1. COMPLETE NAME: When he started his career in cartoons, Sylvester had no name. Then, in the first episode alongside his archenemy Tweety, he was called Thomas. It was only afterwards that he became Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr. – a play upon Felis Silvestris (scientific name for Wild Cat) – or, in short, Sylvester.
2. CHARACTER:
He is very confident and tenacious. Nevertheless, most of the times he is on
the losing side. A totally different character shows up when he’s portrayed
alongside Porky Pig: a scared cat, afraid of all the spooky places they
explore.
3. LOOKS:
once, he had a black nose, but all his other appearances show him with a red
one. Actually, he was portrayed with a big red nose and with a baggy silhouette
to emulate that of a clown – he is believed to have been created to mock at
Tom, the MGM star of ‘Tom & Jerry’. Later on, his silhouette changed into a
shorter and slender one, which, together with the more prominent canines he was
gifted with, gave him more of a domestic cat look.
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| 'Life with Feathers' (1945), 'Kitty Kornered' (1945), 'Tweetie Pie' (1947) |
4. CATCHPHRASE: ‘Sufferin’ Succotash!’ was his first spoken phrase. However, it was wrongly attributed to Daffy Duck, although the latter said it only later and only a few times.
5. FREQUENCY
OF APPEARANCE: Sylvester is fourth in order of frequency of appearance among
all Looney Tunes characters, being surpassed by Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy
Duck only. He starred in episodes alongside all three of them, as well as with
or against Speedy Gonzales, Spike and Chester, Porky Pig, Hippety
Hopper, Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd, Wile
E. Coyote, Sylvester Jr and, of course, Tweety.
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| 'Bad Ol' Putty Tat' (1949), 'Little Red Rodent Hood' (1952) |
6. THREE IS THE NUMBER OF ACADEMY AWARDS WINNING EPISODES in which he starred, the most among all Looney Tunes character. Those episodes are ‘Tweetie Pie’, ‘Speedy Gonzales’ and ‘Birds Anonymous’.
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| 'Birds of a Father' (1961), 'The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries' (1995) |