Tuesday 7 June 2022

Waiting For Petey

Ultra close-ups, shadows, silhouettes and camera angles highlight Frank Tashlin’s Puss ‘N Booty (1943).

Here Rudolph the cat awaits Petey the canary being delivered from a pet store so he can eat it like he has all the previous pet canaries. There’s a little gag here about the cat’s head still watching for the pet store truck while his body turns to pace in the opposite direction.



Ah! He hears something and races back.



Cut to the next scene. Tashlin goes from black to a huge, evil cat head zipping into view. The head is animated. One drawing will give you an idea of the expression.



Cal Dalton is the credited animator. Art Davis is uncredited and I’m pretty sure Don Williams also animated part of this short.

3 comments:

  1. One of my favorite Tashlin shorts and one of the best one-shot Looney Tunes shorts of all time!!

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    1. It's the only one-shot, and the last ever, Looney Tunes shorts in black and white to have been "retraced in color", a prototype of early Tweety short from 1948, "I Taw a Puddy Tat"and an early appearane of Bea Benaderet in the series cartoons (as the mistress).

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  2. And, after he's ripped out the address sign to show to a possible delivery-person, we see the gaping hole in the wall the next time he's pacing nervously.

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