire eater (the lion makes Sylvester eat the fire) and a high-wire walker.

In the end, Sylvester finally gets rid of the lion ... only to unwittingly lock himself in a cage with even more lions. Tweety immediately takes a hat and cane and becomes a carnival barker ("Huwwy! Huwwy! Huwwy! Da gweatest show on Eawth! Fifty wions and one puddy tat!") A loud roar erupts, and with Sylvester presumably having met his fate, Tweety changes his spiel: "Step wight up! Fifty wions, count 'em, fifty wions!"

Censorship

*The ABC version of this cartoon edits two scenes [http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/ltcuts/ltcutst.html] :
**The part where Sylvester beats the lion with a mallet had the beatings cut from six to one (much like in the ABC version of the 1955 Freleng cartoon "Roman Legion-Hare").
**The part where Sylvester hides from the lion by impersonating Flammo the fire-eater (by swallowing a flaming sword) was cut.

uccession

References

* Friedwald, Will and Jerry Beck. "The Warner Brothers Cartoons." Scarecrow Press Inc., Metuchen, N.J., 1981. ISBN 0-8108-1396-3.

External links

*imdb title|0048753
* [http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/articles/tasarticle2.html Nuance and Suggestion in the Tweety and Sylvester Series] - Written by Kevin McCorry