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Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr. is a Fictional Character , a three-time Academy Award -winning Anthropomorphic Cat who appears in more than 90 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Cartoon s made from 1945 to 1965, often chasing Tweety Bird , Speedy Gonzales , or Hippety Hopper . The name "Sylvester" is a play on Silvestris , the scientific name for the Domestic Cat Species . The character debuted in Friz Freleng 's '' Life With Feathers '' (1945). Freleng's 1947 cartoon '' Tweetie Pie '' was the first pairing of Tweety with Sylvester, and the Chuck Jones -directed '' Scaredy Cat '' (1948) was Sylvester's first pairing with Porky Pig . Sylvester's trademark was his sloppy, stridulating Lisp . In his autobiography, ''That's Not All Folks!'', voice actor Mel Blanc stated that Sylvester's voice was based on that of Daffy Duck , plus the even-more-slobbery lisp, and minus the post-production speed-up that was done with Daffy's. Conventional wisdom is that Daffy's lisp, and hence also Sylvester's, were based on producer Leon Schlesinger 's. However, Blanc made no such claim. He said that Daffy's lisp was based on him having a long beak, and that he borrowed the voice for Sylvester. He also pointed out that, minus the lisp, Sylvester's voice was fairly close to his own. To emphasize the lisp, as with Daffy's catchphrase "You're des''th''picable", Sylvester's trademark exclamation is "''Sufferin’ Succotash !''", which is said to be a Minced Oath / Euphemism of "''Suffering Savior ''". Sylvester is a Tuxedo Cat who shows much pride in himself, and never gives up. Despite (or perhaps because of) his pride and persistence, Sylvester was, with rare exceptions, placed squarely on the "loser" side of the Looney Tunes winner/loser hierarchy. His character was basically that of Wile E. Coyote while he was chasing mice or birds. (One cartoon episode The Wild Chase paired Sylvester and Wile E. Coyote against the Road Runner and Speedy Gonzales . In the end both Sylvester and Wile E. fail as usual.) He shows a different character when paired with Porky Pig in explorations of spooky places, in which he doesn't speak as a scaredy cat. (In these cartoons, he basically plays the terrified Costello to Porky's oblivious Abbott .) Perhaps Sylvester's most developed role is in a series of Robert McKimson -directed shorts, in which the character is a hapless mouse-catching instructor to his dubious son, Sylvester Junior , with the "mouse" being a powerful Baby Kangaroo . His alternately confident and bewildered episodes bring his son to shame, while Sylvester himself is reduced to nervous breakdowns. According to his son Noel Blanc, out of the hundreds of characters Mel Blanc had voiced, Sylvester was the closest to his natural voice. Just without the lisp. Sylvester also had atypical roles in a few cartoons:
In the Television Series '' Tiny Toon Adventures '', Sylvester appeared as the mentor of Furrball . The character also starred in '' The Sylvester And Tweety Mysteries ''. In Loonatics Unleashed Sylvester's descendent is Sylth Vester, a hitman hired by Granicus to kill Royal Tweetums so she won't have to lose her throne. Despite his best efforts he's beaten by the Loonatics. In 1985, Sylvester could be heard in an episode of the game show '' Press Your Luck ''. Host Peter Tomarken had earlier incorrectly credited his catchphrase "Suffering Succotash!" to Daffy Duck. Even though all three contestants had correctly answered "Sylvester," they were ruled incorrect. In a segment produced later and edited into the broadcast, Sylvester phoned Tomarken and told him, "Daffy Duck steals from me all the time." All three participants returned to compete in future episodes. Western Publications produced a comic book about Tweety and Sylvester entitled ''Tweety and Sylvester'' first in Dell Comics '' Four Color '' series #406, 489, and 524, then in their own title from Dell Comics (#4-37, 1954-62), then later from Gold Key Comics (#1-102, 1963-72). OTHER MEDIA In the movie '' Kitten With A Whip '', there was a scene where a Sylvester cartoon " Canned Feud " was played on the television. Sylvester appears in the '' Robot Chicken '' episode "Werewolf VS Unicorn" voiced by Frank Welker . During Arnold Schwarzenegger announcement of illegal aliens from Mexico, Sylvester demonstrates a wired fence that will keep the aliens out only for it to be penetrated by Speedy Gonzales. TRIVIA
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