A Gruesome Twosome

A lot of people dislike Tweety because they consider him too cute. If only they knew about his first few appearances! In cartoons like "A Tale of Two Kitties" and "A Gruesome Twosome", the little guy was the meanest SOB (son of a bird) imaginable. In this case, two cats try to win the heart of a woman, but Tweety always interferes...in the most sadistic way possible.

Yes, Tweety did not start out as the daintily attractive character known to most people today. I believe that he started heading in that direction once they gave him feathers. You see, the studio heads alleged that he looked naked. However - as Bob Clampett pointed out in "Bugs Bunny Superstar" - in all those years, they never noticed that Porky Pig walked around with no pants.

Anyway, this is a funny one.

Two alley cats battle for the affections of a female cat. One cat is modeled after Jimmy Durante. The female cat settles upon a bird as the needed gift for her favors. Tweety Bird lives on top of a pole and proclaims his catch phrase.

This is Tweety before he is paired up with Sylvester. Tweety is basically all there already. The voice is there. The phrases are there. The two cats are less compelling by comparison, even with the Jimmy Durante copy. This feels less special without the icon partner, Sylvester. This is a nice example of the evolutionary step. It is a lower level step nevertheless.

(IMO) - "A Gruesome Twosome" is a real classic "Looney Tunes" gem from the glory days of pre-CGI animation.

Not only does this Technicolor cartoon-short from 1945 contain some real choice moments of wild, over-the-top violence (in order to keep you satisfactorily entertained) - But, as an added bonus - It also features the screen-debut of Tweety (the little, baby bird) who certainly turns out to be a real bad-ass in this one.

Besides being directed by Robert Clampett - "A Gruesome Twosome" also showcases the uncredited voice-talents of Mel Blanc who had convincingly voiced both the 2 leading male cats, as well as that of Tweety-bird, too.

A Gruesome Twosome is a hilarious Looney Tunes short. Besides, the great animation, it has classic cartoon violence (falling from high altitude, being shot with a gun). The orange cat is a hilarious caricature of Jimmy Durante. This was an early appearance of Tweety, considering the way he was drawn. Thumbs way up.

Bob Clampett's 'A Gruesome Twosome' is the last of a trio of cartoons that I absolutely adore: the early Tweety shorts. Clampett invented Tweety but only directed him in three cartoons before passing the character to Friz Freleng who moulded him into an irritating, cutesy creature who starred in a series of repetitive chase films with Sylvester the cat. Clampett's Tweety was a totally different proposition. An anarchic, shrieking, featherless baby bird whose penchant for extreme violence and sudden hollering contrasts hilariously with his frail stature. 'A Gruesome Twosome' takes a long time to set up its premise of two cats (one a grotesque Jimmy Durante caricature) who are attempting to catch a bird to win favour with a lady cat. These early scenes are funny and extremely violent but things are knocked up a notch when Tweety finally appears. Tweety is in the cartoon for a relatively short amount of time but he makes the most of his brief screen time, torturing a bee and a bulldog in order to rid himself of the cats. Brightly coloured and unusually designed (Clampett's designs here are a throwback to the 30s character designs of Tex Avery, showing Clampett's own status as a cartoon fan), 'A Gruesome Twosome' is a thoroughly grotesque and utterly brilliant piece of work which always makes me sad that there were no more cartoons with Tweety as this cool character instead of the doe-eyed irritant he became.