Birds Anonymous
Birds Anonymous.jpg
Directed byFriz Freleng
Story byWarren Foster[1]
Produced byEdward Selzer
StarringMel Blanc
Edited byTreg Brown
Music byMilt Franklyn
Animation by
Layouts byHawley Pratt
Backgrounds byBoris Gorelick
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
August 10, 1957 (1957-08-10)
Running time
6:56
LanguageEnglish

Birds Anonymous is a 1957 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short, directed by Friz Freleng and written by Warren Foster.[3] The short was released on August 10, 1957, and stars Tweety and Sylvester.[4]

Plot

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Production notes

Birds Anonymous is a reference to the self-help movement Alcoholics Anonymous.[5] The voice of Clarence the cat is similar to that of Marvin the Martian, the creation of Chuck Jones. The voice of the B.A. Cat was used by Blanc for the love-bird in Life With Feathers, among other places.

The premise was later adapted into The Last Hungry Cat, again with Sylvester struggling against his conscience over Tweety.

Reception

Shannon K. Garrity writes, "Mel Blanc's amazing vocal performances — it was reputedly the Warner Bros. short of which he was proudest — rank high among the many joys of this lovingly crafted, hilariously self-aware cartoon. Freleng and his team went all out to give Birds Anonymous a film noir look, with dramatic camera angles drawn by layout artist Hawley Pratt and moody backgrounds by Boris Gorelick... Above all, Birds Anoymous satirizes Warner Bros. cartoons themselves. The structure of the standard Sylvester and Tweety cartoon — and all chase cartoons — is threatened by Sylvester's resolution to walk away from the conflict and be a better cat. In the Looney Tunes world, of course, this can't be allowed."[6]

Honors

Birds Anonymous won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film[7] in 1958,[8] beating Tabasco Road starring Speedy Gonzales;[9] both shorts were eventually given Blue Ribbon reissues in 1961. When Eddie Selzer died, the statuette was passed on to Mel Blanc, who said that this was his favorite cartoon to do voices for, especially when it came to Sylvester.[10]

Home media

This film appeared in The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie's third act "The Oswalds" where Sylvester and Clarence fight over Tweety again with Granny intervening.

As of 2005, Birds Anonymous can also be found, uncut and restored, on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 and on Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection. It can also be found on the former UK rental VHS tape of The Bodyguard from 1993. A music/effects only track is also available.

References

  1. ^ Beck, Jerry (1991). I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat: Fifty Years of Sylvester and Tweety. New York: Henry Holt and Co. pp. 138–139. ISBN 0-8050-1644-9.
  2. ^ BFI
  3. ^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 300. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  4. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 151–152. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  5. ^ UC Berkeley Library
  6. ^ Beck, Jerry, ed. (2020). The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons. Insight Editions. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-1-64722-137-9.
  7. ^ 1958|Oscars.org
  8. ^ BCDB
  9. ^ Short Subject Winners: 1958 Oscars
  10. ^ Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Birds Anonymous.
Friz Freleng
Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
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