Sylvester

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Sylvester

Thufferin' thuccotash! That darn canary must've gone thomewhere in this site.
Species Cat (Tuxedo)
Gender Male
Member of Tune Squad
Affiliation Granny
Tweety
Hector
Speedy Gonzales
Hippety Hopper
Porky Pig
Furrball
Mother Mrs. Pussycat in The Looney Tunes Show
Sibling(s) One brother, Alan, in The Looney Tunes Show
Other relative(s) One descendant, Sylth Vester, in Loonatics Unleashed
Marital status Single[Note 1]
Son(s) Sylvester Jr.
First appearance MM: Life with Feathers (1945)
Played by Mel Blanc (1945–1989)
Bill Farmer (1987-1996)
Jeff Bergman (since 1990)
Bob Bergen (since 1990)
Joe Alaskey (1990–2011)
Greg Burson (1993–1997)
Terry Klassen (2002–2005)
Jeff Bennett (2003-2006)
Eric Bauza (2018-2020)

Robert McKimson's Sylvester

Tiny Toon Adventures
File:S&TM Sylvester.png
The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries

Space Jam

Baby Looney Tunes
File:Baby S2 Sylvester.png
Baby Looney Tunes
File:BIA Sylvester.png

The Looney Tunes Show
File:NLT Sylvester.png
New Looney Tunes

Looney Tunes Cartoons
File:ANL Sylvester.png
Space Jam: A New Legacy
File:BBB Sylvester.png
Bugs Bunny Builders

Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., also known as Sylvester the Cat, or simply Sylvester, is an anthropomorphic tuxedo cat and one of the main characters of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical shorts. He often appears as an antagonist to Tweety Bird or Speedy Gonzales, and usually acts as one of the pets of Granny, alongside Tweety. His voice was originated by Mel Blanc.

Outside of his antagonist role, Sylvester also appeared with his son Sylvester Jr. and Hippety Hopper in shorts directed by Robert McKimson, and was briefly a pet to Porky Pig in a few by Chuck Jones.

Character description

Appearances

TV series

Movies

Shorts

Early appearances
With Tweety
With Speedy Gonzales
With Hippety Hopper and Sylvester Jr.
Other appearances

Comics

Video games

Theme parks

Biography

Original Cartoons

In the Sylvester and Tweety shorts directed by Friz Freleng, Sylvester is usually portrayed as a foolish, yet sympathetic figure who simply wishes to catch his prey. He falls prey to Tweety's quick strategies, but his persistence keeps him to think of other ways to get him. His schemes are generally flawed, and tend to backfire when it seems like they have an advantage. In some shorts, he is either portrayed as an unaffiliated alley cat or a domesticated house pet, usually as a pet of Granny. Apart from Tweety, Sylvester also has multiple run-ins with Hector, a bulldog who played a minor role in many Tweety shorts, usually as the former's arch-enemy.

In cartoons starring Speedy Gonzales, Sylvester is similarly portrayed as a bumbling foil who tries his best to outsmart the fastest mouse in all of Mexico. He mostly acts as a bodyguard that attempts to safeguard food (primarily cheese) from starving mice, who call help on Speedy to relieve their hunger. As with his chases with Tweety, Sylvester is similarly outwitted and humiliated by Speedy, with the key difference being that Speedy can physically outrun him in almost every turn. He is mockingly called "el gringo pussygato" among similar titles by Speedy and the other mice.

In the Hippety Hopper shorts, Sylvester is portrayed as a single father who fosters his son Sylvester Jr. in hunting small mice. However, he constantly mistakes Hippety for being a giant mouse, generally at a moment when he switches places with an actual mouse. Sylvester often tries to capture Hippety in these cartoons, but as usual, he ends up getting humiliated by repeatedly getting kicked, punched and spun around. Sylvester's failings in catching Hippety also cause a great deal of embarrasment for Junior, despite his son's respect for him.

Early Years

Sylvester made his debut in the 1945 Merrie Melodies short, Life with Feathers, as a clueless cat for a lovebird who wants to get eaten. While he refuses to eat him out of suspicion, the bird invents multiple schemes to get through his goal, yet the cat's persistence prevails as he keeps deflecting back on his attempts. Their conflict escalates until Sylvester is convinced on eating him, but the lovebird's fate changes when he receives news from his wife. Once the lovebird's wife changes her mind about staying, he calls on Sylvester on eating him again.

Sylvester wasn't paired with Tweety until the 1947 short Tweetie Pie. In this cartoon, Sylvester (referred here as Thomas) discovers the little canary for the first time and is motivated to eat him. However, he is soon scolded by his unseen owner when she adopts Tweety. Despite her warning, Thomas keeps on stalking Tweety, only to backfire from the bird's wits, which eventually culminates in the cat trying to saw a hole at the ceiling around his cage. Thomas is then severely punished after he assumes that his owner had heard the racket caused between him and Tweety, only to be revealed that he was punished by Tweety, who continuously whacks Thomas with a shovel and calls a him "bad ol' puddy tat!"

Sylvester also appeared alongside Porky Pig in the 1946 cartoon Kitty Cornered, where he is depicted as a leading member of four cats, who plan on returning to their home after getting kicked out by Porky. Sylvester is depicted in this short with a black nose, as opposed to the red one he usually possesses.

In Catch as Cats Can (1947), Sylvester becomes a unwitting foil of two rivaling birds: a scrawny canary who sings like Frank Sinatra, and a pipe-smoking parrot who is modeled after Bing Crosby. Sylvester is portrayed differently in this short as a dopey cat without his signature lisp.

We're All a Little Looney

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The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries

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Come on and Slam! and Welcome to the Jam!

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Sylvester Gets Modern

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Going Down The Rabbit Hole

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Back to Basics

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It's Hard Hat Time

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Sylvester Sells Out

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Development

Gallery

Main article: Sylvester/Gallery

Toys and merchandise

Behind the scenes

In popular culture

WARNING: The following section contains content that may be seen as mature or offensive to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
  • A stuffed doll of Sylvester makes an appearance at the department store in the 1984 film Gremlins.
  • In a 1985 episode of the TV game show Press Your Luck, host Peter Tomarken provided a question on which cartoon character said, "sufferin' succotash," to which all three contestants correctly answered Sylvester. When Tomarken mistakenly credits the phrase to Daffy Duck, he receives a telephone call from Mel Blanc as Sylvester, who tells him, "Sufferin' succotash, everybody knows that!"
  • In the 1988 movie Short Circuit 2, Johnny Five gets unwanted attention from a cat he refers to as Felix, Sylvester, and Garfield.
  • In the Full House episodes "Middle Age Crazy," "Fogged In," "Working Mothers, "Pal Joey," "El Problema Grande de D.J.," "Blast from the Past," "Nerd for a Day," "Joey & Stacy and... Oh, Yeah, Jesse," "Those Better Not Be the Days," "The I.Q. Man," "Terror in Tanner Town," "Happy New Year:" a 1986 Looney Tunes poster appears in Joey's bedroom from the second season onwards, featuring Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Sylvester, Road Runner, and Tweety.
  • In The Simpsons episode "Bart the Murderer," Sufferin' Succotash, named after Sylvester's catchphrase, is one of the racehorses that Fat Tony bets against.
  • In the 1993 film Hot Shots! Part Deux, Saddam Hussein says "Sufferin' succotash!" in Sylvester's lisp when he sees President "Tug" Benson. However, when Benson accidentally swings towards a fireplace, Hussein shouts "Yes!" in the same lisp before it is revealed that Benson's skin is made out of asbestos.
  • In the 1993 film Wayne's World 2, when Kim seduces Garth by kissing his hand, he starts sputtering random lines from fictional characters, such as Tweety's "I thought I saw I puddy cat."
  • In the Beast Wars: Transformers episode "Endgame Part 2: When Legends Fall," Thurst mockingly calls Cheetor a "puddytat," much like how Tweety calls Sylvester by that name.
  • In the 2003 film Rugrats Go Wild, Spike the dog (who can be heard through Eliza's gift) makes fun of Siri the clouded leopard by calling her a pussy cat, and then mocks her even more by saying, "You're a very scary putty tat" in the same manner as Tweety would say to Sylvester.
  • In the Robot Chicken skit "Illegal Alien Problems" of the episode "Werewolves vs. Unicorns," while Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger investigates the issues of illegal immigration in California, he presents Sylvester as a border guard, who works at the US-Mexico border and explains how its security works. When Speedy Gonzales runs through a highly guarded fence, Sylvester responds in anger by saying, "Son of a bitch!"
  • In the The Big Bang Theory episode "The Desperation Emanation," Looney Tunes #189 (featuring Sylvester and Tweety on the cover) is behind Stuart when he talks to the gang.
  • In a 2015 episode of WWE Smackdown, the highlight of Roman Reigns's promo is a part where he infamously calls out Seth Rollins for being a "sniveling little, suck-up sellout full of suffering succotash."[2]
  • In the Fresh Off the Boat episode "Workin' the 'Ween," Louis dresses himself and Maria as Sylvester and Tweety, respectively, hoping to distract her enough that she doesn't remember she wants her pacifier. He says to her, "I tawt I saw a puddy tat."
  • In the 2023 film The Flash, the alternate 2013 version of Barry Allen has a Looney Tunes background screen on his computer, which includes Sylvester, Tweety, Bugs, Daffy, Road Runner, and Wile E.
  • In the Transformers: Earthspark episode "House Rules," a farmer yells "Sufferin' succotash!" upon seeing that his corn field was destroyed by Thrash and Swindle.
  • In the Velma episode "Private Velmjamin," Fred wants to return a nativity miniature model with the Looney Tunes to Father O'Rourke, after Fred briefly became Catholic. Elmer Fudd is baby Jesus, Sylvester is Joseph, Granny is Mary, and Daffy, Porky, and Bugs as the three wise men.
  • In the Teen Titans Go! episode "The Great Azarathian Bake-Off," when Mar watches a dog chase Cat, she comments, "I thought I saw I puddy cat," with her Grr responding, "You did. You did see a puddy cat."

Family Guy

Main article: Family Guy
  • "Padre de Familia:" Peter makes a new American character called Rapid Dave, after finding out that Speedy Gonzales is an immigrant and bad influence. Sylvester appears in the cutaway and is voiced by Jeff Bergman.
  • "Stewie is Enciente:" In the Looney Tunes edition of Top Chef, the judges criticize Elmer's carrot stew because there was a live rabbit in it. One of the judges praises Sylvester's "sufferin' succotash," however, to which he thanks in his signature lisp. Sylvester is again voiced by Jeff Bergman.

Notes

  1. ↑ Married to Mrs. Sylvester in the shorts A Mouse Divided and Goldimouse and the Three Cats, and the feature film Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island.

References

  1. ↑ Blanc, Mel; Bashe, Philip (1989). That's Not All, Folks!. New York, NY: Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-51244-3.
  2. ↑ "Suffering Succotash? #RomanReigns #WTF #SmackDown #2015" (uploaded on August 8, 2017 via YouTube).
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