Cartoon a Day: Satan's Waitin'

Satan's Waitin'
1954
Directed by Friz Freleng (as I. Freleng)
Available on: Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 6

As you might imagine from it's title, "Satan's Waitn' " features one of the darkest story concepts you're ever going to find in a cartoon. This is a Tweety and Sylvester short which reveals a deep dark secret about cartoon characters...they can die.

That's right, and not only does Sylvester die just a few minutes into this short but he goes to hell! Lucky for him it's only his first of nine lives. So Sylvester #1 will have to wait until the others show up. The devil, a bulldog, is anxious to speed things up, so he heads up to encourage Sylvester on with his dangerous Tweety chasing ways.

There are some great moments in this short and some wonderful stylistic designs. The roller coaster sequence features some amazing visuals and the opening shots that feature Sylvester and Tweety running across a sea of wires and TV antennas (a bit of a jab at the new medium of the time) are great from a design standpoint. Even the shots of the "putty tat" riding a conveyor belt down to hell are fun from a design standpoint. But despite the laughs and the great art, it's hard to get into a short that is so...well...morbid. It's no fun seeing cartoon characters H-E-Double Hockey Sticks.