Behind the Tunes: Strictly for the Birds - Tweety & Sylvester's Award Winning Team-Up (2005 Video) User Reviews

A Tribute To Friz & 'Birds Anonymous'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 6/10 · 30 October 2007]

Friz Freleng wrote and directed all the Tweety and Sylvester cartoons, we are told in this behind-the-scenes documentary, which was part of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD set. Freleng is seen here, which is nice for cartoon buffs since the man was one of the legends in the business.

Freleng comment, "I liked Sylvester because he was the fall-guy and all the gags came from his failures."

The one "Tweety and Sylvester" cartoon that is given extra treatment here is "Birds Anonymous," the Oscar-winning one in which Sylvester tried to go against his nature and treat the bird nicely. It's a spoof of Alcoholics Anonymous and Mel Blanc did about 15 voices in this one, according to his son Noel. The artwork and sound also is recognized for this particular cartoon.

This bonus feature really was more of a tribute to Freleng than a comment on the popular cartoon. This feature, seen on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Three DVD, was okay, but I was looking for an insight into "Tweety" and "Sylvester" characters, and that wasn't here.

The "Behind the Tunes" entry for . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 25 August 2016]

. . . the Looney Tunes animated short BIRDS ANONYMOUS is almost as good as the one for Michigan J. Frog's star turn in ONE FROGGY EVENING. Found on Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 3, Disc 4, STRICTLY FOR THE BIRDS is pretty much strictly about the Oscars. ANONYMOUS won the coveted Golden Statuette, which we learn director Friz Freleng willed to voice artist extraordinaire Mel Blanc. (Noel Blanc, Mel's son, says that BIRDS was Mel's favorite among the many hundreds of Looney Tunes that Papa Blanc voiced.) However, no one--not even Friz's daughter, Sybil--remembers to explain exactly HOW Friz got possession of this much sought after Black Bird--oops, I mean, Wee Golden Guy, from Warner Bros. producer Eddie Selzer, whom someone says earlier squirreled away ALL the single-copy statuettes denoting Warner's rare animated shorts Oscar Triumphs. Perhaps Friz sent Yosemite Sam to pick it up after hours. Maybe Tweety Pie air-lifted it. Perhaps we'll never know what exactly happened.