#29 -- Satan's Waitin'

Title - Satan's Waitin'

Director - Friz Freleng

Released - 1954

Reason for Placement --

There's always been a long-standing belief that when it came to cartoon characters, they couldn't be hurt and they couldn't die.  Well, next time someone tells you that, show them Satan's Waitin'.  Sylvester, while chasing Tweety, falls off of a building and actually dies and goes to Hell!  Geez, I knew Sylvester was more of a villain than hero in the Looney Tunes, but did he really deserve to go to Hell? 

Well, as it turns out, Sylvester isn't completely dead, as cats have nine lives.  So he goes back up to Earth, but a Satanic bulldog is there to goad him to continue chasing Tweety, and in doing so, use up his remaining 8 lives.  I give a lot of credit to Freleng and Warren Foster for coming up with the elaborate ways Sylvester uses up the lives.  

It's probably worth mentioning that the general idea behind this short was re-used by Freleng in a clip-show-style short titled Devil's Feud Cake, where Yosemite Sam goes to Hell and tries to win his freedom by bringing back Bugs Bunny.  However, because it uses scenes from other shorts, I'm not putting it on the countdown.  

Satan's Waitin', while a bit on the creepy side, is still fun, clever, and shows us that cartoon characters could, in fact, kick the bucket.