A Bird in a Guilty Cage

A Bird in a Guilty Cage is a 1952 Looney Tunes short directed by Friz Freleng.
== Title ==
The title is a play on the 1900 song "A Bird in a Gilded Cage".
== Plot ==
Sylvester is at a store called Stacy's (a spoof of Macy's), where he notices Tweety in the window stand. Going through the package slot, he closes the curtains and climbs up to Tweety's cage, who asks him what he's going to do. After asiding, "How naive can ya get?", Sylvester replies that they're going to play a game called Sandwich, involving Tweety getting sandwiched in two pieces of bread and nearly eaten. "I don't like dat game!" 
Tweety flees, with Sylvester in hot pursuit. Frustrated, the cat is forced to stack mannequins on top of each other to reach the canary, who is hiding in the lighting. Tweety climbs down and puts skates on the mannequin statue, causing Sylvester to crash down some stairs. He returns, however, and the chase resumes, leading him to a hat sale, where he begins trying on hats. He finds the one with Tweety on top, and tries to smash him, instead hitting himself. Tweety hides in a dollhouse, which eventually ends with Sylvester shooting his own finger.
As Sylvester shoves his gun in a hole in the wall, another is aimed at his rear. Predictably, this ends in Sylvester getting his buttocks shot. Tweety then goes through the piping system, with Sylvester going to the other end to catch him. However, Tweety comes out a different hole, and puts a stick of dynamite in. Sylvester swallows it, thinking he has gotten Tweety, but as he strolls out, it explodes, leaving him blackened. He decides to cross birds off his diet. "That one sort of upset my stomach!"
== Availability ==
lt vs8 uk.jpg|(1984) VHS The Looney Tunes Video Show Volume 8
SYLVESTER AND TWEETY THE BEST YEOWS OF OUR LIVES.jpg|(1992) VHS Sylvester & Tweety The Best Yeows of Our Lives
SYLVESTER AND TWEETY'S BAD OL' PUTTY TAT BLUES.jpg|(1994) LaserDisc Sylvester and Tweety's Bad Ol' Putty Tat Blues
Bumper01.jpg|(1994) VHS Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 1)
I Love Tweety - Volume 3.jpg|(2001) DVD I Love Tweety: Volume 3 (restored with DVNR)
Golden Collection box 2.jpg|(2004) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2, Disc Three (restored with DVNR)
Large.jpg|(2004) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 2 Disc 1 (restored with DVNR)
lt cbts1.jpg|(2005) DVD Looney Tunes Collection Best of Tweety and Sylvester Volume 1
lt bbot tp.jpg|(2011) DVD Tweety Pie
lt 3fcbo.jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes 3 Feature Collection Best Of
lt spotlight df.jpg|(2014) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 2-3 Repack
lt spotlight v1-3.jpg|(2018) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 1-3 Repack
=== Streaming ===
Lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2022) (restored without DVNR)
Lt max.jpg|Max (2024 - ) (restored without DVNR)
File:Lt itunes.jpg|iTunes (-) (restored without DVNR)
== Censorship ==
* On ABC, the gun-in-one-end-and-out-the-other gag also used in "A Star Is Bored" and "Tease for Two" was edited to remove Sylvester shooting himself in the butt. The sound was left intact, but the actual scene was replaced with a shot of Tweety getting out of the hole in the wall. Also cut was the entire sequence where Sylvester uses his hand to chase Tweety through a dollhouse and mistakenly shoots his finger after Tweety splatters yellow paint on it.http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-b.aspx
* The CBS version left the gun-in-one-end-and-out-the-other gag uncut and showed most of the dollhouse sequence, but the dollhouse sequence was still edited to remove the part where Sylvester shoots his own finger, thinking it's Tweety.
== Notes ==
* The gun in a hole gag is reused in the opening titles of "Revenge of the Pink Panther". There, the animated version of Inspector Clouseau points his gun into the gap in the 'A' while another comes out of the 'P'. Predictably, it ends with Clouseau being shot in the face. Prior to that, the same gag would be reused in "A Star Is Bored" and "Tease for Two". It was also used in a Cartoon Network station ID bumper in the early 2000s (see "Censorship" for details).
* The famous lots-of-doors in-and-out routine (a routine associated with the 1960s animated TV series Scooby Doo, Where Are You? and its myriad spin-offs and remakes) in the dollhouse was previously used in "Little Red Riding Rabbit" and "Buccaneer Bunny"; both of those cartoons were also directed by Freleng.
* This is one of the three Tweety & Sylvester cartoons where Sylvester crosses birds out from his diet list, while the other two are "Tweet Zoo" and "Trip for Tat".
** Unlike the latter two cartoons where Sylvester crosses birds out from his diet list, in this one he did so because the "bird" he ate (which actually was a stick of dynamite) had "upset his stomach".
* In this cartoon, Sylvester is aware about Tweety's naivety that he could use to his advantage, evidenced when he asides the audience "How naive can ya get?"
* Starting with this cartoon, the "MPPDA" bug in the credits was updated to get new lettering that said "MPAA"; the cartoon following this, "Mouse-Warming", would be the last one to use the "MPPDA" version of the bug.
** This was also one of many cartoons that did not have a production number listed below "Present" in their Blue Ribbon reissues. The other cartoons that did not have this were "Ain't She Tweet", "Homeless Hare", "A Peck o' Trouble", "The Grey Hounded Hare", "Sock a Doodle Do" and "Leghorn Swoggled".
* This cartoon was shown in theatres with Big Jim McLain during its original release alongside the reissue of "Fresh Airedale".
== Gallery ==
BirdInAGuiltyCageCredits1.png
BirdInAGuiltyCageCredits2.png
File:A Bird in a Guilty Cage (1952) - Mannequin Tower.jpg
== References ==
 
Category:Sylvester Cartoons
Category:Tweety Cartoons
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Friz Freleng
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist
Category:1952
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons written by Warren Foster
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Hawley Pratt
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Irv Wyner
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc