Sylvester Jr.
| Sylvester Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Looney Tunes character | |
 | |
| First appearance | Pop 'im Pop! (October 28, 1950) |
| Created by | Robert McKimson |
| Voiced by | Mel Blanc (1950–1989)[1] Bob Bergen (1991, 1998–present)[2][3] Ric Herbert (1995, 2012)[4] Joe Alaskey (2001–2004) |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Cat |
| Gender | Male |
| Family | Sylvester (father) |
| Relatives | Tom Pussycat (uncle) Sylth Vester (descendant) |
Sylvester J. Pussycat Jr., simply known as Sylvester Jr., is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. He was created by Robert McKimson.
Biography
[edit]Junior first appeared in the 1950 short Pop 'im Pop! directed by Robert McKimson,[5] and eventually appeared in a total of 11 shorts in the Golden age. His voice was provided by Mel Blanc until his death in 1989, and later by Bob Bergen and Joe Alaskey (who died on February 3, 2016).
He is the son of Sylvester the Cat. Physically, Junior is an anthropomorphic kitten - basically a miniature version of his father, having a large head in proportion to a small body. Aside from Goldimouse and the Three Cats, his mother is never seen nor mentioned in the Warner Bros. shorts, and the only apparent trait Junior got from his mother is his ability to speak without his father's characteristic lisp, but has a smaller lisp than Sylvester does. Junior has been noted saying that he is three and a half years old.
Junior's personality reflected a degree of respect for his father, though often, when Sylvester does something embarrassing or humiliating, Junior would (melodramatically) often profess feeling ashamed or embarrassed by his father's behavior (sometimes donning a paper bag over his head) or sadly saying, in a breathy voice, "Oh, Father...", "Oh, the shame of it", or "How can I ever face the fellows in Troop 12?" He has also contradicted himself by saying he wanted a home in Claws in the Lease, while in The Slap-Hoppy Mouse he complains to his father about his "soft living" in a "chicken-chintzy outfit".
Often, Sylvester and Junior's shorts would feature Sylvester trying to capture Hippety Hopper, a baby kangaroo, to prove a point to his son. Each attempt at capture, of course, failed miserably, owing to Sylvester's invariably mistaking the kangaroo for a "giant mouse", and as such being taken completely by surprise by the kangaroo's athletic prowess, with Sylvester losing every fight, often in spectacularly humiliating fashion. In one particular ship based short Junior was able to outdo his father by capturing Hippety, playing on Hippety's playful nature. Though Tweet Dreams was the only pairing of Junior and Tweety in the Looney Tunes shorts, it was not a direct one; Junior basically served as a flashback image of Sylvester himself when he was his son's age.
Appearances
[edit]Sylvester Jr. appeared in the following shorts:
- Pop 'im Pop! (1950)
- Who's Kitten Who? (1952)
- Cats a-Weigh (1953)
- Too Hop to Handle (1956)
- The Slap-Hoppy Mouse (1956)
- Mouse-Taken Identity (1957)
- Cat's Paw (1959) (no Hippety Hopper)
- Tweet Dreams (1959) (no Hippety Hopper) (note: flashback cameo in a Tweety and Sylvester cartoon)
- Goldimouse and the Three Cats (1960) (no Hippety Hopper) (note: the only short directed by Friz Freleng to feature Sylvester Jr. and the only cartoon where his mother appears)
- Birds of a Father (1961) (no Hippety Hopper)
- Fish and Slips (1962) (no Hippety Hopper)
- Claws in the Lease (1963) (no Hippety Hopper)
- Freudy Cat (1964)
Later appearances
[edit]After the original Looney Tunes shorts, Junior would show up sporadically in later years. In the 1990s animated series The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, Sylvester has a flashback to his childhood in the episode "A Mynah Problem"; in the flashback sequence, young Sylvester looks like Sylvester Jr. and Sylvester's father looks like the adult Sylvester.
He is seen in one of the "Mysterious Phenomenon of the Unexplained" shorts of the Stranger Than Fiction Looney Tunes web shorts compilation DVD alongside his father on a camping trip interrupted by Bigfoot.
He appears as a boss in the third world in the video game The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout, riding his skateboard.
References
[edit]- ^ "Mel Blanc Presents Listening and Learning with Bugs and Friends". Retrieved 2019-10-18.
- ^ "Bob Bergen Official Web Site: Bio". www.bobbergen.com. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
- ^ "Sylvester Jr". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
- ^ "fatherandson_0001.wmv". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-14. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
- ^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 216. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
