8mm Forum: A Tale of Two Kitties (Tweety) Bob Clampett! Warners!!

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 03, 2008, 04:19 PM:

One of my favorite cartoon idols is undoubtably Bob Clampett.

I'm not alone. The creators of the modern cartoon, "Ren and Stimpy", John Kisclauski (I think that's how it's spelled)
designed Stimpy after Clampett's big nosed characters.

Clampett's high point was during the great Warner Brother cartoons of the early to about mid forties. Clampett's personal best were from about 1942-1946, in which he was absolutely brilliant.

One cartoon I had in my original late eighties collection, (and one I wished to find another copy of), was the classic "A Tale of Two Kitties", a 1942 cartoon that introduced a very popular Warners Character ...

The cartoon begins with two cats, (Characters of Abbott and Costello, named "Babbitt and Catstello"), who are very hungry. There happens to be a tasty little bird up on top of a pole.

"Ya wanna eat dontcha?"
"Ya Babbitt, I wanna eat, I love to eat!"
"Well go up to that nest and get that bird!"
"I don't wanna hurt no bird! I'd rather go hungry foist!"
"What's the matter fraidy cat? It's only a tiny little bird."
"You mean a little itsy bitsy, tenny weeny defenseless boid?
"Yes."

(Slight pause)

"LET ME AT EM BABBITT! I'LL MOIDERIZE EM!!"

And the bird in question? Tweety, o course! In this first appearance, (as well a few later ones) Tweety is a naked baby bird. This was because they modeled tweety after Bob Clampett's own Baby pictures. Catstello gets brutilized by
Tweety, (very violent in his first outing), in an number of assorted ways.

Being that we were just going to war at the time, there are a number of wartime references. Babbitt has a "victory garden" and Tweety palys an air raid warning.

"Hello, Interceptor command? I see a fwying object fwying around my wittle head"

"Is there an insurance salesman in the house? BOOM!!

and Tweety warns them to "Turn out those lights".

... and there's a wonderful naughty reference/joke in this cartoon ... Babbitt yells at Catstello ...

"Give me the bird! Give me the Bird!!"

To which Catstello looks at the audience and says ...

"If the "Hay's Office would let me, I'D give him the boid alright!!"

(Hay's office being the censorship people back then)

By any cartoon standard, this is a classic! This also includes, (for the first time) the "This little piggy went to market" routine as well ...

"Well what do you know, I ran outta piggies!!"

There is not a sour note to this cartoon, not a wasted moment, and the movement is incredibly fast paced! I reccomend this cartoon to anybody who is even slightly interested in classic cartoons as it exists to give reason WHY classic cartoons are just that ... classic, (instead of the poop that passes for cartoons these days!)

Now, onto the print, and this is where this gets VERY interesting!!!

I have desired to get a great print of this cartoon for the longest time. Even in the late eighties, when I had my first collection, my print was already faded.

Then there was a light of hope ...

When I found a LPP print of "Hoppity Goes to Town" from Red Fox, I also knew that they released this cartoon, and so I thought, "Hey, just maybe, they might have released this cartoon on LPP, so there's a chance that I might find a good color print of this.

Then I won an auction on ebay for a print of this cartoon that the seller said had good color.

Well, he was partially right.

This print from Red Fox is an absolutely PERFECT example as to why the original source material, the negative is so important!

This print that I have just aquired, unfaded in even the slightest, is on LPP stock.

The problem is the negative material. The original negative material had a bad fade already, so though this is on unfaded LPP film stock, the color is VERY muted and almost non-existent
in many cases. It had a slightly pinkish hue as well to start with. This becomes obvious in that the original leader is on it with the "lilly" and that has absolutely spot on color, but the cartoon itself really lacks.

The sound is just fine onn this print, however. The contrast is great as well, good blacks (so to speak) and certianly a sharp print.

So, for those who may or may not be searching for a print of this, if Derann should run into a good source negative for this, I would honestly say, wait, as you will not find a really good color print of this title, (Unless someone else besides Red Fox released it from another negative, but that is doubtful, as I remember certian negative scratches on my original Super 8 print from "reel images" from the early eighties, yeah I'm that anal, and this print has the exact same scratches, so this print was made, by a different company, from the same source material.)

A true classic cartoon, but also an excellent example of how lacking Super 8 source material could be, even from a classic Super 8 company with usually very reliable standards.

Long Live Super 8

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on January 08, 2010, 06:52 PM:

Osi...I just got a print of this in the mail. I found it on ebay and I am a BIG Tweety fan so I took the plunge. I'm going to watch it tonight so I'll post my comments about it.

I have 15 Tweety cartoons on Super 8!

Bill

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on January 09, 2010, 10:17 AM:

Screened it last night.....

perfect physical condition print, original leaders head and tail, no scratches or lines, good sound, nice contrast...

Not a hint of color!
I am glad to have it though...very funny! Better than my VHS copy.

Bill

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on January 10, 2010, 08:46 AM:

Bill,

Check your film stock. If the film stock is L.P.P. ...

then it is probably from the same print run by Red Fox films. Great film stock ... poor pre-print material.

Still, in the end, as you also said, I LOVE having this film in my collection! Its one of Bob Clampetts best!

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