Birdy and the Beast

Tweety's second cartoon (and the first to actually name him) is a funny effort from Bob Clampett. In this one an unnamed black cat tries repeatedly to catch Tweety so he can eat him, but the little wisecracking canary manages to outsmart him. It's basically setting the template for what would come with the Sylvester & Tweety series. It's not quite on the level of those shorts, though, since the cat here doesn't bring as much to the table as Sylvester and they were still figuring out Tweety's persona. He is really cute here ("Yoooo hoooo! Did you wose somethin' puddy tat?") and has a bit of a mean streak often missing in later shorts. But he's just not quite "there" yet, ya know? I gotta say, though, there is something especially nice about Mel Blanc's Tweety voice here. It's a got a slight crack to it that gives Tweety's dialogue an undertone of feigned innocence. The animation is excellent with lush colors and well-drawn characters and backgrounds. Carl Stalling's music is exceptional as always. It's a funny cartoon that played to many of Clampett's strengths.