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The Jet Cage

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The Jet Cage
Directed byFriz Freleng
Written byFriz Freleng[1]
StarringMel Blanc
June Foray
Edited byTreg Brown
Music byMilt Franklyn
William Lava (uncredited)
Animation byGerry Chiniquy
Art Leonardi
Virgil Ross
Lee Halpern
Bob Matz
Layouts byHawley Pratt
Backgrounds byTom O'Loughlin
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
  • September 22, 1962 (1962-09-22)
Running time
6 minutes
LanguageEnglish

The Jet Cage is a 1962 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng.[2] The short was released on September 22, 1962, and stars Tweety and Sylvester.[3]

Voice actors are Mel Blanc (doing the voices of Sylvester, Tweety and Blackbird) and June Foray (doing the voice for Granny).

The animation was by Gerry Chiniquy, Lee Halpern, Art Leonardi, Bob Matz and Virgil Ross. The layouts were designed by Hawley Pratt and the backgrounds by Tom O'Loughlin. The original music was composed by Milt Franklyn, who died during production on April 24,[4] and an uncredited William Lava who completed Franklyn's unfinished score. It was the last Tweety short directed by Freleng (Tweety's final Golden Age short, Hawaiian Aye Aye, was directed by Gerry Chiniquy).

Plot

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Tweety sits in his house, a bird cage, looking at the birds through the window. Tweety yearns dearly to fly freely like other birds, but not allowed to do so by Granny. That is considering his safety, as Sylvester is always lurking around waiting for a chance to nab him to eat him.

Granny reads a newspaper advertisement by Jet Age Technology, who has invented a $12.95 Flying Bird-Cage, which would allow birds to fly safely. Granny, who understands Tweety's longing for freedom, decides to buy the cage and presents it to Tweety. This enables Tweety to fly around outdoors without leaving the security of his cage.

Sylvester is at first taken aback at the sight of Tweety flying safely, piloting the jet-powered cage like an airplane. Two crows also watch in awe ("And all this time, I've been doing it the hard way," one crow remarks). Sylvester resolves to ground Tweety's cage and get his meal; his eyes rolling around to follow his every move.

Each of the following attempts are in vain:

  • An attempt to snare the cage with a butterfly catcher's net. The jet-powered cage is strong enough to drag the butterfly net, along with the cat hanging to it—until he crashes into a light pole.
  • After Tweety comes in for flying instructions ("I forgot what to do in case of fog!"), Sylvester sneaks inside the cage. Tweety eventually senses he's in trouble and releases the "bombs" into a river while in mid-air, just before Sylvester is about to strike.
  • Sylvester then builds a "NIKE rocket" designed to intercept the flying object of interest. The rocket simply flies back at the cat, who ducks into a nearby barrel, but the rocket flies into the barrel just before Sylvester hammers the lid shut from inside. Upon realizing the rocket is in the barrel as well, a panicked Sylvester manages to remove the nails, but the second he attempts to step out of the barrel, the rocket explodes.
  • A horseshoe-shaped magnet tied to a fishing rod. While the cage momentarily struggles against the magnet's pull (and the puddy tries to reel in his meal), Tweety manages to get the cage to break free. Sylvester is dragged into downtown traffic and crashes into a bus.
  • Sylvester then uses a pair of ping-pong paddles as makeshift wings to fly beside Tweety. Sylvester gloats, mocking the bird for thinking he outsmarted him, but Tweety points out that Sylvester has his hands full. The cat tosses the paddles aside and shoots back, "Well now I haven't!" ... just before he realizes he's in for a big fall.

At the end, Sylvester—limping on crutches and heavily bandaged—decides to join the U.S. Air Force, vowing to earn his wings and get Tweety once and for all (Sylvester was reading the sign: "Earn your wings at the U.S.A.F. Hmm that’s what I’ll do. And when I do, watch out, bird!”).[5]

Throughout the cartoon, the sound effects for the jet cage's engines are more appropriate to a propeller-driven aircraft, and so is the terminology Tweety uses when he reads aloud from the pilot's manual.

References

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  1. ^ Beck, Jerry (1991). I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat: Fifty Years of Sylvester and Tweety. New York: Henry Holt and Co. p. 150. ISBN 0-8050-1644-9.
  2. ^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 339. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  3. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 151–152. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  4. ^ Warner Club News (1962) – Part 1
  5. ^ Ironically Sylvester is the emblem of two actual Air Force Squadrons: the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron and the 151st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron.
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