Marc Antony

Marc Anthony is a animated character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons.

## Background

Marc Anthony is a burly bulldog who is usually brown with a tan belly and black ears, although his coloration varies in some shorts. Pussyfoot is an extremely cute kitten to whom Marc Anthony is utterly devoted. Charles Jones has discussed the efforts to maximize the kitten's sheer adorableness. All head and eyes, she is black with a white face and belly and a white tip on her fluffy tail.

## Appearances

### Portrayed by

Mel Blanc (Pussyfoot and Marc Anthony sounds)

### Debut

Feed the Kitty (Groundhog's Day, 1952)

Animator Chuck Jones first introduced the odd duo in his film "Feed the Kitty", first released on Groundhog Day, 1952. Prior to this, a bulldog similar to Marc had appeared in previous shorts with Claude Cat and Hubie and Bertie, but he was never named. In the short, Marc Anthony adopts the interminably cute kitten, only to receive a stern

Mark Anthony & Kitty.jpg

warning from his owner not to ". . . bring one more thing into this house! Not ONE, SINGLE, SOLITARY thing!" Marc is thus forced to go to extreme lengths to keep his new pet under wraps. Meanwhile, the kitten's curiosity gets her into a series of life-threatening situations, which Marc Anthony must, of course, rescue her from.

Jones would largely repeat the scenario in 1953 with "Kiss Me Cat", only this time, Marc Anthony tries to convince his owners that the kitten (now named Pussyfoot) is a champion mouser so that they will let him keep her.

In "Feline Frame-Up" (1954), Jones pitted the dog and kitten against another of his lesser-known players, Claude Cat, with Claude as the villain bullying and causing trouble to the duo. Later in 1954, Marc Anthony (or a bulldog looking just like him) made a brief appearance at the end of the Claude Cat/Frisky Puppy short, "No Barking".

Jones directed a quite different entry in 1957 with "Go Fly a Kit," the story of an eagle who teaches a different-but similar-looking-male kitten how to fly. In this cartoon, Marc Anthony serves as a villain, chasing an orange female-cat, that the Pussyfoot-like kitten saves. This is the only cartoon which saw the two on opposite sides.

In 1958, Jones paired the cat and canine for one final film, "Cat Feud", in which Marc Anthony (with grey coloring, and a more fierce personality) must defend Pussyfoot (and her cat food) from a thieving interloper from the alleys that resembles Claude. This is the second time Claude, Marc and Pussyfoot are paired together, and much like Feline Frame-Up, the Claude-like alley cat is the villain.

Jones retired the duo in 1958 to focus on the more popular stars such as, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig.

A grey version of Marc Anthony also made a cameo appearance during the final scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). They also appear in a cameo during the basketball game in Space Jam (1996). The duo would later make a cameo appearance in the ending scene of Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003).

Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot appear in The Looney Tunes Show opening.

Marc Anthony appears alongside Tweety and Gabby Goat in the New Looney Tunes episode "Tweet Team" as a trio helping Speedy Gonzales save his mice buddies from Sylvester, Claude Cat and Pete Puma.

## Trivia

* Marc Anthony's character design bears a close physical resemblance to Hector, another recurring bulldog who appears in Friz Freleng's Tweety and Sylvester cartoons, but is not the same character. While both bulldogs have almost similar character designs, Marc's character design is drawn slightly different from those of Hector, where he has scrawnier back legs, a light-colored belly, and no visible fangs protruding from his lower jaw.
* In *Bugs Bunny: Rabbit Rampage* game, Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot are the audience from battle against Toro the Bull and The Crusher.
	+ In stage 9, Pussyfoot is part from one of bad luck cats where the Bugs Bunny crosses her path, a big ship fall.