Peck Up Your Troubles

Peck Up Your Troubles is a 1945 Merrie Melodies short directed by I. Freleng.
== Title ==
The title is a pun on the 1915 World War I marching song "Pack Up Your Troubles".
== Plot ==
Sylvester is on the lookout and see what's going on, he looks through a telescope and spotted around every corner, and he was determined to get a woodpecker who just moved in.
Sylvester's first plan is to put hair nets on his head as he disguising himself as a tree. he creeps through high up the tree, as he climbs up, the Woodpecker sees Sylvester is getting the bird. then the woodpecker uses the grease to spread around the tree, as Sylvester sees the woodpecker putting grease all over, he slides down but he tries to climb back up, but it was too late. He landed on the ground.
After Sylvester's attempted plan he uses an axe to chop down the tree, But a bulldog named Rover stops him from chopping down the tree. So Sylvester uses wood cement to put back on where what it was. and he smiles sheepishly at the dog.
His next plan, He uses stilts to get the woodpecker, as Sylvester walks towards the woodpecker, the woodpecker pecks on the stilts one by one until none of them are left. And that makes Sylvester fall, but luckily he holds on the limb of the tree. As he sees the woodpecker make a "Cut on dotted line" and pecks it and makes him fall, the limbs comes down steady now and getting closer and closer to the ground, and Sylvester waves goodbye and he falls.
Next, Sylvester does a pole vaulting plan to get the woodpecker. As he walks toward to the bird. As the woodpecker sees him walking closer, he rushed to the power source he's about to turn it on. But Sylvester tells him not to, he begs for him. But, the woodpecker is willing to turn it on anyway. Then Sylvester thankfully the woodpecker, then walks back as he can, but unfortunately, he did turned it on. As Sylvester painfully shocked he turns into funny poses, even a scanned dressed woman in a red bathing suit, and Sylvester falls to the ground again.
An angry Sylvester really hates that woodpecker and he grabs the axe again then starts chopping down the tree again. As Sylvester watches the tree fall, Rover angrily glares at him. He tries to catch the tree, but it's too late. Now, Sylvester is using wood material put at back together.
His next plan he uses the kite as a glider, then he flies to the woodpecker. Then Sylvester got his target, the woodpecker ran off. Then Sylvester tries to catch him, and the poor woodpecker was cornered. he hatched an idea, he placed a tomato and Sylvester caught him. But Sylvester realized he caught the wrong thing, and, thinking that he has killed the woodpecker in a gruesome fashion, becomes guilt-stricken over what he has done.
That night, Sylvester tries to swear off that woodpecker, then the woodpecker had a funny idea and make Sylvester ruin his life: by dressing as an angel. While Sylvester is still swearing off, he realized that he killed him. And poor Sylvester is cornered he didn't know he killed him. But the woodpecker had one last request, where someone had to finish him off, so he gave the pistol to Sylvester. As he grabs the pistol he tries to aim at the woodpecker, but accidentally aims at his head. However, upon noticing the "BULL TOBACCO" sign at the back of the woodpecker's angel disguise, Sylvester realizes that he was tricked into killing himself. Enraged, he shoots the woodpecker.
Now Sylvester uses teeter-totter to grab the woodpecker, but it didn't work. Now he slings shot to the woodpecker. then he uses the bowing arrow gag.
Sylvester have tried so hard to get that woodpecker. But he noticed he sees invisible stairs. As Sylvester holds the sign says "Why didn't I think of this before?", as climbs up to the woodpecker he holds up another sign which it says "Anything is possible in a cartoon!" then he's made it. now he's using a branch to break the door, as he streaks toward him, he was trapped. Then woodpecker sees Sylvester was trapped, he was using needle point to stab him.
And finally he uses dynamite to blow up the tree, he lights up one at a time. And he hides in the hideout. As Sylvester laughed so hard that it will be the end of the woodpecker and his home. But Rover spotted him, He watches Sylvester stops the dynamite from blowing up, as he blows out the fuse, the woodpecker re-lights up one at a time. As Sylvester finished blows the fuse, he was noticed that it was back on. The most of the dynamite blows up. but at least the last one was still standing, It blows up violently. now the landscape was crashed 'cause of the dynamite and Sylvester was killed, The woodpecker noticed that Sylvester is now an angel and the cartoon ends.
==Availability==
Golden-Age-of-Looney-Tunes-3-F.jpg|(1992) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 3, Side 4: Friz Freleng (uncensored)
===Streaming ===
lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang App (2019 - ) (PAL 1995 "Dubbed Version" transfer without altered ending title card in NTSC speed)
==Censorship ==
* On Cartoon Network and Boomerang in the United States, the part where Sylvester holds the gun to his head and attempts to shoot himself after the "angel" woodpecker gives him the gun (only for Sylvester to realize he's been duped and blast the woodpecker in the rear end) was cut to remove the short scene where the gun goes off and Sylvester ducks before he blasts the woodpecker in the rear end.The Censored Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Guide: P This scene however airs uncensored on overseas Cartoon Network and Boomerang channels, as evident in the video on the page here. MeTV also aired this short uncut as well.
