in this entry, Speedy is called upon to deliver a message to a General Mouse with Sylvester on Speedy's trail the entire way. This cartoon represents one of the few times where Speedy turns on his own kind...he traps Sylvester and wraps him up in rope and then Speedy finds out this important message was simply a birthday card, this causes him to free Sylvester and in a bizarre turn of events, Sylvester imitates Speedy's catch-phrases and runs after the top military mice as the cartoon fades.
To respond to the earlier post...the reason why Friz started up his own company and continued to release cartoons is because he and the people involved wanted to continue doing what they loved doing. Although Warner Brothers shut down it's theatrical division for the first time in the early 1960's, that didn't mean Friz and company were suppose to retire. So, Friz and his business partner, David DePatie, started up their company. Chuck Jones and his associates started up their company. Then, when Warner Brothers decided to start releasing cartoons theatrically again, Friz and David were on hand to fulfill the demand with a series of Speedy cartoons among other characters. I would not say the cartoons of the late '60s ran out of steam...that's a popular belief, though.
I think those cartoons were a victim of children's advocate groups insisting cartoons be somewhat non-violent and be more appealing to a child's mind...they're good cartoons but they aren't presented with the same execution as the adult-aimed cartoons Warner Brothers had been known for. So, the reason why Friz continued on is because he loved what he was doing as did Chuck Jones. I believe Chuck's company was called Sib Tower 12 and Friz's was simply DePatie-Freleng. I also want to add that THE BUGS BUNNY SHOW and other characters in the Warner Brothers cartoon family ran on network TV for almost 40 years. 1960-1999. Afterward the cartoons have aired on cable-TV...and it's only been the last decade that Saturday morning TV has been without those characters.
I know it sounds bizarre to those outside the loop when it comes to cartoons but 1940's and 1950's cartoons were running on Saturday mornings throughout the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s...and someone at ABC-TV, which was the last network to air the theatrical cartoon shorts, came up with the idea to drop the show in 1999. Since they've not been on mainstream TV for 10 years now there's an audience totally unaware of the characters and because they are so different than what's on TV now, you will be lucky to find someone under 20 who will have much knowledge of the cartoon characters.
To respond to the earlier post...the reason why Friz started up his own company and continued to release cartoons is because he and the people involved wanted to continue doing what they loved doing. Although Warner Brothers shut down it's theatrical division for the first time in the early 1960's, that didn't mean Friz and company were suppose to retire. So, Friz and his business partner, David DePatie, started up their company. Chuck Jones and his associates started up their company. Then, when Warner Brothers decided to start releasing cartoons theatrically again, Friz and David were on hand to fulfill the demand with a series of Speedy cartoons among other characters. I would not say the cartoons of the late '60s ran out of steam...that's a popular belief, though.
I think those cartoons were a victim of children's advocate groups insisting cartoons be somewhat non-violent and be more appealing to a child's mind...they're good cartoons but they aren't presented with the same execution as the adult-aimed cartoons Warner Brothers had been known for. So, the reason why Friz continued on is because he loved what he was doing as did Chuck Jones. I believe Chuck's company was called Sib Tower 12 and Friz's was simply DePatie-Freleng. I also want to add that THE BUGS BUNNY SHOW and other characters in the Warner Brothers cartoon family ran on network TV for almost 40 years. 1960-1999. Afterward the cartoons have aired on cable-TV...and it's only been the last decade that Saturday morning TV has been without those characters.
I know it sounds bizarre to those outside the loop when it comes to cartoons but 1940's and 1950's cartoons were running on Saturday mornings throughout the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s...and someone at ABC-TV, which was the last network to air the theatrical cartoon shorts, came up with the idea to drop the show in 1999. Since they've not been on mainstream TV for 10 years now there's an audience totally unaware of the characters and because they are so different than what's on TV now, you will be lucky to find someone under 20 who will have much knowledge of the cartoon characters.