Sylvester clearly didn't count on just how protective that nanny would be.
Home Tweet Home is a 1950 Looney Tunes short starring Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird. It was directed by Friz Freleng.
Tweety is in Central Park, bathing in a bird bath while singing, I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover. Sylvester is sitting on a park bench and peaks at Tweety through a peephole in the newspaper he's "reading." He attempts to go after Tweety but is thwarted on all corners by a feisty nanny, an angry bulldog and Tweety himself.
Tropes:
- Angry Guard Dog: In the cartoon's second half, a bulldog joins the party in victimizing Sylvester.
- Baby Talk: Sylvester talks in this when he disguises as the nanny's baby to fool her into giving up Tweety.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: The nanny does this for Tweety.
- Bowdlerization: On ABC, the nanny spanking Sylvester, disguised as the baby, was intact, but Tweety joining in the spanking by whacking Sylvester on the rear with a two-by-four was cut.
- Box-and-Stick Trap: Sylvester resorts to this while using a corn cob as bait, not only is Tweety too smart to fall for this, but he was standing on Sylvester's head the whole time he was setting it up.
- Bubblegum Popping: While Sylvester tries to levitate himself with a bubblegum bubble to get to Tweety, Tweety pops the bubble with a needle resulting in gum in his face and gravity taking over.
- Comedic Spanking: Sylvester's baby disguise capture attempt ends with him being spanked by the baby's nanny, as well as Tweety who uses a plank of wood.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Several examples:
- The role of the nanny in this cartoon would be taken on by Granny in later Sylvester and Tweety shorts.
- Tweety is a Pint-Sized Powerhouse in this cartoon, coming off as small and helpless but mauling Sylvester throughout (which, believe it or not, is how Tweety was back when he was Bob Clampett's character, as seen in "A Tale of Two Kitties", "Birdy and the Beast", and "A Gruesome Twosome"). In later Sylvester/Tweety shorts, Tweety would be far more passive and typically depend on third parties like Granny and all manner of bulldogs (mostly with generic names like Hector or Spike) to protect him.
- Also, Sylvester is far less clumsy than in later cartoons. Also, as in some of his earliest appearances, he's missing the white tip on his tail, which is solid black. After this cartoon, Sylvester would get the white tip on his tail for several years (at least in the Freleng shorts; Robert McKimson's Sylvester's tail would remain completely black for several more years).
- Gone Horribly Right: Sylvester's final attempt at catching Tweety has him disguising as a tree with a bird's nest. This actually fools Tweety but also fools the bulldog, who sniffs at the tree costume in the hopes of peeing on it. Sylvester inadvertently blows his cover by squirting the dog with a water pistol.
- Goo Goo Getup: Sylvester disguises himself as the nanny's baby to catch Tweety, of course it doesn't work.
- Mama Bear: The nanny acts as this for Tweety. Not that the bird really needs her help, though.
- Mickey Mousing: In the scene where the bulldog is introduced, a thumping/menacing melody scores his footsteps as he walks beside Tweety. The melody fades out when he's hidden in the background.
- Mugged for Disguise: Sylvester steals a babies outfit in an attempt to catch Tweety; of course the baby isn't actually mugged, just pulled off-screen.
- The Not Catch: Tweety catches a falling Sylvester with a pillow, the anvil concealed inside the pillow though doesn't do the cat any favors.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Tweety may be small and cute, but he's an absolute beast to Sylvester.
- Shout-Out: Theodore Roosevelt is mentioned in the newspaper Sylvester peaks through.