==Notes==
* This short marks Sylvester's second appearance.
* Peck Up Your Troubles marks a lot of milestone firsts for the classic Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies series: 
**This is the first appearance of Hector the Bulldog, Sylvester's canine arch-enemy.
**This is the first short where Sylvester chases birds for food.
**This is also the first cartoon where Sylvester does not speak.
**This is the first cartoon to feature an often-repeated staple formula of Sylvester as the antagonist to his target such as birds, and Hector the Bulldog serving to discourage his antagonist behavior, which'd be featured regularly in Friz Freleng's Tweety and Sylvester cartoons.
**This short marks Sylvester's first death.
*The woodpecker in this short was originally set to be a recurring character, who would be paired with Sylvester by Friz Freleng. After taking over Bob Clampett's unproduced fourth Tweety short project "Tweetie Pie" (which pairs Tweety with Sylvester for the first time), Freleng decided that the woodpecker would be replaced by Tweety as Sylvester's most prominent co-star. Although the idea was initially rejected by producer Eddie Selzer, Selzer then allowed Freleng to use Tweety in place of the woodpecker, which ultimately earned the WB animation studio its first Academy Award.
*The original ending music reuses the ending cue from "The Wacky Wabbit" during it's original release, which is even carried over to it's Blue Ribbon reissue.
*The gag where Sylvester accidentally grabs a crushed tomato and becomes guilt-stricken over killing the woodpecker is a partial reference to a similar gag from "The Heckling Hare" where Willoughby accidentally grabs a crushed tomato and becomes guilt-stricken over killing Bugs Bunny. 
**Co-incidentally, both this cartoon and "The Heckling Hare" are written by Michael Maltese.
*The woodpecker in this short would eventually reappear in "A Peck o' Trouble" in 1953, which was directed by Robert McKimson. It was paired with the cat Dodsworth, who previously appeared in "Kiddin' the Kitten".
*There appears to be a framed, red four-cent postage stamp hanging in The Woodpecker’s dwelling, appropriately featuring ornithologist John James Audubon. However, the only stamp issued commemorating Audubon prior to this cartoon was a 1940 green penny stamp.
* The American Turner print has red borders, and the European Turner print has blue borders. Because the short has no dialogue, both dubbed versions keep the original ending card (no disclaimer and no borders on the ending card), unlike most dubbed version shorts, although some non-dialogue shorts "Rhapsody in Rivets" (1941) and "Double Chaser" (1942) got dubbed ending cards. In addition, the original reissue ending music is also kept.
* Cels of the original title card and credits were revealed in 2021, preserved at the University of Wyoming.
*MeTV was originally going to air this short on 8 January 2022; however, it was replaced with the HBO Max print of "Hawaiian Aye Aye".
**The short finally aired 6 February 2022 on MeTV+'s Sunday Night Cartoons block; however, this airing appears unrestored.
**An unrestored image of Hector the Bulldog is present on a quiz on MeTV's website, which originated from this short.https://www.metv.com/quiz/which-looney-tunes-character-came-first?fbclid=IwAR3P24e3-0N9aAblbfAMD-sMGbAL9t3s6kZiFsM5i0o0ATr0jVh9Wzc4IZE
*This cartoon was shown in theatres with Mildred Pierce during its original release.
*According to the production number, this cartoon was produced in the Looney Tunes series but released in the Merrie Melodies series.
==Gallery==
Peck-Up-Your-Troubles-Original-title.jpg|Original title card cel
Peck-Up-Your-Troubles-Original-credits1.jpg|Original credits
Peck-Up-Your-Troubles-Original-credits2.jpg|Original credits
Peckupyourtroubles.jpg|A scene that has been cut on Cartoon Network and Boomerang in the U.S.
31b35e9a0.jpg
Fasdghfgsagfhgj.jpg|Storyboard panels
Screenshot 2021-01-20 at 9.32.31 PM.png|Lobby card
Peck Up Your Troubles animation.jpg|Layout drawing
Layout Drawings.jpg|Layout drawing
Layouts for Peck.jpg|Layout drawing
File:Screenshot 2024-02-03 112104.png
==References==
es:Peck Up Your Troubles
Category:Cartoons directed by Friz Freleng
Category:Sylvester Cartoons
Category:1945
Category:Shorts
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Cartoons written by Michael Maltese
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Hawley Pratt
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Hawley Pratt
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Paul Julian
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Paul Julian
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:Cartoons with no dialogue
Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist