Life with Feathers

This cartoon (without Tweety, presumably because of that well-documented fight over billing) was nominated for an Oscar. Sylvester just can't catch a break! It's a wonder he's not skin and bones by now! A cat can only go on french fries and ice cream for so long before he needs a bird or a mouse or he goes Looney Tunes (sorry about that-nah, not really!). This is one of the better Sylvesters-without-Tweety, although he and Porky do make a good team. Mighty persistent (if unfortunate) lovebird. This shows on Cartoon Network fairly often. Recommended.

Life with Feathers is the cartoon to feature the debut of the (then un-named) Sylvester the cat, and while not one of his very best cartoons it is towards the better half.

Sylvester himself is just great here, and of all the Looney Tunes characters in their debut features Sylvester is one of the more strongly developed ones from the start. Some Looney Tunes characters in their first appearances were still in development stages, or seemed to be, whereas with Sylvester while his personality got funnier and even stronger the way he's animated, the way he speaks and his personality is remarkably consistent with the Sylvester we know and love today. Here in Life with Feathers he's smoothly animated and he's funny and interesting, though because of the premise not a lot of room is left to show his cunning side. The bird is very sweet and brings a real poignant depth to the story. Mel Blanc's voice work is typically superb.

Great too is the animation, all the drawing is very smooth and easy-looking, the backgrounds are vibrant and detailed and it all looks very bright and warm in the colours. The music from Carl Stalling adds so much with the rhythmic energy and rich orchestration, and is truly beautiful music on its own merits as well. The dialogue is characteristically witty, and while the gags are sort of familiar the timing is spot-on and they are very funny. The story is a lot of fun, and despite sounding depressing reading the synopsis the poignancy is pitched at just the right level and balances with the humour well. Pacing is crisp enough.

All in all, the debut of Sylvester is a great one and fares favourably with the rest of his cartoons. 9/10 Bethany Cox

In Sylvester's debut, a bird gets thrown out of his cage and tries to get Sylvester to eat him, but the slobbering cat finds something fishy about a bird who WANTS to get eaten. The plot of "Life with Feathers" got a similar treatment in "Cheese Chasers" (in which mice Hubie and Bertie OD on cheese and try to get Claude to eat them but he suspects that something is up). This one has a number of the familiar gags from Sylvester's outings with Tweety. An unfamiliar one is Sylvester's emaciation as he hears about different types of meals (it never gets explained how it is that he's starving even though he belongs to a family). In the end, it's a pretty fun cartoon.

Sylvester J. Pussycat Sr., shortened to Sylvester the Cat, made his film debut in the Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies' March 1945's "Life With Feathers." Voice actor Mel Blanc first mimicked Sylvester's distinctive voice on a radio show. Sylvester, who wouldn't receive his official name until later, appeared in over one hundred cartoons, three of which won Oscars. This was the most Academy Award wins of any Looney Tune character, while his debut was nominated for Best Animated Short Film.

"Life with Feathers" sees the emotionally-depressed bird Sweetypuss attempting to commit suicide by trying to have the cat eat him. Sweetypuss' spouse has kicked the bird out of his cage, sending him into such a state of depression he decides to end it all by having the cat swallow him whole. The cat, however, looks at Sweetypuss as poisonous, and doesn't want anything to do with the bird. The success of "Life With Feathers" was so popular it launched Sylvester's meteoric career, appearing in more Looney Tunes cartoons than other character besides Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck.

I found this a very good Looney Tunes episode, but very sad because the main character, a little lovebird (type of parrot), wants to commit suicide. AWW. :-( The bird considers ways to die and decides the best method is to be eaten by a "kat". He finds Sylvester, who although has an owner and a comfortable home, is looking in dustbins for small scraps. The lovebird calls him over but Sylvester is suspicious of a bird wanting to be eaten...

If I had watched this episode without knowing that it was Sylvester's debut, I never would have known it was his first appearance. Compared to the first appearances of other Looney Tunes stars, his character and animation was already much more decidedly formed, along with his love for eating (normal) little birds and meat and with his "suffering succotaz!" (which before belonged to Daffy Duck).

Tweetie Pie would appear later, in 1947 in the aptly named cartoon, "Tweetie Pie". Personally I loved the (ha)lovebird almost as much as Tweetie and if he appeared in any other episodes I will certainly watch them.

I enjoyed this episode because of the love bird and how I felt for him, for Sylvester, who did very well in this episode and for the plot-line.

I recommend this to people who love Sylvester, early Looney Tunes cartoons and to people who do not mind watching an episode with Sylvester-Tweetie+a different bird. Enjoy "Life with Feathers"! :-)

8 and a half out of ten.