Fowl Weather
| Fowl Weather | |
|---|---|
| Merrie Melodies (Sylvester/Tweety/Granny) series | |
| Directed by | I. Freleng |
| Produced by |
Edward Selzer (uncredited) |
| Story by | Warren Foster |
| Voices by |
Mel Blanc Bea Benaderet (uncredited) |
| Music by | Carl Stalling |
| Animation by |
Arthur Davis Manuel Perez Ken Champin Virgil Ross |
| Layouts by | Hawley Pratt |
| Backgrounds by | Irv Wyner |
| Distributed by |
Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
| Release date(s) | April 4, 1953 (USA) |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 6 minutes |
| Language | English |
Fowl Weather is a 1953 Warner Bros. animated short featuring Sylvester and Tweety.
Plot
Granny, who in this cartoon is a bit ditzy, is planning a day-long trip into town and leaves Hector in charge of looking after Tweety and keeping Sylvester away; mimicking gunfire, she threatens to shoot and kill him if Tweety is harmed. Later, Sylvester (disguised as a scarecrow on stilts) sneaks up on Tweety and grabs him out of his cage, but Hector quickly sniffs out the cat and chases him away; Sylvester's attempt to get Hector to shut up (his only line of dialogue in the entire cartoon) only make him angrier.
Tweety, deciding he needs a little fresh air as long as he's outside his cage, decides to look around the barnyard. He greets a cow ("Hello, moo-moo cow!") and a pig (unwittingly insulting the pig by calling him a "dirty piggie") before immediately identifying Sylvester wearing a rubber goat's head mask ("Hello, puddy tat!") The chase this time leads to the fenced in area of a chicken coop, where a large male rooster (an ill-tempered, perfectionist rooster and not Foghorn Leghorn, who is a strictly Robert McKimson character) serves as the cat's nemesis.
After Tweety takes refuge amongst several chicks in a nest, Sylvester tries using a wind-up toy soldier to get the hens to stand up, allowing the cat to kidnap what the mother hen thinks is one of her young. The rooster intervenes and, after making Sylvester give the bird back, Tweety sarcastically says, "You tee, he's really a nice puddy tat," before scoffing—sets up a screen and beats up the puddy tat.
Later, Tweety feeds with the chicks, himself mimicking a chick, the bird advising a worm ("a piece of spaghetti with eyes") to hide or he'll be eaten. Sylvester disguises himself with a red glove as a hen and calls Tweety over. Before the cat can grab dinner, the rooster decides to "court" Sylvester. The courtship immediately ends, the rooster demanding that Sylvester lay eggs; when the rooster's suspicion is confirmed, he decides to "see" if the cat can "hatch" an egg by making him sit on a live grenade.
Just then, Hector realizes Tweety is outside his cage and hears Granny's horse and buggy coming back home. After envisioning his execution (for failure to protect Tweety), Hector finds Sylvester and demands to know the bird's whereabouts. Short on time and Sylvester unable to answer, Hector hastily paints the cat yellow, places him in Tweety's cage and makes him sing. The ruse works, completely fooling Granny, and Hector's well-being is ensured.
Tweety then comes into the yard, sees Sylvester in the cage acting like a bird. "Ho ho! If he's a birdie, den dat makes me a putty tat!" the bird scoffs before meowing, and scratching and hissing at Hector.