A Tale of Two Kitties

A Tale of Two Kitties
Production company	Leon Schlesinger Productions
Distributor	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date	November 21, 1942
Run time	7 minutes
Starring	Mel Blanc Tedd Pierce
Music composed by	Carl W. Stalling
Story by	Warren Foster
Animation	Rod Scribner
Director(s)	Bob Clampett
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A Tale of Two Kitties, is the two hundred and twelfth Merrie Melodies theatrical short. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Vitaphone Corporation on November 21, 1942. It was written by Warren Foster, produced by Leon Schlesinger, and directed by Bob Clampett.

Memorable quotes

Babbit: Give me the bird! Give me the bird!
Catstello: If da Hays Office would only let me, I'd give him da boid, all right. (whistles)

Orson: I tawt I taw a puddy tat... I did! I taw a puddy tat!

Orson: Oh, the poor puddy tat. He cwushed his widdle head.

Orson: This widdle piddy went to mawket.
Catstello: Babbit!
Orson: This widdle piddy stawed home.
Catstello: Babbit!
Orson: This widdle piddy had woast beef.
Catstello: BABBIT!
Orson: Well, whatddya know? I wan out of piddies.

Orson: TURN OUT THOSE LIGHTS!

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Catstello	Mel Blanc
Babbit	Tedd Pierce
Orson	Mel Blanc

Locations

• Earth
  • United States
    • Farm

Music

The score was composed by Carl W. Stalling. The main title and closing themes are a rendition of "Merrily We Roll Along," also arranged by Stalling.

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: November 21, 1942

Behind the scenes

• This marks the first appearances of Tweety, Babbot and Costello.
• Tweety is named Orson in the original model sheets for the short, which was also the name of a bird character from an earlier Clampett cartoon Wacky Blackout.
• Catstello makes reference to the "Hays Office" after Babbitt orders him to "give him the bird," referring to Motion Picture Production Code (or the Hays Code, as it's commonly known).

Connections

• Orson would be renamed to Tweety in his second appearance, Birdy and the Beast.
• The gag where Tweety beats up Catstello, while he jumps from the trampoline to the nest, is repeated in Bad Ol' Putty Tat with Sylvester.
• The scene where Tweety plays "This Little Piggy" on an electrical wire is repeated in the shorts A Hare Grows in Manhattan and Bad Ol' Putty Tat; Bugs Bunny fills in for Tweety for this gag in the the former short.

In popular culture

• In the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Tweety repeats the "This Little Piggy" gag from this short while Eddie Valiant dangles on a flagpole.

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning

Home availability

• In the United States: